Back to Index

Merchants of hate politics
Marko Phiri
April 15, 2004

Writing in the later part of the 19th century, American historian Henry Brooks Adams put down profound words that would still find relevance in contemporary African politics, and which perhaps have been grotesquely magnified in Zimbabwe’s own politics ever since independence came to this country. "Politics as a practice," he wrote, "has always been a systematic organisation of hatreds."

For our purposes here and elsewhere in Africa, it would zero in on what has formed the political philosophy of the many liberation movements that became the vanguards for the push for self-rule, and take a closer look at what the politics of hate have meant for the continent first and the individual countries second. The whole obsession in African politics with ethnic loyalties has undoubtedly had a profound effect on the lives of millions in the continent, and which only the most rabid of apologists would dare condone. From the pre-independence ethnic clashes in the Great Lakes region which spilled over into the years of self-rule, these damned lands still remain hotbeds of ethnic clashes. And as the world commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, it has to be asked if African politicians can guarantee the world and indeed the African masses that this shall remain only as part of a dark history of the continent and never recur. Ethnicity however still holds sway in African politics, and even in Zimbabwe there has been opinions when the discussion about Mugabe’s successor about loyalties based on dialects within the Shona; so and so belonging to the Zezuru, Manyika etc, as if we care about the languages they speak, or dialects they claim. As long as they are Zanu PF, not any fair minded Zimbabwean would still give a hoot: they would send them packing without second thoughts. But then in democratic Zimbabwe, it does not matter what you the voter wants: the ruling party makes choices for you!

Merchants of hate have inevitably doubled as merchants of death as seen by the Zimbabwean experience where, according to the ruling party, there are no political opponents, but only political enemies. And this could even be cited with the hounding of Zapu leaders back in the formative years of the country’s independence and the 1990 election that almost claimed the life of Patrick Kombayi. It is however contemporary Zimbabwean politics which evoke disturbing images about fast a nation’s collective soul can fall into the abyss when the political leadership forfeits its soul to the devil seemingly to gain eternal rule. Since the emergence of a powerful and popular political opposition, even doomsayers have gleefully seen the events here as the fulfilment of Biblical prophesies where brother would turn against brother etc. This has only been "fulfilled" by peddlers of hate who have seemingly successfully turned siblings against each other, sons against their fathers as the little rascals from the notorious and murderous youth brigades trained under the disguise of instilling in the young ‘patriotism’ cudgel their parents solely because of divergent political allegiance.

Any government that teaches its young to hate is surely doomed to fall into that very grave it imagines it dug for its opponents. Hate has taken over the national psyche, and it not an exaggeration that the ruling party has stretched the long-suffering people here’s virtue of forgiving and forgetting. Many people just hate this regime, but then are at a loss for solutions. The ordinary man, woman and child blame their woes – and rightfully so – on the ruling party which does not seem to have any idea about its obligations to the people it claims voted it into power. But the lesson for us - as gleaned form the philosophies of Gandhi and King jr - is, if you allow anybody to treat you so bad that you allow yourself to hate them, you become no different from them. The all time "hard to take" exhortation found in any other monotheistic religion in the world is turning the other cheek, but in Zimbabwe we have learned rather too painfully as politics of hate take centre stage that the more you turn that cheek, the harder the punches become. You just have to be a very dedicated Stoic, a pacifist, or just plain stupid to be able to withstand all the hate paraphernalia that Zanu PF throws at you.

In the absence of any sense of real patriotism, not the jingoism that we have seen in the past five years, hate politics unfortunately have that uncanny proclivity to take centre stage. They tend to define the politics of the day with ruling parties claiming all sorts of absurdities against opposition parties. And what that means is that politicians obsess about demonising opponents and relegating everything people-centred to the annals of history, if not the toilet seat itself. Zimbabwe offers an invaluable case study on contemporary African politics of hate, the kind this time not fuelled by what was seen in Kenya for example during the Moi years when politicians where referred in the news by their ethnic belonging, something Moi was accused of exploiting to the fullest thereby extending his hold on power, but by hating all things not ZANU PF. Nothing ethnic about it however, just hate unmasked. All those speeches about anybody ruling over so and so’s dead body, all the claims about being degreed in violence; all the sanctioning of vigilante groups to evict old women from their houses; all the belligerence of erstwhile combatants; all this is informed and driven by the politics of hate which have seen anybody not subscribing to the same warped philosophies as vermin and therefore to be eliminated from society. Sad stories abound of families who lost loved ones immediately after the ruling party decided it had a different outlook now about the whole business of taking the battle for independence to the bush.

From the Rashiwe Guzhas who disappeared without any trace, to the very latest victims of political retributions, it would point to a nation that has left its fate to the hands of merchants of death who seemingly are guided in their anti-people pursuits by an omnipotent malevolent force, more powerful than the benign gods we thought we knew and watched over us. Hate has been known to cloud rational thought, and with the events here in the past five or so years that have turned a once prosperous country into a wretched rouge state, there should then have been an emotion that stood out like a sore thumb and guided the thinking of the men and women presiding over the country’s ruin. And that emotion is hate.

The hate aimed at the political opposition has virtually meant all reason is jettisoned just as long as that opposition remains just that: the opposition and therefore mere pretenders to the throne. The question that would be asked in light of the kind of politics that has been seen here since the advent of a powerful opposition is, how long will the powers of darkness watch over this regime as is seeks to turn hate into a commodity found in every home? Are you willing to turn their hate into your hate?

Write to Marko at phmarko@yahoo.com

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP