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Zimbabwean government may soon ban itself
Ozias Tungwarara, Director of Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP), a project of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
Extracted from e-CIVICUS 352
August 15, 2007

By now the Zimbabwean government should have realised that the practice of banning everything that appears a threat to its hold on power does not work. Banning only addresses the symptoms and not the route causes of the social, economic and political malaise that has inflicted Zimbabwe over the past seven or so years. Initially it was the banning and closure of independent voices in the form of non-state media. Through the partisan application of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), non-state media and journalists faced an unprecedented onslaught that left them out rightly banned or operating in a very constrained environment. For more information, see By now the Zimbabwean government should have realised that the practice of banning everything that appears a threat to its hold on power does not work. Banning only addresses the symptoms and not the root causes of the social, economic and political malaise that has inflicted Zimbabwe over the past seven or so years.

Initially it was the banning and closure of independent voices in the form of non-state media. Through the partisan application of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), non-state media and journalists faced an unprecedented onslaught that left them out rightly banned or operating in a very constrained environment. The net result has been a false sense of invincibility on the part of government and the ruling elite fanned by unbridled propaganda and irresponsible reporting on the part of state owned media.

While legally opposition political formations and those advocating for democratic reform have not been outlawed, the selective application of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) amounts to a de facto ban. Freedoms of assembly have been ridiculously curtailed to levels unacceptable in any democratic society. Opposition political parties and civil society organizations have to go through a near impossible routine to get authorization to hold meetings. The draconian application of POSA cannot be justified on any ground of public interest.

As the ZANU PF-s hold on power continues to be eroded the forms of banning have taken a manifestly absurd form. In 2005 Zimbabwe attracted the unprecedented intervention of the United Nations when it decided to ban poverty under the guise of Operation Murambatsvina. 700,000 innocent civilians were displaced amid untold suffering and hardships through an ill conceived operation whose benefits were never realized. The motive was primarily to ban the increasing evidence of poverty especially in urban Zimbabwe.

In 2006 the country scaled new heights on the ladder of banning. In his unorthodox wisdom the Governor of the Reserve Bank decided to ban three zeroes from the local currency for reasons that he can only best explain. Despite being warned that banning zeroes alone without addressing the fundamentals regarding wealth creation was an exercise in futility, he went ahead. He was equally warned that the zeroes would regroup and come back with a vengeance. While this prophecy may have cost the then Minister of Finance his job, the country has come full circle to live with that prediction.

The ban on political activity has taken a very sinister form. It now manifests itself in the form of extreme state sanctioned violence and brutality. Previously people got hit under the soles of their feet but now they go for the skull in broad daylight for all to see. The aim is a total and permanent ban on any political activity that differs from government-s parochial notion of national interest.

It is often said that the darkest hour is before dawn. The forms of banning we are now seeing have become farcical. Recently there has been a ban on inflation figures. The Central Statistics Office has given some constipated explanation about that state of affairs. The government should be well aware that banning the publication of rates of inflation will not tame inflation. In a move that has left the world dumb struck, the government has now banned prices of goods, services and commodities. By arbitrarily ordering industry and business to trade at prices below cost, government has effectively banned sustainable pricing of goods and services. Once again they have been warned of the dire consequences of such an ill considered move but again the government has stubbornly proceeded on its path of self destruction.

Managing a modern economy goes beyond populist policies whose primary purpose is retention of political power. The country is emptying of its citizens trekking to far off lands to eke a living. Sooner or later the government is going to run out of things to ban. When that happens the government would have banned itself out of political relevance.

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