Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Civil Society should not rubberstamp rubbish
George Makoni
July 16, 2009

I note with concern that some of our brothers and sisters have allowed themselves to stoop so low for the sake of advantages to do with the buttering of their bread at the expense of fundamental principles of democracy which all pro-democratic forces have always fought for in the post colonial era. I am particularly concerned by some who masquerade to be civic society leaders and activists when in fact they are political party activists, hyenas in sheep's clothing. It is categorically clear that the parliamentary driven process is a sham since it has all the procedures laid out in article six of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The role of the civic society as envisaged by the GPA is to simply endorse what Mugabe and his two colleagues in government prescribed. This trio knew quite well that within the civic society it is the easiest of tasks to lure "partners" in executing this greatest political crime of our generation , writing a constitution on the people's behalf.

With the disruptions which occurred on the first day of the all stakeholders conference which to me was of more of a rally than the latter, one would expect genuine civil society activists to boycott and possibly call for a genuine conference where people can freely participate without fear. What ZANU simply did was to intimidate people so that they could cow them into submission with regards to their demands particularly the Kariba Draft as the foundation upon which the constitution will be built on. A lot of people particularly the youths who wanted to air their views ended up zipping their mouths to avoid any further harm. Most youths whom I talked to when I visited HICC were just waiting for their per diems and reimbursements so that they go back to their homes and as such they did not want to risk losing their hard earned per diems and reimbursements.

I came to the realisation that the so called conference was carried out for convenience rather than principle, looking at how it was fast-tracked. Honestly speaking it took about 3-4 hours with most of the delegates pursuing housekeeping issues during the session. It resembled a scenario where a wife is braving the brutality of a husband for the sake of kids. In a domestic issue it makes a lot of sense, but in a democracy that is totally intolerable and indeed hogwash. Imagine if civic society activists there present had walked away, it would have made the politicians to be more serious and come with an all inclusive process from the start rather just join at a later stage for the purposes of rubberstamping the their will. With that rally where politicians and the other society's prominent took turns to air their views what those from the civic society managed to do was to secure their employment as extended parliamentary secretariat and are just waiting to be deployed to different corners of the country.

The civic society groups got the maximum of eight delegates per organisation whilst youth organisations were allowed to bring in 3 delegates. In the interest of looting us $19 million put aside for the stated rally the logistics personnel simply invited delegates from Harare and a few from outside who on their list came from as far as Victoria Falls. I carried a survey to check whether people had come from all corners of the country and realised that most of them were locals masquerading as out of Harare delegates. I did not meet even a single rural folk except ZANU PF charlatans who disrupted the rally disguising as a conference. This proves that the conference was stage-managed to ensure that the parliamentary driven constitution making goes ahead with the nod of the 'people'. I have no problems with seeing African politicians behaving this way, my worry is only on the civic society leaders who were endorsing this rubbish.

What is disheartening is the fact that members of the civic society really knew that they are in the right track, but in the interest of following a political wave knowing very well that with the euphoria which the people of Zimbabwe particularly MDC supporters have following the incorporation of MDC in the government it is easy to take advantage of them. They are not concerned about the generations to come, they simply want immediate benefits. I was shocked to hear professor Makumbe's U turn who instead of attacking the common enemy Robert Mugabe he chose to attack Dr Madhuku and Mr Chibhebhe as retrogressive forces in the constitutional making process. I did not expect the learned colleague to become angry on behalf of the government. One would be forgiven to mistake him with Parliamentary Commission Spokesperson. Such a behaviour is not expected from someone who masquerade to represent Christian Alliance simply because it is unchristian. If that is the democracy that he is teaching students at University of Zimbabwe then it's a sham. The division which is currently there in the civic society only works in the best interest of the ageing dictator and it seems there are some who now feel that Mugabe is a better devil than their brothers and sisters whom they have worked with from time immemorial .The notion that Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal - that there is no human relation between master and slave really holds water against this background given the fact that most of those who control resources in the civic society in the interest of political power have tilted towards taking part in the flawed parliamentary driven process for the obvious reasons. In the short term it obviously have an avalanche of benefits to them but it has a problem in the long run for history will judge them harshly. Whilst everyone is entitled to his or her opinions, there are some fundamental principles to do with citizen participation, governance and democracy which should not be compromised at any given time. I will not support my sister if she resorts to prostitution in order to bring food on the table,nomatter how hungry and poverty stricken I might be. It is very clear that the constitutional making process which was condemned by MDC and Civic Society in 1999 is similar or even worse than what is prevailing right now. Why do we have to compromise on such a sacrosanct document. If we compromise on this critical issue, then how do we resist moves by politicians to do the same in national healing and transitional justice.

What comforts me in this whole confusion is that a good idea will never be defeated. I think its high time people should abandon the middle of the road approach and define what they subscribe to. As a former student leader I take this opportunity to congratulate Zimbabwe National Students for continuing to be voice of the voiceless regardless of what it takes by declaring that they will not participate in the flawed parliamentary driven process. Aluta Continua (The struggle continues). Good will prevail over evil. God is for us all.

*The writer is a political analyst based in Harare

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