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Zimbabwe's three anniversaries in the first quarter of 2010
Promise Mkwananzi
February 19, 2010

Introduction

Between January and April 2010 Zimbabwe has and will experience three very related but different anniversaries. The first is personal but has been epitomized as an anniversary of national significance since Robert Mugabe's ascension to power in 1980. It is on the 21st of February and has come to be known as the February 21st movement. The second is a national historic day rooted in the historic triumph of the liberation struggle over the oppressive and discriminatory forces of colonialism and imperialism. It is the Independence Day celebrated on the 18th of April of each year since 1980. The last (born) but not least is the inauguration of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister thereby facilitating the coming into force of this creature that we now have to grapple with otherwise known as the government of national unity (GNU). There are ironies and paradoxes which characterize these different yet related anniversaries in a number of fascinating ways. Foremost is their impact on the nation, the national fiscus and the generality of the people of Zimbabwe. They also reveal the conception what constitutes an anniversary in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

Robert Mugabe's 86th Anniversary

In a fully fledged democratic society, this day would be an ordinary day like any other. This is not to say that the esteemed president would not be allowed to celebrate his birthday. Rather, this would be a day that Mr. Mugabe would happily spend with his family, close relatives and friends in the tranquilities of their privacy, drawing of course from his personal earnings from his job as the president of ZANU PF and the country. Being a president, of course the media would mention and duly recognize the birthday of the president and wish him well and many more. Those who love the president would be allowed to send him best regards and gifts-including cows and goats, for those who still have any to give him. This also is perfectly acceptable in any functional democratic society. I must add that a reasonable pinch into the national coffers would be even tolerable, especially if the people felt that his Excellency was doing a great job, having been democratically elected by them.

Unfortunately this has not been the case in many years. The president and his party have sought to characterize the president`s birthday as naturally a day of national status, which as I argued above would not be a problem if this proposition fitted the democratic framework which I described above. The problem arises when the president is not perceived as having been democratically and freely elected. Thus, the problem comes when his legitimacy to lead the country remains an issue of great national and even international controversy. Further, when the president`s birthday budget surpasses that which is needed to open the halls of residence at the university of Zimbabwe, or to address any other pressing national issue. The problem arises when the state media and ZANU PF members and supporters want or expect Zimbabwe to grind to a halt and donate their hard earned money to prop the birthday of a man whom they did not elect. If Mr. Mugabe had retired earlier as Mr. Mandela did, perhaps even a little later than Mandela. He would have risen above party politics and squabbles and became an iconic national unifying figure around which every Zimbabwean could rally. If this was the case, Mr. Mugabe would not need the apparatus of his party and that of the state to arm twist donations from companies and other "well wishers". His credentials as an historic freedom fighter who led the struggle for independence would have been enough to earn him this sort of respect. There is no need to explain further what status Mr. Mugabe and his birthday would have assumed had the man stepped down in time. One just has to look across the border, in South Africa and see how South Africans respect and revere not just Nelson Mandel but other national fathers such as Oliver R. Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Steve Biko, Chief Albert Luthuli, Chris Hani to name but a few. Need I say more?

Zimbabwe Independence's 30th Anniversary

This is a day of true historical significance! Every Zimbabwean patriot who cherishes the vision of independence and democracy will agree that this indeed is a special day in our country. It is the day when the people of Zimbabwe finally realized and began to live the dream of freedom. Many Zimbabweans in and outside the country were profoundly moved by the rise of the sun and the hoisting of the Zimbabwe national flag on the 18th of April 1980. It is a known historical fact that multitudes marched for hundreds of kilometers, heads of state and government descended on Zimbabwean soil. There are no words to describe and my imagination is too small to imagine how it was. But history has it, it was an historic day. On that day, Robert Mugabe pledged reconciliation, promised freedom and democracy. He spoke with electrifying eloquence of the need for Zimbabweans to unite and reconstruct their country that had been ravaged by a protracted struggle to bring down the racist and illegitimate regime of Ian Smith. Bob Marley came all the way and gracefully sang "Africans liberate Zimbabwe". Julius Nyerere told Robert Mugabe "my friend, you are inheriting the jewel of Africa, preserve it". Today many wonder whether the eventual successor of Robert Mugabe will inherit anything apart from the socio-economic and political rubble which has since become of Zimbabwe.

Comrades, the objectives of the liberation struggle and the significance of our national independence day have been bastardized. The values and principles of the liberation struggle have been negated. Today national independence has been reduced to a ZANU PF affair and for ZANU PF supporters. This cannot be allowed to continue. George Ayittey writes that many African countries have been "high jacked by crocodile liberators [and] vampire elites". This can never be further from the truth when one is reflecting on the national discourse of our independence day since 1980. Zimbabweans must reclaim their heritage from ZANU PF. Zimbabwe Independence Day is for Zimbabwe and for generations to come no end-not ZANU PF supporters or only those who fought the war of liberation. Hence the question of whether you fought in the liberation struggle can never be the criteria for entitlement of the gains of that liberation struggle, or what Comrade Phillan Zamchiya terms the "national democratic revolution". The criteria must be whether one is Zimbabwean or not. All the gallant freedom fighters who fought in the liberation struggle cannot successfully claim to have fought for themselves alone. That will be a distortion of history. The gallant sons and daughters of our land fought for their beloved country, they fought for posterity and for future generations. They didn-t fight for ZANU PF. They fought in order to establish a democratic society based on one person one vote, so that Zimbabweans of all walks of life would be able to vote for anyone of their choice and to contest and be voted for without any barriers. This is the legacy of the liberation struggle-not what ZANU PF propaganda has sought to teach us since their hold on power was shaken to its core by the emergence of the MDC and the subsequent democratic contestations.

It is in the light of the above that I wish to give 18 gun salutes to the brave men and women of honor who have sacrificed themselves some of which have had to pay the ultimate price to debunk this untruth that ZANU PF is the sole and ultimate custodian of our national democratic revolution. 18 gun salutes to all those comrades who have laid their lives in harm-s way to reclaim their national heritage from this creature called ZANU PF.

When I set about to write this article, it was my plan to name by name all those comrades who have perished in pursuit of reclaiming our national legacy from ZANU PF. However, as I set about to do this, I quickly realized that the list was almost endless, a mere impossibility for this short article. The list is long, Starting from gukurahundi, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008 elections and in between these elections and even after the formation of the governmental of national unity. The killings have not subsided, they persist. Nevertheless, Zimbabweans must brave the winter and reclaim their birthright and sovereignty. Again 18 gun salute to all our dear departed comrades, including those who died during the liberation struggle. All we can do for them to rest in eternal peace is to complete what they died to achieve: the national democratic revolution and its attendant freedoms. A gun salute to our numerous vehicles and vanguards of change-the students and labor movements, the women and youth movements, the civil society who together bore the MDC which today remains the centerpiece of our democratic journey. Above all, the ordianry peoples of Zimbabwe, within whom lies the ultimate authority and soverignty. Little change has come, the fight is still on. Robert Mugabe is still the boss of the shop, despite losing elections. It is our duty to fight and defend the sovereignty of the people`s vote-for both historic and future reasons. Just as the freedom fighters of our liberation struggle said "history will judge us harshly, if we stand idly and cowardly while colonialists plunder our country", so shall that spirit apply today: history will judge us harshly if we do not do anything about ZANU PF`s mockery of the people`s verdict. 18 gun salute to those who soldier on in the face of acute danger from ZANU PF sponsored violence and murder.

Government of National Unity 1st anniversary

In a normal democratic society, this day would have come shortly after the March 2008 elections. A credible electoral commission would have announced the deadlocked election results shortly after their release and begin to straight away to prepare for a run-off between the two best candidates. Of course this would have taken place under a peaceful and fair environment. Given the fact that Zimbabweans have steadfastly authored their future away from ZANU PF, chances of the ZANU PF presidential candidate winning the runoff elections would have simply been statistically incalculable. Robert Mugabe would have lost and conceded defeat, after which the anniversary which we are supposed to be celebrating would have come in a very different form and character. But we all know what happened, however there is still reason to partially celebrate that the vote of the people of Zimbabwe has found partial expression in the creature called the GNU and that has come with a number of mixed results.

To start with the positive, there is need to look at the opportunities and constraints of the ordinary citizen; runaway inflation has been arrested, polarization has decreased, despite continued intimidation and retention of the infrastructure of violence by its masters-ZANU PF. International isolation is finally subsiding as evidenced by the partial removal of sanctions by the EU, and of course the GNU reduced country illegitimacy among other notable positive developments, which one can say would cause this day to be a day worth celebrating. On the other hand, true to its form, ZANU PF has intensified its campaign to stay in power until amen, by stalling the transitional process at every opportunity in ways that are now matters of public knowledge.

They have continued to play down international investor confidence by refusing to uphold the rule of law and respect property rights. For example the controversial indigenization laws, continued farm invasions and the existence of militia bases and other institutions of violence. ZANU PF of course continues to play to the disagreements in the democratic formations on strategy, in order to delay real change as far as conceivable. They have even gone to the extent of downplaying the national significance of the 11th of February, preferring instead to make the birthday of Robert Mugabe more important. This is the legacy of ZANU PF, a liberation movement that has "transmogrified into a melodramatic nightmare" to quote George Ayitte once again. Thus, sadly for Zimbabweans who bravely voted for change, this anniversary can only be partially celebrated. It will be a long way until freedom can finally fall like rain and people can choose leaders of their choice. Practically, it will take the removal of ZANU PF from power to begin to foster this new kind of political culture. ZANU PF cannot change (even South Africa has abandoned its reformed ZANU agenda, in recognition of this simple fact); it is evident from its internal dynamics that it is an institution which is no longer capable of evolution. The agency and institutions of ZANU PF are all drunk with power. A new sober authority which will still be susceptible to internal evolution and accountable to the people is needed.

As stated at the beginning, the three anniversaries are different but related. They reveal most vividly the dynamics of the current conception of what constitutes a day of national significance in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe`s birthday is supposed to be celebrated more than the day of the inception of the government of national unity and more or less the same way as the historic day of our national independence-which again has now become a ZANU PF affair. As stated above, when ZANU PF finally leave power, Zimbabweans will eventually get an opportunity to clean this mess and put the country at work again. I forgot to mention that Robert Mugabe is creditted for developing a robust education and health delivery systems because today they are no longer there. He built and destroyed them.

18 gun salutes to the national democratic revolutionaries that are still in the revolution!

Victoria Ascerta, Aluta Continue!!!

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