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Partisanship makes our situation worse, not better
Psychology Maziwisa
June 14, 2010

At best the unity government-s continued bickering and failure to act in common purpose for the betterment of this country is disappointing. At worst it is a monstrous manoeuvre that tells of an unholy alliance determined to see this country further run into the ground.

That Robert Mugabe is a conservative cast as a revolutionary, an opportunist posing as a nationalist, and a dictator feigning an interest in democracy, is beyond question. Morgan Tsvangirai, himself not without fault, is a patriot who apparently subscribes to liberalism and hails from a democratic movement seeking to effect democratic change. They are not natural allies.

In comparison, the new allies in the coalition government in England were joined at the hip. It never was going to be easy.
Whatever their differences, however, there is an urgent need for both leaders to elevate cooperation over confrontation in the best interests of this country. Zimbabwe needs these men to find the common ground not to dance around each other like wary boxers. Starvation, sickness, economic collapse, decaying infrastructure are not the playthings of the political game but the tears of the suffering.

Nowhere in recorded history has retrogression yielded progress. Nowhere has dictatorship promoted tolerance, peace, economic prosperity and human freedom. Never has unrestrained selfishness been a precedent for attainment of the common good.

Yet, after more than a quarter of a century of mismanagement and brutal oppression, it is not unreasonable that millions of decent Zimbabweans should now relentlessly insist that progress, tolerance and shared prosperity be made the urgent and top priority of the inclusive government.

No thinking person can underestimate the fractious nature of coalition governments. To do so would be naive. But, we also know that where there is determination and a genuine desire to work in common purpose, a genuine desire to put one-s country ahead of oneself, otherwise improbable achievements become not just probable but actually realizable.

These are not just hollow principles. They are principles that have been beneficially embraced by several progressive governments across the civilized world, principles our unity government could do very well to emulate.
For Mugabe any tendency that is inclined to favor compromise, maturity, give and take and reasonableness is not a sign of strength but of weakness. This is a mindset that every decent Zimbabwean should abhor.

For Tsvangirai any political decision that is unacceptable to the MDC-s external friends is politically unsound and must, of necessity, be vehemently opposed or better yet nullified. Likewise, this is a mindset that should be despised by every progressive Zimbabwean.

Far from aiding his cause, it has further derailed every chance at democratizing this country because ZANU PF apologists, being the clever propagandists that they are, have exploited this weakness to the benefit of their selfish and evil ends.

However, the very existence of an inclusive government should enjoin both Mugabe and Tsvangirai to rise to the occasion. They must show leadership. There is no time in contemporary Zimbabwe for political point-scoring. There is no time for grandstanding either. Our problems are too enormous for that.

For most of our thirty years of supposed freedom, Mugabe and his party have been fixated on violence as a means to staying in power. Consequently a country that once offered all of its citizens the promise of economic prosperity and human freedom has been all but destroyed.

Every peaceful call for democratic change has systematically been met with a violent and vicious reaction. As the proverb goes, 'to a man with a big hammer every problem looks like a nail.-

But democracy has become such a widely shared ideal in this country. It is a desperate and burning idea that has been fanned into flame by the frustration of millions of Zimbabweans. No idea has ever been defeated by intimidation, violence or torture. As the Israeli author Amos Oz wrote recently: 'To defeat an idea, one has to offer a better idea, a more attractive and acceptable one.-

There has not been any such inspirational and liberating idea from ZANU PF since Ian Smith-s white supremacist regime was defeated. In fact, there is no better way to characterize Mugabe-s ZANU PF than by its constant and consistent imposition of outrageous and despotic ideas on the people of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans have a dream and that dream is one that is in pursuit of a just, fair, open and enlightened society. Above all, it is a dream that seeks freedom in all its forms including the freedom to determine who must govern this country.

Zimbabweans want to live free from the bondage not just of Mugabe-s oppression but of poverty, disease and misery. Indeed they aspire to live away from the xenophobia that now runs deep in a country otherwise expected to provide sanctuary to vulnerable and battered people.

The legitimate aspirations of Zimbabweans have been scandalously betrayed in the past. It would be evil in the extreme if we allow history to repeat itself. Like it or not, the only way to prevent this recurrence is by the inclusive government ensuring that the national interest reigns above partisanship, greed and self-aggrandizement.

Psychology Maziwisa is Interim President of the Union for Sustainable Democracy (USD) and can be contacted at leader@usd.org.zw

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