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Post
authoritarians stress syndrome
Rejoice
Ngwenya
January 11, 2012
Here is an indisputable
fact. Dictators are prone to miserable, lonely or even violent deaths.
They generally leave a legacy of turmoil, disorder, hatred and vengeance.
Mobutu Sese Seko died in Moroccan exile from prostate cancer. Apartheid
tyrant Pieter Botha succumbed to heart attack at his home in a political
'wilderness- as was the butcher of Bangui, Jean-Bédel
Bokassa. Grumpy Ian Smith left the planet under the care of his
stepdaughter in Cape Town, while Adolph Hitler took his life in
a Berlin bunker. A Saudi Arabian sandy tomb was host to a bitter
Idi Amin. Kamuzu Banda had very little or no grave-side company
and one Muammar Gaddafi was smoked from a sewer pipe then silenced
with a bullet fired by an equally demented teenage rebel. We heave
a sigh of relief and more often than not, celebrate The Dictator-s
overdue departure.
Yet such ululations are short-lived. Nations emerging from authoritarian
torture are afflicted by near-clinical abnormalities. The Dictator
practices a stunning variety of unilateralism that leaves citizens
with a chronic sense of helpless anxiety. I would term such a condition
PASS - post authoritarian stress syndrome. Endemic as PASS is in
Zimbabwe, we remain incoherent, anxious and frustrated about our
future.
My fear is that when MDCs finally condemn ZANU-PF to the electoral
basement, PASS will inflict on us symptoms akin to Bingu waMutharika-s
Malawi. After several attempts at democratisation triggered by Bakili
Muluzi in 1994, Malawi has sled back into Banda-s authoritarian
insanity. The world got excited by that country-s rude awakening,
became too keen on ODA - Overseas Development Assistance and completely
ignored the PASS effect. Right now waMutharika, haunted by an irrepressible
hologram of Kamuzu Banda, chooses to replicate The Dictator-s
contaminated governance scorecard.
According to Wikipedia, in 1983, 'non compliant- ministers
Dick Matenje, Twaibu Sangala, Aaron Gadama - and legislator
David Chiwanga died mysteriously in what was labeled officially
as a "traffic accident". Zimbabwe has had its own share
of traffic and fire mysteries! ZANU-PF-like party membership cards
were sold by Malawi Young Pioneers and used to taunt the public.
There was such rampant cult of personality that every business and
public office spotted a wall-hanging portrait of the 'Ngwazi-.
When Banda visited a city, women dressed in special cloth bearing
his picture would pay him Mbare Chimurenga Choir-type sexually provocative
musical homage!
The Dictator had cronies who censored progressive news in the press
and radio. Television was banned. It is also believed that during
his reign, Banda stashed away millions in personal financial assets.
At the twilight of his rule, handlers took umbrage on his health
as The Dictator stumbled on stairs, fell asleep at conferences and
indulged in mysterious health-related forays abroad. In a death-defying
act of centenarian bravado, he contested Malawi-s first truly
democratic elections but was thrashed. True to the PASS effect,
waMutharika has borrowed directly from The Dictator-s diary
of culpable mannerisms, lashing out at gays, lesbians and NGOs as
if they are the only transgressions in the world! Malawi is at the
brink of post-democratisation implosion.
On our part, Zimbabwe-s political pendulum is swinging faster
towards demerger of The Dictator from our country-s 'political
bourse-, thus we should be wary of the PASS phenomenon. It
is good to anticipate and celebrate his inevitable departure. However,
Zimbabwe must set a trend in neutralising post authoritarian stress
syndrome to avoid clinical misbehavior that retards economic development.
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