Of politics, politicians and our future
“There’s no virgin in a maternity ward,” says a Cameroonian proverb. After Thabo Mbeki’s ouster, which many, who are able to read the dynamics of politics, have known was coming for a long time, and the shenanigans from those involved in Zimbabwe’s power sharing deal, many things have been said.
Jacob Zuma has been accused of being power hungry. Many have observed how our own Arthur has delusions of grandeur where he is King- and it was quite apparent he would be so at any cost and compromise. But then let anyone who enters politics and does not want power cast the first stone.
Yes, it would be good if those who enter politics demonstrated higher levels of altruism, but then look around you at our day to day lives, and see how we as ordinary citizens fail to do this. Why should we expect our politicians to be better than us? It seems to me the mistake we make is that we expect our politicians to be infallible, when we simply should be advocating and ensuring that they are accountable.
Sadly, in Zimbabwe and Africa in general there is very little accountability. Our lives have been run for a long time as if we are hapless subjects in tyrannical fiefdoms. To speak out against injustice, lack of transparency and the need for better governance can so easily, more often that not, be seen as being unpatriotic, unAfrican, the by-product of insidious Western manipulations.
Nothing but a lot of self- serving hogwash, of course. Fallacies that politicians cook up when the need suits them. I am reminded here of something said by a Nazi of all people, Hermann Goering who, during the course of the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, said:
“ Naturally, the common people don’t want war……., but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and its always a simple matter to drag the people along whether its a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship…… voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked,
and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country” (Published in the book “Nuremberg Diary” by Gustave M Gilbert).
So you see, there are no virgins in the political maternity ward. But politicians should not be allowed to get away with murder. In Zimbabwe we have stood by while we watched them run down the country. It is from the ruins of this incessant devastation that we must seek to seize back our power and turn politicians into mere custodians of that power.
It’s not going to be easy, it never is. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 58: “Do you rulers speak justly?/ Do you judge uprightly among men?/ No, in your heart you devise injustice,/ and your hands mete out violence on the earth.” He could very well have been speaking about our own lot.
When we remain silent we acquiesce to what ever is done to us ostensibly on our behalf for our own good. That other Nazi, Adolf Hitler once said, “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” This seems to be the general attitude of most of our politicians both at home and elsewhere on the continent.
But people do think. And they should not be taken for granted for too long. After the ink has dried on power sharing deals, and arguments over who should get what posts have subsided, there shall be the small business of winning people’s hearts and minds. This shall not be done through grandiose speeches at the UN, or any other platforms, but on the podiums of our lives, where we expects to see real, tangible change. Food on our tables, electricity in our homes, paved roads, water, money in our wallets not stuck in our bank our accounts, affordable goods…
This is all we ask for, not speeches upon speeches, official launches t commission this or that hand out or verbal slurs over posts. We just want our politicians to deliver and to be accountable when they fail to do so.
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