Posted By Mthulisi Mathuthu on 11 May, 2010 at 8:00 pm
PERHAPS one of the sorriest traditions characteristic of Robert Mugabe’s 30 year rule and which looks set to survive long after he is gone, is Zimbabwe’s penchant for the sanctification of what one might call the doctrine of unwritten and yet socially accepted “laws”.
Absurd as they are, these “laws” have so much held sway that they have, over the years, come to have an enduring influence on the rhythm and sentiment of the country, defining just about every aspect of life.
Straight from the mentality of the earlier era, the examples are legion but only a few will suffice: Thou shall not criticise the hero of the day, for those who do so shall be invariably labelled agents, dissidents or sell-outs; thou shall not criticise the MDC-T (it used to be Zanu PF), for those who do so shall have their names inscribed onto the hall of infamy and subjected to unending vicious pillory; thou shall not say nor suggest that the western sanctions regime hurts beyond Mugabe’s inner circle nor infer in any way that, other than the “targeted measures”, there are indeed real sanctions on Zimbabwe, ZEDERA for example.
With devious ease, the press has customarily succumbed to the might of this tradition to willingly perpetuate the myth and impression that the government of national unity is essentially a fought over entity with the powerful devils of Zanu PF ranged against the weaker saints of the MDC T. One gets the sense that the MDC are lesser partners or simply victims whose fair share has yet to come, and must naturally be spared of any opprobrium.
For that reason, it has been made politically incorrect to say anything good about the GNU, and anybody who does shall, in accordance with the spirit of the socially-spun commandments, be tarred as a Zanu PF lackey.
At work here is a collective strategy by both the press and the activists to steer clear from criticising the MDC and instead maintain always the mantra of “outstanding issues”, “deadlocks” and “ongoing talks” and ultimately build a case for the continuation of the sanctions regime.
The MDC, we are told, are detained on the edges of Canaan and Pretoria, and must act fast and decisively to prod Mugabe into freeing the saviours to finally deliver us into the Promised Land. The aroma is in the air but, for the MDC, Canaan is still just within sight and only if Jacob Zuma could scatter the stalemate or even break down the perimeter wall, our saviours would usher us all in to taste the honey, we are made to believe. What a chimera!
Speaking to SW Radio Africa recently, Lovemore Madhuku said: ‘Who says there is a deadlock? This is mainly the journalists and politicians who tell you there is deadlock.
“You can’t call it a deadlock when daily Gideon Gono is the governor of the Reserve Bank. He reports to the government of Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe and Tendai Biti (Finance Minister). Biti and Gono have so many meetings together, they are working in the same government.
“Johannes Tomana (attorney general) sits in the same cabinet with those guys from the MDC and so forth, and these things are happening every week. The MDC itself does accept from time to time decisions made by the Attorney General and so on, and that is not a deadlock …”
Calling a spade by its name, he let rip: “These discussions that have been purportedly taking place among the three political parties in government I think that they have been a conspiracy by the politicians just to keep everyone in the country in suspense. I must be very clear those negotiations are really a fraud actually, politically.
“So,” Madhuku went on, “the way forward for our country is to treat the MDC led by Tsvangirai, the MDC led by Mutambara, Robert Mugabe leading Zanu PF and also being President, let’s treat them as a government and lets subject them to accountability and that accountability must be based on bread and butter issues and so on.”
Equally forthright was the ever eloquent Paul Themba Nyathi: “The tendency that you get from the media and other sections that seek to comment on the Zimbabwean situation is to portray in this whole arrangement Tsvangirai as the victim, and I keep saying to myself, the man is not a victim!
“He is part of an arrangement, he has gone into that arrangement with his eyes open, he knows what he is doing in that arrangement, he knows what he gets in that arrangement, but the media loves to portray him as victim and I don’t understand why the media seeks to do that.”
While Nyathi may be baffled by this stoic dedication to deceit, the real reasons for it are not hard to find. The media are awash with fortune-seeking cheer leaders who yearn for a Canaan in which the MDC T would then parcel out some of the honey to the loyalists Zanu PF-style.
The reality that Tsvangirai has finally tasted “sugar” at the palace is ignored by his media apologists who however refuse to demand a collective balance sheet. They look the other direction to shout the old anti-Zanu PF mantra.
Slowly the door is closing and they shout from outside, urging Mugabe to “share” the cake (power) with Tsvangirai and yet far from what is commonly supposed, that Tsvangirai is some kind of an African Lazarus feeding on the crumbles from under the State House table, he is instead drowning in the honey.
Fearful of the prospect that they may be shut out of the gravy train completely, and yet blinded by the conviction that the dear leader does not err, the praise singers must peddle the convenient fallacy that Tsvangirai has yet to reap the fruits of his toil.
To acknowledge that the MDC T is indeed a ruling party would seal the praise singers’ fate, as it would be akin to waving the train goodbye. They fear that they may have, for many years, cheered through the blogosphere and the airwaves in vain. For that reason, the “deadlock” fable must be maintained until they are admitted inside.
To continue to peddle this fable is to hand a political windfall to the MDC T elite; it affords them the opportunity to continue to enjoy the prerogative of the opposition, occasionally passing through the Quill Club to discourse and play pool with the journalists and possibly buy rounds of beer. And yet while it might seem that the GNU has not brought about any meaningful change in Zimbabwe, there is evidence of change in some quarters.
One only needs to check the shoes the new rulers are now wearing, their suits and the cars they drive and the direction they take from the Quill. Not so long ago, they either drove or walked towards Seke Road or westwards down Samora Machel Avenue. Not anymore.
No longer do they complain about bureaucracy at the Makombe building or NOCZIM for example; instead they are now part and parcel of it. No longer do they complain about school fees for their children, they have now joined those of the “locust class” at Peterhouse, Falcon, St Georges and Lomagundi colleges.
Quite understandably, the journalists are anxiously waiting for their triumphal entry into the Promised Land amid the clattering of the printing presses churning out the Daily News, Newsday and so forth, but the politicians are already there — right in the pool of honey, knee-deep in it.
However, in allowing the impression to gather that the politicians share their fate, the journalists are helping the rulers to perpetuate themselves in office without accounting to the membership.
Media people will be shocked to learn that while these new rulers took the Daily News for a compliment yesterday, they may view it as a potential irritant today; instead they are comfortable with the daily Herald taunts as this perpetuates their claim to victimhood and consequently galvanises the fallacy of a “deadlock”.
At work here is what one might refer to as the sponsored and systematic suspension of reasoning to deploy in its place a “tapestry of lies” amounting to breathtaking revisionism such as has never been seen in Southern Africa since Apartheid.
Come the next election (only the gods know when), the MDC leadership’s credibility will still be intact with them seeking fresh mandates as new uncorrupted hands and yet their children would have finished high school or undergraduate study and the younger ones would be starting the sweet process of free education at the tax payer’s expense.
And yet we are made to believe that these people have very little or nothing to do with the GNU. You will imagine that the MDC want an election yesterday. Nothing could be further from the truth.
This is how Zanu PF got away with murder in the 1980’s — peddling the lie that they were clearing the Rhodesian rot while, in reality, they were entrenching themselves in office. Just as the MDC today is spared the criticism it deserves, thanks to the unwritten “laws”, the Mugabe retinue were continuously pampered and cheered on as they personalised the national cake and the result was what is today called the Zimbabwean Crisis.
To put a gloss on what Madhuku refers to as a “conspiracy” — that is the encouragement of the persecution image to camouflage behind-the-scenes consensus, the MDC will resort to hollow gestures such as boycotting certain events; occasionally, they will threaten to pull out of the government only to backtrack the following morning.
It is said that boycotting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was an act of revulsion at the Iranian ruler’s tenuous rule and yet it was, in reality, meant to secure the Western cheque. In other words, while the cheque from the Munhumutapa Building is assured, every effort must be made to ensure that the traditional one from the White House and elsewhere doesn’t fizzle out by acting, from time to time, in a manner that pleases the signatories.
This, of course, looks suspiciously like a wretched double standard, if not high-minded naivety — a product of woolly and un-joined up thinking.
Dismayingly, while the new rulers are wont to shake Ahmadinejad’s hand, they have yet to explain how they will boycott the proceeds from his deals with Mugabe when they come as part of their allowances and salaries down the line.
Madhuku and Nyathi are right: Obsequious journalism has had its day; it is high time the media rejected this “deadlock” baloney to probe the “fraud” unfolding before our eyes.
It is only useless journalism which persists in being useful to any politician — even saintly ones. Journalism must be a headache, and never provide a comfort zone for any politician; more-so in conditions such as prevailing in Zimbabwe where politicians deploy fables and myths to forestall scrutiny.
Both good and bad may have come out of the GNU, but only a collective balance sheet — and not stereotypes — will prove to us who the saints and who the devils are. As journalists, we must demand that balance sheet now and roll back this steady flow of political myths and conspiracies.
To make it any other way is not just to abdicate duty, but to connive in the bleeding of our country.
Mthulisi Mathuthu is the news editor of New Zimbabwe.com. He is hooked on Russian literature and also enjoys the works of John Maxwell Coetzee, Eduardo Galeano and Salman Rushdie. He is an A-Z on Afro-jazz and has recently taken a keen interest in issues of climate change and international development. In Jose Mourinho, he sees his ideal self: "a character who doesn't care about anybody but gets things going for himself"
Contact Mthulisi on e-mail thuthuma@yahoo.com
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