Maravi

Violence

Violence
By The Post
Thu 14 Apr. 2011, 04:00 CAT

Attention is increasingly being called to the threat of violence in our country.

The other week, even President Robert Mugabe told the SADC meeting in Livingstone that the violence they were talking about in Zimbabwe was not different from that prevailing in Zambia’s politics. Mugabe might not be right in his comparison when one looks at the magnitude or nature of violence in Zimbabwe and Zambia. But he is definitely right in principle because violence is violence.

After all, all violence starts in a small way and then grows like wildfire. What appears to be small, isolated acts of political violence today may grow and become big.

One act of violence anywhere in our country or on our continent is one too many. In fact, when Mugabe was saying all these things, the Lusaka city centre was at a standstill because of political violence that had been started by MMD cadres who were forcing people in the markets to wear their attire and buy their party cards. These were methods that UNIP used during the one party era.

We are now under a multiparty political dispensation and nobody should be forced to belong to a political party that is not of his or her choice. And the Zambian people know this very well because they struggled for it. They will never allow William Banda to push them back to the one party state methods of forcing people to be UNIP to get into the markets or to board buses.

Anyone who tries this is calling for trouble, is provoking violence. There is no self respect in a Zambian who accepts public services to be under the control of political party cadres, whether from the ruling party or the opposition.

The Church has also been consistent in warning us about the threats of violence to our democracy and indeed to the wellbeing of our nation. The writing is on the wall. For as long as the majority of people anywhere in our country or on our continent feel oppressed, feel they are not allowed meaningful democratic participation in decision-making processes, and cannot elect their own leaders in free and fair elections, there will always be tension and conflict.

And violence doesn’t just come like that; there are warning signs. In our country, these warning signs can be seen in the conduct of the MMD leadership and its cadres. The MMD leadership is abusing collective public institutions at the exclusion of others. They have taken over the state-owned media and are using it as MMD campaign propaganda machinery, to the exclusion of others. The opposition is only covered if doing so promotes or supports the political agenda of the MMD. This is not right.

This is a corrupt way of using public institutions. There is no law in this country that gives the MMD this right. We do appreciate the fact that the party in power may enjoy the advantages of incumbency, but the rules of conduct of the election contest must be fair. Simply permitting the opposition to the ballot is not enough. Elections in which the opposition is denied meaningful and fair access to the state–owned media are not democratic.

Fumes and smoke appear before the flames do; insults, disagreements, quarrels and so on and so forth come before violence. We are seeing all this happening and those who are worried about the threat of violence are not talking from without.

We should treat the question of peace and stability in our country as a common challenge.

And we should also treat the question of violence on our continent as a common challenge. And since the matter of political violence in Zambia was raised at the last SADC meeting in Livingstone, there is need to follow it up. We urge the opposition and other civil society organisations like the Church to follow up this matter with the leadership of SADC to ensure that things are kept under control.

Prevention is always better than cure. And our continent has been very poor at preventing conflict. There is need for SADC to prevent conflict in Zambia. If things are allowed to continue as they stand today, we will be lucky to have peaceful elections and a peaceful post-elections period. We say this because the manner in which the government and the MMD are going about things is likely to lead to serious disagreements and conflict.

To have peaceful, free and fair elections certain conditions have to prevail in our country; constructive dialogue has to take place on key electoral issues. The government and the ruling MMD should ensure that the concerns of all key players are adequately addressed. We are not seeing any positive signs on this score. The MMD is doing things as if they are the only important contestants in the coming elections. The leadership of the MMD appoints all the commissioners and directors of the Electoral Commission with no input whatsoever from the opposition or civil society.

And some of these commissioners and directors are people who are very close to them but they are expected to be accepted by the opposition without question. This is not a recipe for running elections whose results should be accepted by all. They have also rejected and threatened to criminalise parallel vote tabulation. Again, this is not a recipe for peaceful elections.

The MMD is today running one of the worst campaigns this country has ever seen in terms of verbal and physical violence during the pre-election campaigns. This is an affront to the rights of voters and the rights of electoral candidates. They are carrying out their campaigns in the most provocative and dishonest way, full of malice and slander of political opponents.

To have peaceful, free and fair elections, all citizens must be guided by the truth, integrity and justice. And election campaigns should address themselves to the real issues, to the manifestos of political parties so that voters can judge what ideas the parties and their leaders have on problems that really matter: the cost of living, unemployment, lack of security, corruption, and poor services in education, health and government offices.

They should respect truth and their political opponents. They should learn to be tolerant of people belonging to other political parties and who have different political opinions. They should also not abuse the judicial process to harass political opponents. All these things seem to be beyond the reach of the MMD.

We, therefore, appeal to SADC to be proactive and interrogate the growing threat of political violence in Zambia. And we urge the opposition to table these threats of political violence to SADC so that adequate preventative measures can be taken by SADC and the international community. The threat of violence in Zambia is not only by the political parties but also by the state itself. Look at the brutality that befell the residents of Mongu for simply demanding their right to freedom of expression and assembly so that they are heard on an important matter of governance – the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 – that affects their lives.

Every citizen of this country has the right to participate in the affairs of their country in the manner they deem fit and not in the manner Rupiah Banda and George Kunda deem fit. And no one should lose his life, his leg for doing so. It is sad when elections are marred with unfairness and violence. It is essential for the government and the MMD to respect people’s voice and choice. Respect for human dignity requires that elections are conducted well; they should not be a matter of fraud or coercion since that will break the sacred character of democracy.

Labels: MMD, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, ROBERT MUGABE, WILLIAM BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:27 PM