By Brian Sedze
ZIMBABWE is headed for a schism. The great divide may be a deeper chasm after the 2023 plebiscite.
Maybe the schism has already happened — or at least progressed too far to stop. The healing of the nation may occur only after having the diametrically opposed people of our country engaging in some sort of confrontation and/or at best apathy on state of economic and social affairs. The latter is less likely.
Nobody can evade or escape it. Even if you don’t want to take part in it, your silence will mark you as the opposition to any political party you haven’t chosen to align yourself with. You won’t have a choice because the “woke” will decide which side you are on.
You will be judged by their standards — which are situational and evolve to fit their desires of the moment. In most circumstances the judgement is not based on facts but emotions. We have become emotionally dumb that we must see evil in everything we don’t align ourselves to.
There are no innocent bystanders. In this world of Zimbabwe, you have to decide which of the story and/or narrative and/or position you want to be part of irrespective of the truth or falsity of it. You must criticise everything irrespective of its sense or truth. It must be binary on everything regardless of how it defeats world views.
Depending on where one stands, you either pro or anti the two leading political players. There is no middle ground. For a country reputed for literacy, we have not only been limited to the two choices, but in addition, we often have to sell our great brains to see or not hear any evil even when our political preference mess up.
This what made the late former President Robert Mugabe believe him and his family owned all of us. We are breeding dictators across the political divide. If we don’t think using facts, we have not grown from the minds of the old generation of our liberators.
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There is no effective defence against political party accusations — because they have already established that anyone not fully supportive of their goals are evil and even silence is violence.
Opposition allow their morality to exist on a sliding scale so they can always be the popular kid in the class, no matter what the issue may be. Pinning down an opposition “morality” is like trying to hold dry sand in your bare hands.
The ruling party is responsible for everything great or bad happening to our country for the past 40 years. The idea that some opposition elements are responsible for our suffering is insane. We as a people are holding on to the promises they made fully aware of the conditions at the campaign time. So, the promises are what the citizens hold on to. They knew the existence of sanctions in which the opposition was complicit.
It is the same with urban councils, where water, roads, road lighting, litter collection and sewage are our daily challenges gave us promises. We are holding on to the promises. Their promises are fully captured in their campaign posters. They knew they weren’t going or able to change the power dynamics and push for reform.
True values are principles, and are immutable and transcendent.
So, if being out of line with opposition “values” is the equivalent of “sin” and they can determine what sin is, we are well and truly screwed as a country, for if your sin is defined as opposition to my values — and my values are changeable — there is literally no action I can take that isn’t explainable or excusable and nothing you can do that I can’t define as evil.
When I set the rules and control the definitions, there is literally nothing I can’t define as moral in my quest to defeat you and immoral in your opposition.
You will be made to care, fellow countrymen, and you will be sorted accordingly.
The ruling party has established a binary scenario, and there will be no negotiation of terms. You are either with them or against them. There are no innocent bystanders in this war.
The nature of a binary situation is that there can only be two responses — two paths. It really comes down to a kill or be killed decision. Through a new “winner takes all culture”, ruling has proven they are willing to kill.
So far, their killing has been mostly limited to careers and reputations, but there have been police, army and innocents killed during “protests”, so death is on the table as a punishment for opposition and thoughtcrime.
The question remains if we are willing to do the same. I know it sounds terrible, but understand that we aren’t setting the rules of engagement here.
Either way, the threat must be neutralized. If we are willing to meet force with superior force (either physical or ideological), we will be able to live in the world envisioned by Zimbabwe’s Founding Fathers — one of unity, freedom and work.
Reflect on this from William Brennan, J who wrote this timeless idea in 1964: “Thus, we consider this case against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”
As Zimbabweans we are expected to be patriots first and love our homeland. The politicians will go but we must remain dedicated to unity, freedom and work. For that we must use our brains to decide the right thing not our love of political leaders.
