What are our 'leaders' up to?

What are our ‘leaders’ up to?

Ashley Dobia Mwanza

We thought that like a repented child Zimbabwe was starting to make strides to restore itself to normalcy. But we can look again and say our eyes and our ears have deceived us. For a long time we have waited for change to take its inevitable course in Zimbabawe, but we ask, has it arrived or it is still to come? What we have is a situation where one side does anything and everything possible to bring the other side down. In as long as we continue to tread on such a callous journey, without any harmony, those at the bottom end of the ladder will continue to endure hardship.

We (MDC) are back at the SADC once again asking them to intervene, yet at the same time we (ZANU PF) have pulled out of the SADC tribunal without even bothering to go through the treaty details. It seems our leaders can longer concur in issues that are most crucial, will the day ever come when our leaders like grownups come to some agreement and work together to build the country? Is the relevant at all? Have they helped us thus far? I don’t know the very reason why I ask.

The devil is most certainly in the detail of the GPA, two executive powers, two parallel governments are existing now, something not very promising indeed, because the two power centres will continue to fight each other.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on 16 February 2009 said the fate of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana would be “first on the agenda” of the new government. Well it seems although it may have been the first it will be the last to be dealt with.

As the tussle for power persists we can be forced to ask, what is going on? Who should we trust? There have been glimpses of hope now and again but the fissures are there too. Has one side repented or it’s just the same old story? Or is one side trying to prove that they are good enough or they are the ‘chosen ones’. Others are just out to outdo each other within their own rank and file.

It will be year on September 11 since the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was signed, and since then how far have we moved? No doubt we have made ‘some’ progress, but any real success rests on good leadership. Zimbabwe’s road to return to democracy has been bumpy and this is something that we should have expected because anything that looks smooth on paper can be easily derailed, there can be ‘diversions, road-blocks, lack of fuel’ and lack of ability in those taking part. There are far too many variables to control. The saga of the difficulties in making a journey to a new land is as old as the children of Israel. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson in his book Leadership From Inside Out states the fact that the painful reality is that even after ‘agreeing’ not everyone actually wants to go to the new land. Some are happy with the status quo in Zimbabwe and will not be moved. Insisting that they go on the trip can make everyone else miserable. We have some very discontented citizens in our country and the question is what should we do about them?

Some are fighting within their own establishments, what is their real focus, party or country? I’m flummoxed, the very reason as to why I ask?

Are we looking at a ‘Tu quoque’ situation? The logical fallacy is that two wrongs make a right. What about two rights, we can argue they inevitably become a wrong. Why? Because they are on a plateau busy arguing forgetting the populace. It’s not about who is right or wrong but rather about how we can work together. MDC have reiterated that ZANU PF continue to renege on the GPA, and now ZANU PF are saying it’s the MDC that are failing on the GPA. The more we focus on our differences we will never progress. In one way or the other both sides have reneged on the GPA, look at the number of appointments in government, we have a bloated government, yet we struggle to pay the teachers and doctors. No one is right in that regard.

Whatever happened to morality, more so sacrifice, we have members of parliament arguing that the car loan to the tune of $30,000 will be repaid, but as for now who is footing that bill? We have an economy to rescue and a multitude of people to feed yet our leaders clamour for cars.

With the two feuding partners, some think they should always have to have the last word. Even as they are supposed to be ‘equal’ partners in the transitional government there is an ongoing problem as one side believes they are in control. Hence the other side typically, complain of this trait in their so-called partners: "they won’t ever admit they are wrong"; "We can’t have a fair settlement." One who can’t admit he’s wrong has difficulty accepting his own imperfections and will tend to be impatient with others.

As we trudge on, on this uncertain journey (I don’t wish to be pessimistic) we only move with the ‘little’ hope that remains in us. What happens next in Zimbabwe is anyone’s guess, with the only hope that our leaders will come to their senses. Not all of them are wrong, but it is those ‘few’ that are causing too many problems and meanwhile stalling the progression of the country.