I always see Gwede Mantashe, the Secretary General of South Africa’s African National Congress, spouting one thing or other as he tries to connect people with the ANC’s reality.
People tend to overrun their party’s limits and Mantashe wants his party to mean more than it is. That, like everywhere else in the world, is not easy because putting country before party never sits well with politicians who always want to be preened.
The things that those in government say are not what is happening “on the ground”.
It is normal that humans, just like their animal counterparts, always strive to maintain the continuous stream of progression of their own bloodline through the off-spring from their own loins.
Recognising that, as individuals, they can perish and be forgotten, man and beast brutally fight their own kind for a chance to plant an everlasting seed of their existence to be found and appreciated by generations of their tomorrows.
Every living thing is like that.
Even plants jostle for the sun, vanquishing other plants in the process.
Male animals kill other males so that they can mate with the available females and will gladly kill the babies of their acquired females so as to ensure a clear chance for their own off-spring.
To this day, in everything we do as people, as animals or plants, we never put the interests of our community first but always vigorously promote our own survival first.
Instinct does not negotiate or reason things out; instinct triggers action ÔÇô violent or otherwise. On the other hand, although striving for domination, humans can be persuaded and be negotiated with through language, which is something that sets us apart from animals.
While language supposedly enabled better communication, it is also something that gave birth to selfishness, deviousness and, worst of all, it actually impedes communication.
People never mean what they say at all. They use intricate language to deny the true meaning of what they are really up to.
Yes, language impedes communication as we can see among the many political parties that express a desire to unite under one leader and face next year’s elections in Zimbabwe as a single entity.
The proposed unity of opposition political parties in Zimbabwe appears destined for a stillbirth.
Some of the smaller and meaningless political parties have already signed so-called ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (whatever that is) with the main opposition party led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Others are still negotiating and are dilly-dallying, hoping to be resurrected from the political dustbins, thereby slowing down a national effort.
The jostling for positions in the “united parties” has long started.
Hardly a week apart, Thokozani Khupe, one of Morgan Tsvangirai’s deputy presidents, was compelled to issue a statement pledging her “undying loyalty” to Tsvangirai almost at the same time that, Kucaca Phulu, the deputy president of former Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s party, publicly stated that a coalition of political parties without Biti’s People’s Democratic Party “is empty” ÔÇô a clear threat to a national effort to unite for the country’s sake. Both of these incidents should not have happened.
Threats and demands for loyalty are never good, whether in private or in the open.
Threats demean whoever utters them because coalitions are requested or entered into by those who feel they have something to offer the other for the national good. It is something that only those with the best intentions for the country voluntarily undertake.
But then, we come to the members of the coalition itself.
Obviously, others are more prominent than others yet there are others who work hard in the shadows like termites.
Former Vice President Joice Mujuru is the titular head of a political party called the National People’s Party (NPP).
During her recent trips to Ghana and the United States, she was accompanied by Khupe who was herself being accused of wanting to dislodge Tsvangirai from the leadership of the MDC.
She was not helped by Mujuru, who, in terms of numbers of followers in opposition, is arguably second to Tsvangirai.
Before, during and even after the trip, Mujuru made statements that she is the only obvious choice to lead the coalition and declared that she was ready to contest against Mugabe in the forthcoming elections.
This raised concerns about her dedication to an opposition coalition pact against Mugabe. This, obviously was irritating to Tsvangirai.
At this very moment, her party’s position towards joining the coalition appears to be dependent on whether or not she is the one chosen to lead the coalition.
Khupe, meanwhile, had to stutter out an explanation and publicly pledge allegiance to Tsvangirai.
Through her spokesperson, she said that she is part of the Women’s Electoral Convergence (WEC) which she said is “a women’s initiative at galvanising women’s majority electoral vote against Zanu PF, and Mugabe in the upcoming elections.”
Accused of roping in Mujuru to dislodge Tsvangirai, Khupe stated that she has been sharing platforms with Mujuru in the interests of the WEC.
However, the coalition is regrettably far from solid as there are two groups of political parties which have to iron out their differences before individual political parties within these groups can take a stand on whether or not to join the coalition.
While Tsvangirai has taken a lot of time courting small meaningless parties with hardly any following, he has been rather hesitant to fully engage bigger political parties with larger followings, such as Mujuru’s NPP.
Elections are slated for July 2018 yet political parties are still arguing about uniting against the monstrosity called Zanu-Pf.
They should have ironed out their differences a long time ago and should have started campaigning as a unit. But, alas, self-preservation controls us all.
It seems that the question: ‘what’s in it for me?’ will never stop being asked and as long as ‘Zimbabwe’ is the answer to that question, there will be few takers because everyone wants to be president.
I am hoping that it is the language that is faulty and that the intentions, resolve, desire to unite and bring changes to our nation is paramount to all those who love Zimbabwe.
I am hoping that we all have a clear understanding that our country is much more important than any one of our political parties.
I cannot afford to lose hope.
