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Blessing Musariri Shelling the Nuts
IN my day school was a safe and uncomplicated space. We were simple in our mischief and generally deferred to the ethos of our environment. There was routine, there were rules and everyone was expected to behave in a manner that was beneficial to the school as a whole or they were asked to leave. Nobody wanted to be asked to leave so in general, order was maintained and progress was made: good grades, advancement and achievements attained.

Our compliance meant our advancement and the advancement of the school. Many years later, the school is still going strong and the waiting list is never short. Even if you have some influence, getting people in is not easy. In general, this is the way of most schools, you shape up or you ship out and things keep moving, because rules are rules and everyone knows what they are and the consequences of non-compliance.

I wasn’t made a prefect in my final year. I had taken it as a given that I would be. I was the kind of student who volunteered for things and was a part of everything. I coached a kindergarten swimming class during my study periods and after school in the afternoons I coached an Under-14 basketball team.

Admittedly, the former was mainly because it meant in the summer months I could be cool in the pool while others were stifling in the classroom and the latter was because I liked being in charge — I hardly ever got to do it at home.

And okay, I also admit that I was a part of everything because I had a healthy dose of what is known nowadays as FOMO (fear of missing out). It develops naturally when you grow up in a big family and everyone rubs your nose in it when you are missing in action during some shared event. “You missed out” or “You don’t know what happened because you weren’t there” — dreaded words. So, I was very disappointed to not hear my name called out on the prefects roll. One teacher took me aside and said I shouldn’t stop all the good things I did for the school because of that and not to take it too much to heart. The reason I was not made a prefect, I was told, was because while I didn’t break rules, I didn’t exactly follow them. What no man’s land is this? They made all the naughty girls prefects, to teach them responsibility, they said. So me, a somewhat not quite rebel fell somewhere in the middle of not good and not bad enough. I always asked who made the rules and why? That was my problem I think, while other people simply followed them or broke them. I found ways of not following rules that didn’t suit me without actually breaking them. That’s why I studied law. I wanted to know the origins, the thinking behind rules and laws, I wanted to understand why we were expected to follow them and how we could be coerced into doing so.

Is there a difference between rules and laws? Very simply put, rules are where laws are begin. People in a society agree on what is needed in order for that society to function and progress, meaning everybody is required to follow these rules and usually by their own cognisance and these rules become something of a habit.

For example, let us say that driving on the left side of the road is not exactly illegal but one is expected to do it anyway because from the time the city founders agreed upon it, it has become the norm, defiance of which, will be its own punishment.

The twenty-first century Zimbabwean however, seems to take most of the rules of the road as mere suggestions judging by what can be observed usually during peak hour traffic and almost always when traffic lights are not working. It is a law, however, that if you are to drive on said roads, that you must have a driver’s licence — also taken these days as a mere suggestion.

On a trip to Ghana in 1998, I was being driven around by a very jolly and incredibly interesting man, let’s call him John. After two days of John’s anecdote-filled company, I finally asked the question that had been bothering me since he picked me up from the airport. John, I said, what side of the road do you drive on here, I’ve been trying to figure it out because sometimes you are on the right, sometimes in the middle and sometimes on the left? Well, he said, you drive on the left when the side on the right is too bumpy and vice versa. Yes, but what side does everyone drive on in this country? I persisted. Whichever side, he said. No, this cannot be, otherwise how do you avoid accidents if everyone drives how they like? He shrugged and said, everyone does the same thing so there’s no problem. I gave up on this line of questioning because it seemed he was not exactly making it up. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that it was okay to improvise because it was necessary. Here, when I see kombis forming a third lane where there is no third lane or some other improvisation, I become highly irate. Don’t they know they are not supposed to drive on the shoulder of the road?

Don’t they know that at an uncontrolled intersection they are supposed to stop and let cars already there go first? Or whatever the actual rule is in this country, I don’t think anyone knows anymore. The thing is, they don’t understand and/or care why I am hooting at them and telling them off.

To them, it makes sense and this is how they all drive, why am I angry, after all in their opinion, I’m sure, there is nothing stopping me from doing the same if I wanted to. I’m inclined to think most of them don’t actually know the rules to begin with.

I am accustomed to a certain level of obedience for the preservation of order and traffic rules are one area where I tend not to give in to my natural inclination to question why I must follow a rule. It could mean the difference between life and death but more often than not it means the difference between arriving at your destination on time or arriving inexcusably late because everyone met in the middle of the intersection and no one could move. Following the rules requires everyone to care about the same thing for everyone else.

Following laws requires everyone to prefer not to endure the punishment meted out for disobedience. Games have rules, but they are not laws, you may be disqualified or removed from play, but you will not be sent to jail unless during the course of the game you wilfully cause death or injury to another person, which is against the law.

There are entire tomes written on the concept of law and these explore the laws of nature — sun rises in the east, sets in the west, divine law — the 10 commandments, laws of gravity — science, rules, the habit of obedience, coercion, enforcement, morals and obligation. One literally needs a degree to fully grasp the absolute essence of governance.

If given half the chance and it seems like these days people are given more than half the chance, a person will find every way to avoid any rule or law enforcing an obligation on him that he would rather not follow, such as paying taxes or accepting responsibility for beating up someone who they believe absolutely deserved it, even though it is only so in their opinion and many others may find otherwise. It is against the law to solicit bribes but it has become the habit and in many instances is almost an obligation — money for a coke. There is always wiggle room, which is great if you are the one who needs to wiggle, but in the long run, what does it mean for the greater good of the society in which you are living?

What happens then when rules have been discarded for so long that the majority are now those who no longer follow said rules. Do we become a society with no rule of law or does the new way of doing things become the new habit, however disorderly and ungovernable, and eventually the new rule?

What no man’s land is this?