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Zimbabwe’s opposition parties feel inspired by the display of “people power” that occurred in the Arab Peninsula since December 2010 and was dubbed the “Arab Spring”

Nick Mangwana : View From the Diaspora

LET us start this week’s piece by making a very superficial argument that there is nothing wrong with a regime change agenda per se. In fact, the whole raison d’etre of opposition parties is that they want to effect a regime change. Any opposition that is not trying to do that is an inconsequent waste of space.This is because in general terms, regime change is the replacement of one administration with another. And this is exactly what every opposition party is trying to do. So all those who are being accused of trying to effect a regime change in Zimbabwe you have just been exonerated and vindicated.

But there is a condition to it. You are only free from blame if you do everything legally possible to win an election and legally seek to replace the current administration with your own. If you push for an extra-constitutional shift in political institutions in such a way that there will be a sudden loss of authority and central control by a democratically elected government through civil unrest and politically motivated violence so that you somehow get some political power, then you are not only plotting an illegal regime change but a coup, to say the least. That is undemocratic and that should be thwarted.

More so outsiders have no role to play as regime change or retention should be the preserve of Zimbabweans.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe fully supports the rights of anyone to make political choices and freely express those choices. But those political choices do not trump the rights of others to go about their non-political day-to-day business unimpeded. Political freedoms have no constitutional supremacy over property rights or other people’s rights of movement or any other rights for that matter.

This means that illegal barricading of roads, insulting police officers, impeding traffic flow and looting of other people’s goods and vandalism are not legitimate methods of political expression and should not be allowed to happen. Some of our compatriots feel inspired by the display of “people power” that took occurrence in the Arab Peninsula since December 2010 and was dubbed the “Arab Spring” but free advice is hereby given not to emulate the village idiot.

The Arab Spring took place in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Syria. In five of the six countries it has turned into a total disaster.

Syria has now generated millions of refugees, cripples and deaths. In Yemen there is a civil war raging on. There is no peace, investment or stability. The only jobs out there are as rebels or paramilitaries.

Libya is totally balkanised. It has no government, has a power vacuum and the Gaddafi government was replaced by anarchy and lawlessness. It is now a hub for terrorism.

In Egypt a lot are now saying the long- serving Hosni Mubarak was not that bad after all. There is more autocracy than ever seen before.

Tunisia is the only country which is probably better than where it was before the Arab Spring. But despite having better political space, it has worse corruption, much less economic opportunities for the ordinary folks.

Zimbabwe’s opposition parties are now engaging in orgies of violence, looting and vandalism

So what was much vaunted as a Spring was not such a “Spring” after all. There are no green shoots. There are no sprouts. The seeds completely failed to bloom. What was thought of as an Arab Awakening ended up as an Arab Weakening. The people are now weak, the state is weak, the institutions are weak, the corporate world is weak. What a monumental disaster. This surely can’t be what we want for Zimbabwe.

It has been said over and over again that the peace and stability that prevail in Zimbabwe is being taken for granted. It has been there for way too long and therefore is now boring. Suddenly, strife might be a very attractive and exciting prospect but a calamitous reality. Which company will invest in such an unstable environment? So where are the jobs going to come from? From rebuilding the rubble?

We say good infrastructure is an economic activity enabler but we ironically destroy that infrastructure. How does that work? Some of the debts owed to International Financial Institutions were for infrastructural development actually. So we pay these arrears and penalties for things that we destroyed because of an adrenaline rush and realisation that those small parties we want to govern us have no capacity to win elections in 2018?

There is no problem whatsoever with opposition parties realising how weak and fragmented they are. Some of us grew up in situations where weaklings used to coalesce in a gumi rakadya vaviri (coalition of the cowards). What is wrong is to learn half-baked lessons from the Arab Spring. The only lesson to be learnt from these extra-constitutional overthrowing of a government is not to do it. All these melodramatic, attention seeking histrionics just serve to poison Zimbabwe’s political atmosphere.

If there were legitimate political talking points they have been undermined by those who burn the National Flag. How do you expect to have purchase with the rest of straight thinking Zimbabweans when you set the flag on fire?

One of the highest selling trinkets at traffic lights in the last few years has been the little flags people pin to their suits and blazers called lapel pins. But some attention seeker goes to the petrol station, buys petrol, sets up their phone and press record and starts a video of themselves desecrating the national flag and then uploads it onto social media for sharing and thinks it is revolutionary? It is understandable that people crave for attention but onererwai nezvimwe (find other ways of hogging attention).

Are Zimbabweans sure they want the vibrant streets of Harare to be turned into the ghost haunted and soulless streets of Syria? Do they want our Sunshine City to be turned into a battleground for lawless thugs whose reward will only be spirits looted from a Choppies outlet? Politicians should ask themselves as well whether their political agendum is worthy the wanton destruction of beautiful Bulawayo?

We have not heard them pushing a parliamentary motion against lawlessness and incitement of people against constitutional State institutions and you want us to believe that they have the nation at heart! And some bemoan Zanu-PF’s lack of cooperation with populistic and political grandstanding Motions against police heavy-handedness? No sane person should support police brutality. But no sane person should support vandalism and thuggery either.

The Government has a responsibility to create an environment that enables the achievement of the aspirations of our young people. This column has lamented the presence of a generation that has not known a day in work. That is not sustainable. It also generates a serious national security risk.

That is a fact, but saying that should not give arsonists, vandals and anarchists carte blanche to maliciously destroy other people’s property or obstruct others from going on with their day-to-day business. It should not be a licence to try to unconstitutionally overthrow the Government. Those who want to be protected by the Constitution should first respect the institutions which are uterine to that Constitution. Every benefit in life comes with a responsibility.

If people hope that out of the chaos of an overthrown government will emerge what they would perceive as an acceptable model of democracy they should think again. Violence, poverty, social chaos and conflict will be the triumphant spoils of overthrowing an elected government. “We told you so” would be words some would wish to then tell these apostles of anarchy when things go South. But Zimbabwe is our country. It is our home. No one should be allowed to experiment with the lives of our families.

So this catastrophe that some are advocating should not be allowed to happen.

Democracy, yes. But only through the Constitution. Nothing more, nothing less. Love it or hate it, Zimbabwe has a legitimate Government. It should be left to do its job. The opposition should make the Government accountable through quizzing the ministers in Parliament, writing to different departments, visiting them, lobbying them to deliver their constituents.

If they are too few, maybe it is time they consider contesting by-elections to increase their numbers. If they choose to demonstrate, fine. But the whole purpose should not be to overthrow an elected government or make things so messy that the country becomes ungovernable. That is not only mischievous. It is subversive and is also part of a very illegal regime change agenda.

They say that when you chase a dream, be very careful that it does not turn into a nightmare. The West misled the citizens of the Arab world into believing that they were paving a road to democratic paradise for them. What they did not tell them was that this was going to be a self-immolating disaster.

Let all others including Zimbabweans learn. Just as the Arab Spring did not bring blooming roses to the Arab Peninsula, violent social movements and violent confrontations would not usher in a new and better social order in Zimbabwe. But it cuts both ways. The Government should also do all in its power for the people to realise their aspirations. It should show that it is not contemptuous of the law so that it can enforce that law with clean hands. But if it breaks the law, it will be guilty of breeding of anarchy as much as the rioters.