Mugabe and the struggle for the African Self
August 25th, 2010
Mugabe's 'liberating' fist
Facebook is great for observation. A short while ago I eavesdropped on a rather heated facebook debate that one of my friends (let’s call her Priscilla) was having with a dyed-in-the-wool Mugabe supporter (we’ll call him Albert). What struck me was that rather than engage with any of the charges of human rights abuse or economic ineptitude that Priscilla laid at the feet of ZANU-PF, Albert simply insisted rigidly that Mugabe was fighting for emancipation of all Africans. What’s more, Priscilla’s critiques only demonstrated her indoctrination via “eurocentric, colonial propaganda”. At one point he referred to her “white-girl mentality”. Impervious to any of the evidence that Priscilla cited, Albert blindly maintained his stance and finally rounded off his remarks with the rather chilling insistence that “it’s great being a black man in Zimbabwe cos we call the shots”.
Priscilla then pointed out that Albert has been living in America for the past 6 years.
I thought about Albert and Priscilla’s conversation for some time. Aside from the hypocrisy, what bothered me about it most was that Albert is a university-educated, intelligent Zimbabwean and he has access to information far beyond the control of Mugabe’s propaganda machine. Moreover, he has friends like Priscilla. Despite all that, he still thoughtlessly insists that Gono is an economic saviour, that Mugabe is an African hero and that all Zimbabwe’s woes are the fault of Western imperialists and their puppets. To say that his inability to see the flaws in the regime perplexes me would be a drastic understatement.
Western critics have often registered surprise at the extent to which Mugabe’s nativistic, victim ideology still curries considerable favour across the African continent. But as political scientist Goran Hyden once wisely pointed out, “those of us who study politics in Africa have usually underestimated the symbolic power of the collective experience of colonialism”. The fact is that Mugabe’s rhetoric of anti-imperialism and black nationalism resonates loudly with a genuine concern that the African self still needs to be regained from a deeply scarring historical degradation. Zimbabwean commentator Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni summarises this as the heartfelt desire by Africans “to know themselves, to recapture their destiny (sovereignty), and to belong to themselves in the world (autonomy)”. ZANU-PF’s genius has been in ensuring that this legitimate desire for black liberation be manipulated to sanction the party’s every ignoble move.
Albert is not the first to swallow the story. One of Mugabe’s greatest survivalist strategies has been in getting this legitimising language of anti-imperialism and black victimisation to be absorbed and reinforced by other African leaders. Mugabe called his land reform programme ‘a success for all of Africa’, and heads of state such as Thabo Mbeki were swift in declaring support for such nationalistic sentiment in the face of Western criticism. Even where Southern African leaders accepted that there were significant social and economic issues in Zimbabwe, they have insisted that the real blame lies with a colonial legacy and “neo-imperialism”. According to Namibian President Sam Nujoma, Zimbabwe’s problems were not caused by Mugabe, but by Blair “who went out to campaign for sanctions against Zimbabwe while the British owned 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s land”. For South Africa’s Kgalema Motlanthe, “ZANU-PF is in trouble not because it does not care about ordinary people, but because it cared too much”. Motlanthe insisted that the problems in Zimbabwe were not of Mugabe’s making but were rather the inevitable result of trying to redress inequalities of the colonial past.
ZANU-PF has consistently attempted to de-legitimise any discourse that stands in opposition to it by aligning it with ‘the evil other’; the white coloniser who wishes to trample the African self. When American Secretary of Defense (at the time) Colin Powell condemned Mugabe’s political oppression, the Zimbabwean Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo was quick to discredit him as ‘a self-effacing servant of his white masters’. The South African press referred to Powell as ‘a disgraceful Uncle Tom who always sang his master’s voice to the detriment of social justice and the rights of people of colour’. African leaders who were outspoken against Mugabe’s leadership were swiftly condemned as emasculated, Western puppets and traitors to their ‘Africanness’. Of MDC, Mugabe has insisted that ‘they should try to be part of us, they should try to think as Zimbabweans, as Africans’. The state-sponsored media has been at the forefront of creating a narrative that paints all of ZANU-PF’s disagreements with MDC as differences between nationalistic and imperialistic ideologies, between “true Africans” and “traitors”. In this polarising light, violence and oppression of the opposition are easily encouraged as “patriotic”.
For me, a significant low point came on July the 3rd in 2004, when the African Union’s Commission on Human and People’s Rights presented its long-delayed report on the situation in Zimbabwe. Based on a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe in June 2002, soon after the disputed presidential elections, the report found that there was sufficient evidence “to suggest pervasive human rights violations”. Enraged that the report’s damning contents had finally found their way into the public domain, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Stan Mudenge, insisted that the whole thing was the work “of British agents in Zimbabwe … [and] fit only for the dustbin”. Other African voices, most notably South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, rushed to Mugabe’s aid and very soon succeeded in ensuring that the report was shelved indefinitely. That the African Union was incapable of adopting its own human rights report was certainly an ominous sign of the ideological weight behind Mugabe’s closed fist.
There’s a part of me which remains hopeful that Mugabe’s rhetoric is wearing thin. My head says that pretty soon everyone must see it for what it is; a content-less populism, mobilised so that he can allocate blame whilst accepting none, thus ensuring political survival. The Emperor will soon be left standing painfully exposed before a crowd of disdainful Zimbabweans and fellow Africans.
But am I simply burying my head in the sand? Is there really any evidence that Mugabe is finding it increasingly difficult to garner support from other Africans?
Last week I watched sadly as the Southern African Development Community comprehensively dissolved under Mugabe’s mighty, “liberating” fist. In 2008 the SADC Tribunal ruled against Mugabe’s land reform program, stating that 78 white farmers could keep their land since their farms had been targeted for compulsory seizure to resettle landless blacks “primarily on considerations of race”. Despite having signed a treaty that created the court, Zimbabwe refused to obey the ruling. With its ruling flaunted and SADC’s credibility so seriously questioned I naively hoped that this would be the impetus for African heads of state to say “enough is enough” and label Mugabe a pariah. But on August 18th 2010, instead of challenging Mugabe, Southern African leaders decided that they would suspend the court for at least six months while a review is carried out into its “role, functions and terms of reference”. My heart sinks at the news.
Speaking at the summit, Mugabe didn’t miss the chance to emphasise the unassailability of his liberative ideology. He took the opportunity to warn the younger generation of African leaders that they should learn from “the principled stance of the continent’s founding fathers if they are not to undo the selfless work in liberating the continent”. His threat is as clear as it has always been; The overwhelming ideological superiority of Mugabe’s nationalistic sentiment will tolerate no differing or even complicating views. Step in line or face the consequences. Along with the political opposition, human rights and democracy shall also be re-cast as dangerous ideals that cannot be allowed to stand in the way of absolute liberation.
Mugabe’s skilful manipulation of liberation ideology always make me thinks of the biblical warning that ‘the Devil masquerades as an angel of light.’ The notion of empowering the black self is of course essential for Africa’s growth, but there is little about Mugabe’s version of it that has anything to do with true empowerment. Postcolonial theorist Achille Mbembe insists that within the type of anti-imperialistic pan-Africanism that Mugabe promotes, “there is a shadowy zone that conceals a deep silence – the silence of guilt and the refusal of Africans to face up to the troubled aspect of the crimes that directly engage their own responsibility.”
It is my own feeling that the demise of Mugabe’s destructive and divisive populism is by no means inevitable. If anything, it is gaining increasing footholds in the hearts and minds of young Africans like Albert. We must arm ourselves better in this ideological battle. It is our task to actively show our brothers and sisters that true African empowerment will let no amount of rhetoric act as a cover for authoritarianism and social oppression. As Martin Luther King Jr said “ I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I am interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.” True empowerment cannot allow blind celebration of the struggles of liberation without any critical reflection on human rights abuses, political violence and corruption.
We must fight now for an African self that refuses to be built on the bloodied backs of our fellow men and women.
August 25th, 2010 16:33
It’s hard to be aware of what one has accepted as normal. If you apply Mugabe’s logic to the situation of the Native Americans, the Catholic Irish, the Welsh, Scots, the Indians, and all those peoples colonized by European powers, there would be a tremendous change in land ownership; just as in Zimbabwe.
The colonial appropriation (armed theft) of African land is the last of a long line of similar armed thefts. People are alive in Zimbabwe who remember the experiences of the armed robbery. Doesn’t it make sense to take back what was stolen?
It’s clear that Africans have not forgotten the armed robbery of European colonialism; some have had the courage to repossess what was stolen. Is the fear of the European gang so great that you would refuse to repossess that which they stole because you fear the criticism of their gang and co-conspirators?
Remember that trade and commerce will change the minds of those who are paid to complain. If the Europeans feel badly for the children of the armed robbers, then pay them and tell them to shut up. Better yet, they should overcome being exposed and punished as thieves and negotiate partnerships to engage in profitable training and enterprise with the rightful owners of the property they stole.
August 25th, 2010 17:01
fascinating debate
August 25th, 2010 18:51
good article, showing some analysis, but i’m afraid your grasp of the thread of international political economy; how it is manipulated by the global north in order to continue the big brother role over the south, is at best wanting. please find some time to read academic literature, not just newspaper arcticles.
August 25th, 2010 19:21
The Membe quote you include is a powerful one: “there is a shadowy zone that conceals a deep silence – the silence of guilt and the refusal of Africans to face up to the troubled aspect of the crimes that directly engage their own responsibility.”
I can understand how compelling liberation ideology is, I can understand its roots in history, I can hold a grudging admiration for Mugabe’s strength and intelligence (even as I think both are unfortunately used to the detriment of Zimbabwe).
But I will never understand the blind denial of horrendous human rights abuse, gross corruption, cronyism, theft of state assets etc. All of which are simple facts.
@o’brien – The north did not manipulate Mugabe into authorising the mass beatings and torture of Zimbabweans in 2008, nor did they encourage Zimbabwean soldiers to carry out mass killings and throw bodies down mineshafts as in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Do Mugabe supporters, locked into their own narrative, seriously expect the world to be silent on these?
August 25th, 2010 20:47
Africans are members of the human race with all of it good and bad points. At this moment of intense communication density, the same human foibles that have been part and parcel of all rises to power or declines to infamy inhere in the being of Zimbabwe.
These things will pass as power consolidates and the urge to stability and prosperity begins to infuse into the beings of the people.
It takes a while to overcome the brutality of colonialism and get on with being a nation.
Ask some of the Europeans about their colonial experience and how long it took to move on. The Irish are still in battle.
August 26th, 2010 08:56
@Emery Graham – that depends if the land was actually stolen.
August 26th, 2010 09:15
@ Leigh You do not even know what you are talking about. Remember BBC reports on Zim are carefully chosen or cooked up to paint a bad picture about our country.
The 2008 Operation Murambatsvina was a joint City Councils operation to remove unregistered buildings and slums within city limits. Mugabe or the army had nothing to do with it even though the Western media created another fascinating anti- Mugabe story over that issue.
The Entumbane Wars in the early 1980′s were initiated by the minority Ndebele tribe in a bid to create Rwanda style ‘Tutsi dominate Hutu’ situation in Zimbabwe. They had amassed arms caches, murdered innocent Australian tourists, murdered Shonas in Matabeleland. Mugabe responded by sending only one army brigade, the famous Fifth Brigade led by Colonel Shiri. Thatcher and Reagan actually O.K. the operation as “revenge for the murdered of white tourists”.
Lets face it you liked Mugabe…until he started taking stolen property from Rhodesians and returning it to Zimbabweans…thats when he became a “ruthless dictator”. By the way I hope you know that the MDC actually has more seats in our parliament than Mugabe’s ZANU. So can Mugabe be a dictator when he does not control parliament?…Zimbabwe will never be a colony again…never ever.
August 26th, 2010 13:29
In view of our past ,I believe that there are issues that do need to be addressed and in some ways that has been achieved. But the issue that most find perplexing is that there is only a few that are benefiting from any changes. It is therefore important to realise that the present environment was not made for the majority of Zimbabweans but for a mere few. The liberation struggle was in most part fought to rights the wrongs of the past but not oppress the people again . The present leaders must move away from this mindset or else they will find themselves being the victims of their own making.
August 26th, 2010 16:45
@Mwana WeVhu – But clearly it is YOU who don’t know what you are talking about! Murambatsvina occured in 2005, not 2008. But thank you for reminding me about Murambatsvina (which I did not mention in my comment). Yes, you are right, that was another grotesque injustice at the hands of Mugabe. If you don’t think so, listen to the words of the victims themselves.
Clearly you don’t live in Matabeleland either. I did during the 1980s and 90s, and 4 people very close to my family were murdered – two of them were children aged 11 and 13.
I also had friends I worked with who lost their entire families – including the elderly, and women and children – at the hands of the fifth brigade. So please don’t tell me I don’t know what I am talking about: those memories are engraved on my soul.
Shame on you for denying the truth to innocent Zimbabweans who did not deserve to be treated so cruelly. Or maybe you think its OK for Mugabe to order his army to mass murder civilians, including women and children? Or maybe you think I imagined my dead?
August 26th, 2010 18:24
@Leigh.
I also lived in Bulawayo during the Gukurahundi era. I also know victims of that era and some were my relatives. If the events of that period were so abhorent to you and the rest of the west, how come we never heard your condemnation or of western governments? Indeed London and Newyork praised Mugabe for finally dealing with the insurgency that had killed white tourists. Because the Gukurahundi was largely black on black, the west did not care. Just as they did not care in Liberia, Rwanda Congo etc, only to get involved when it suits their agendas. During and after the Gukurahundi Mugabe was a darling of the west. That changed in 2000, not 1985, 2000. Why, white people were now the target. And when things got really tough, who does Britain rescue? White Zimbabweans. (Pensioners). Does human rights know any colour? Why did they not help all pensioners?
The writer of the article above is right about the most important points. Educated, well to do Zimbabweans can see through the expensive propaganda mechinations of the west regarding Zimbabwe and Mugabe and will never be moved. Every time you talk of land reform in Zimbabwe, please contextualise the issue by mentioning the reneging of the UK and US to pay compensation to white farmers and the refusal of the farmers to sell (their?) land for decades. Please mention also that largely, this land was confiscated by force by these whites from the same blacks who took it back. If any of them bought land from fellow whites, well, you cant buy stolen property and expect to keep it. Zimbabwe may be going through a rough patch right now, its only a phase. One I am willing to endure so my children can be counted as full citizens of their country, and control their economy and national wealth. It may be choppy right now, but signs are already there that its getting marvellously better.
August 27th, 2010 03:57
Our beautiful country has been made ugly by selfishness and ugliness. The Zimbabwean character is known the world over as been a ‘GOOD NATURED BEING’ not seen anyway in Africa. But the present situation doesnot show this spirit. As much as I and my family are proud of being Zimbabweans ,it hurts to see my country and its people being denigrated by anyone. I fought for a Zimbabwe for all and will continue to do so until my last breadth. No one on this Earth will deny me this right.No not anyone .
August 27th, 2010 14:45
@Emery Graham – Does the purchase of land by whites post-independence (under black rule and with certificates of no-interest from the Zimbabwean Government) also constitute “theft” Emery? Because many of the dispossessed white farmers fit this criteria.
It’s all very well to write well and sound intelligent, but maybe one should try to be better informed too!
Moreover – in the ‘civilised’ world, where food security is a given, the land is indeed in the hands of a few proper farmers – irrespective of racial origin. Yet in the parts of the world where food security is tenuous at best, we keep hearing that the indigenous peasant majority should have the tenure of the land. How ironic…
But what do I know – I only lived in Zim!
August 27th, 2010 19:43
@Leigh –
I am NOT denying anything at all. In fact I am saying let us tell the truth because you and I were there and the BBC,CNN,AFP etc were not.
You and I know exactly how the events that led to Gukurahundi unfolded so why do we now have to go by the cooked up BBC reports about yet another “Mugabe genocide”.
Answer this question truthfully because you and I know and like the truth…Who and what caused that Gukurahundi mess?..Was it Mugabe/Shiri or Nkomo/Masuku/Dabengwa?
We know that the ZAPU leadership was planning a war against the “Masvina” with the intention of installing Nkomo as Prez by military force. They would then control the entire military and then create another Rwanda style “democracy” were the minority Tutsis rule over the majority Hutus by controlling the military.
The then Ndebele dominated One Brigade (yes the had MURDERED the Shona members of that Brigade) was ordered by Masuku/Dabengwa to go and engage the advancing Fifth Brigade led by Shiri. They were defeated and fled to the townships like Entumbane,Makokoba etc. and hid among civilians. Those ZAPU fighters then tried to fight the Fifth Brigade from within the civilian townships…leading to the mess you are talking about.
I am sorry about the loss of your loved ones, I truly am. However both of us know that Gukurahundi was a WAR that was started by the stupidity of Nkomo/Masuku/Dabengwa. You do not start a war, fight the war and then after you lose that war turn around and call it a genocide period.
August 29th, 2010 00:05
All Zimbabweans have suffered under zanu anyone who has not is his a relative or close friend of this man. I get surprised by the likes of Nero who think the present system is well and fine and is good for the future of our children.
He goes on to talk about western unfairness. Tell me what the local system has done afetr thirty years show me what the benefits of zanu politics are on our young and aged. Obviously your answer will be to label me westernised. But you sound like a typical beggar to me and would not be surprised to learn what your true circumstances are politically and materially.
I will not be proud to narrate to my children the murderous heroics of a president who lost all diplomatic reason to resort to mass murder, tribally and politically motivated for 30 years.
Think of the legacy of dictatorship that this president has left us and please also proudly tell your children Mr Nero what it means to starve, flee your country only to be persecuted and necklaced in a country(s) that is abusing your people’s labour and skills. Also tell them how proud you are of gideon gono, chiyangwa, kasukuwere et al and how very fairly they gained their wealth. Lsatly tell yuor children how well the currency of Zimbabwe was run to the point of it mutating into the US dollar.
I rest my case.
August 29th, 2010 00:47
To the writer of the article can I call you ‘Sokwanele’?
Isn’t your argument rather tired by now? I will not deny that it is otherwise fairly well presented but equally dishonest.
That Mugabe cannot be trusted with the spoils of land invasions, most Zimbabweans are aware of it, but white commercial farmers cannot be trusted either. Isn’t it probably opportune that they should fight each other to the death [hyperbole, without being cynical] then of course when they are done maybe the larger population can get something as well?
Other than that, Sokwanele you conveniently forget in your argument to mention that Mugabe was murderous to many Zimbabweans from the day he got into power, was an economic illiterate from day one, was a nasty racist when he was showered with honorary degrees in England, USA and other countries. Why doesn’t this warrant your mention in such a lengthy evaluation? So as usual you fall to the same trap, “He became bad, really bad from around 2000 when he started confiscating land from white commercial farmers” Duh. Tell me something I don’t already know.
So are you being ignorant or just cunning? I’ve already told you what I think; correct me if I’m wrong. As I’ve said and I can see other respondents point out the same, “propaganda has a lifespan and yours is getting outdated”.
“With its ruling flaunted and SADC’s credibility so seriously questioned I naively hoped that this would be the impetus for African heads of state to say “enough is enough” and label Mugabe a pariah”.
What logic is at play here? In the first place who are you to question SADC rulings? Did you lay down the rules or do you interpret them better? Are you doing the ‘ignorant’ Africans a favour or just poking your fingers because it involves white people? Try doing the same with the EU for instance; do you think they will listen to you? Every polity has got laws that may look crazy to a foreigner until you learn how they got there.
Look Sokwanele it wouldn’t work anyway Mugabe has his mind made up and has judged well: no one will do a thing to him Africans, Blair, Bush, Obama or what have you.
August 29th, 2010 17:08
@Ants – I accept the criticism of “contemporary, on the ground experience”. I have to admit my lifelong tenure as an American citizen of African and Native American descent. I also have to rely on the education and life experiences of living here in America. Unfortunately I’ve been over educated in the Western system and only have the plight of the Native Americans, Irish, and African Americans to base my experiences on.
Colonialism, where ever it is found, has a host of common characteristics. What is not common pertains to the context of its imposition. If Zimbabwe was colonized there had to be an imposition of forceful taking of land and physical domination of the indigenous people. From that imposition forward the situational reality, upon reflection, fits the classic structure and action of Colonialism.
The very dialog we are holding has precedent throughout the discourse of Colonialism. Those who feel guilty, a constructed product and goal of colonial action, must find their constructed selves in order to find sense and peace in what is going on. It is part of a larger discourse. Those of us who are subject to the same colonial forces, but in a different temporal, geographic, or cultural context have to continue to promote and facilitate a collegial dialog among both the oppressors and the oppressed; for we all are subject to the same cursed dream of those who claim dominion over us.
Look to those who benefit regardless of our dialog and banter. Rise above the accursed cloud of confusion and deception.
Know where you are in the evolving discourse and seek to choose your destiny rather than continuing to hold yourself in a mindset that makes you comfortable and yielding to the construction designed to maintain the dominion of thieves.
August 29th, 2010 21:55
At Mwana whevu
You say you were there. I wonder where. Your claims are in the main, misleading. You do not mention what transpired at White City stadium after Enos Nkala’s planned provocation of the people of Bulawayo and Matabeleland in general.
The grotesque error of populating the entumbane township with zanla and Zipra camps side by side.
You forget Duniso Dabangwa trying to pacify the fighting. You forget the framing of the only credible opposition party by numerous arms catches leading to the confiscation of the various propertties owned by the party then and never reclaimed till today.
I did not see your hero zanla cadres fighting. I was there I saw them scampering like little girls frightened by a rat, to Brady Barracks under the protection of the white Rhodesian forces who were not yet disbanded and foolishly agreed to be used by Zanu.
You are the kind who would believe that Cain Nkala was murdered by MDC, ANOTHER FRAMING OF AN OPPOSITION PARTY, flighted on TV adnauseum.
Remeber very well your very own people clamouring for a one party tribalist state then. what are the consequences of that today.
Refrain from infantile, sycophantic shona hero worshiping rubbish at the expense of your own freedom.
Remember, this leadership needs help, they are a vengeful and greedy lot and have twisted the term democratic governance into a concept that leaves a bitter taste in the mind. The likes of you are the kind who fuel their greed and repression,
at your peril.
August 30th, 2010 10:41
@Mwana WeVhu –
Mwana WeVhu
What’s your issue with the Ndebele people? You spend so much energy making false accusations against them, why is this? Don’t you realize it betrays your deep seated hatred and a repulsive attitude towards people with whom you should fight poverty rather than run to every neighboring country claiming victimization by the government which you so obviously love and defend?
Do you find it too expensive to apologize to your own countrymen and then build the nation of your dreams? Unfortunately I come across your argument too often in the internet and I’m baffled as to what you and your ilk will achieve out of this.
How have the Tutsi wronged you? I see them as victims of a genocide which ought to have taught all Africans of the stupidity of tribal hatred but why are you impenitent? I’m glad that Rwanda is totally committed to rooting out all manner of racial denigration which was endemic leading up to the slaughter. Of course you and Shiri won’t learn.
“The Entumbane Wars ……………. initiated by ………. Ndebele ……..Rwanda style ‘Tutsi dominate Hutu’ …..………….. murdered Shonas in Matabeleland.”
You must realize that the above statement will be modified by none other than yourself and later changed completely and replaced by another one because it’s a fabrication.
“We know ……ZAPU ………was planning a war …………..Nkomo … by …… force.”
No. You don’t. I’m quite sure of it because you will never come up with anything at all to even give the slightest suggestion that this could be true, but go ahead and try I give the length of time you want.
“The ….. Ndebele …………….Brigade (yes…………………….. ZAPU fighters ………. fight the Fifth Brigade from townships…………………mess you are talking about.” Bonkers! What do you smoke? Are you related to Mukadota? No offence to the late comedian but you are only clowning here aren’t you?
Here is where you need to begin. An official Government sponsored Commission of Inquiry called “The Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry” was carried out and completed. Please get hold of it and tell us of it’s findings so that we don’t have to accuse you of lying.
February 15th, 2011 00:36
Who’s stealing from who? The original possessors of the land are not getting it back. The Dictator that brutally beat and murdered the current land owners is giving it to his friends, girlfriends and close family.Mugame is as bad as Hitler,Hussien and Moussolini combined.
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