Is Democracy Really UnZimbabwean?

I fully realise that there are more experienced and level-headed African commentators than I, but I still believe that common sense and logic are two paramount interests when writing about life politic in Africa.

I cannot class myself as a well-read person when it comes to Africa as a continent, but I do believe that my experiences living in Zimbabwe for thirty-four years does tend to lend a serious note to what I write about that country.

I have been branded a racist, a saboteur, a person who wishes to see Zimbabwe fall at the hands of a greater power, to see Mugabe imprisoned for his callous acts against his people... I could go on but I think you understand the overtones communicated to me electronically by a variety of interlopers who believe that my white skin makes me unqualified to write about Africa.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and political parties – African or not – are free to spread their policies and entice the voter as they see fit, just as long as that romance does not cross the simple remit of law and order.

I grew up in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe attaining its independence the year before I left school. Within a few months I had joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police – a career that I had intended from when I was a youngster.

I cannot say that my employment within the police service was in any way unpleasant – not until the ugly head of the Gukurahundi suddenly hove into view. I was stationed at Esigodini, Plumtree and then Gwanda in the Matabeleland South Province and probably saw a lot more of the results of the Fifth Brigade's antics and actions than I have readily admitted.

It was apparent that Mugabe, for the 'freedom fighter' leader that he was, was intent on no less than either obliterating the Ndebele people completely, or ensuring that no challenge to his power came from that quarter.

Which has got me thinking.

During the Rhodesian bush war of the 1970s – often referred to as the Second Chimurenga – his primary target was the native inhabitant of the country. Hand-to-mouth farmers and villagers, farm workers, black civilians and missionaries, whilst his fighters also targeted vulnerable soft targets like white people on farms or mission houses.

Thirty years after that conflict ended, I do note that Mugabe is once again intent on implementing his brand of 'democracy' on the landlocked Southern African country, and that his primary target remains the same.

And any opposition to his rule, whether elected or not, is met with violence, looting, intimidation and threats. His rule has seen the deaths of many an opponent, or, at the very least, their leaving the political stage.

Mugabe has transformed the country from a verdant, prosperous land into a land that resembles a battlefield. Farmers have been forcibly removed from the land – many at the cost of their lives – whilst the natural resources of the country are seconded by the ZANU PF party to bolster the empire that he has constructed at the cost of so many Zimbabwean lives.

And I don't mean the lives of his fighters in the bush war of three decades ago – I mean the very Zimbabweans who have perished at the hands of his vicious and unruly party members.

And whilst we could be forgiven in thinking that the country would be stronger for the conflict that it still fights today, the country is in dire straits.

Mugabe is forever telling the world that the country is a democracy. Does he even know what a democracy is?

ballot paper BF4db 16744

Democracy - 'the political orientation of those who favour government by the people or by their elected representatives' and 'a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them'.

In 2008, the electorate of Zimbabwe decided against Mugabe and his ZANU PF party – but they remain in office, commanding the people with the threat of Mugabe's anger and might to keep them quiet.

Even the elected Movement for Democratic Change find themselves unable to assume office because Mugabe just will not allow it.

Is democracy the power of the people, or the power of the political party in control?

In Zimbabwe, democracy continues to be a goal that is either non-existent or just a bridge too far for the people of that land.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man