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Readiness to embrace democracy still a challenge
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IT is my opinion that we have a very serious crisis in Zimbabwe. And I think its therefore necessary for us to try and determine what has led us to the situation we find ourselves in and hopefully try to see what we can do as individuals as well as collectively to get ourselves out of this crisis.

Over 30 years ago Ian Smith, was asked at a Press conference why he was not conceding to the demands of the nationalists who were then waging a war of liberation when what was then known as qualified or limited franchise was accorded some black people. He answered: "You people from Europe, romanticise the black people. You do not know them; we live with them and we know them better. Democracy as an institution, is foreign to the Africans. It came here with the white people and we are still in the process of educating the blacks on its merits. And it is a process which will take some time.

"What they know, that is the majority of the them, is that a chief is a chief, he does not have to be voted in or out of power. Now it is not good to give these people something they do not understand because it can quite easily be abused by the unscrupulous few at the expense of the vast majority."

He said something to that effect and I recall feeling indignant and coming to the conclusion that Smith was saying that simply as an excuse to justify his desire to cling onto power and protectthe privileged position whites occupied in Rhodesia.

I was convinced his observations were typical of a racist who believed his race superior and blacks inferior. I never tried to examine what he had said objectively.

I guess then and perhaps even today, Smith’s observations only confirmed what we had been telling each other, that he despised black people and therefore was an enemy of the blacks who must be fought.

It never occurred to me that his view deserved a sober assessment to see whether there was any truth in it. He was an enemy and everything an enemy says must be false and by extension everything those who were fighting against Smith said must be true.

It was against that background that I too threw in my lot and joined the swelling ranks of the forces that were fighting against the Smith regime. Little did I know that time would come when I would be forced to recall Smith’s observations and examine them in the light of events unfolding in the Zimbabwe which is claiming to be celebrating its Silver Jubilee "25 years of Independence and Democracy".

To what extent has Smith been proved wrong or correct by Zimbabwe’s experience for the past 26 years. That is the challenge I feel needs to be addressed by all of us in the wake of the MDC split.

In my opinion the split was over the question of democracy. The question was or is:

* To what extent is Morgan Tsvangirai democratic?

* To what extent is the general membership of MDC democratic?

* To what extent are Zimbabweans in general democratic?

That is the essence of issues at the heart of our crisis in Zimbabwe

It is my opinion that the question of whether or not Smith has been proved right or wrong in his observation 30 years ago about Africans not being ready to embrace democracy is still challenging us today just as it did then.

In my opinion, one of the fundamental aspects of a democratic culture is to accept that different views must be given a fair chance to be heard and where it is not clear which view has been embraced by the majority of the people concerned, then the vote is used to ascertain that.

The outcome of that vote must be respected and accepted as the view of the majority whether one likes it or not. The moment one feels that majority vote on any issue to which instrument of the vote has had to be resorted to is against the interests of be it a party or a country or a club is the wrong one and therefore must be rejected or overturned, unless if objections are being raised with regard to the unfairness of the process, one must know that he or she is violating one of the fundamental aspects of democracy.

What does all, this suggest? In my opinion it clearly demonstrates that we have not yet cultivated in our social and political outlook sufficiently high levels of a democratic culture to enable us to immediately sense the danger whenever anyone among us violates one of the fundamental principles of democracy. We still have the feudal mentality of generally being afraid to criticise a leader which mentality autocrats, thrive on.

We have not yet developed a love for justice, fair play and a love for certain ideas to a point where we are prepared to die fighting for ideas. We still ask who has said what and not why he/she has said what has been said and ask even further whether what has been said is not a violation of an idea we hold dear.


David Chikombera

Mutoko