MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT

A new political script for this generation and the next must be adopted now. We say enough is enough; we reject all but essential activity with Zimbabwe orientated organisations! We turn our backs on Zimbabwean politics, this is time we dictated terms in our political space. Now we break down the chains of slavery; we break down all barriers to peace; we cut all ties with the oppressor and oppression.

Yes, we embrace our dreams, we keep our focus; we cast away fear and doubt; we choose victory; we retain confidence in our political choices as Mthwakazi! We are tired of our own people, who for selfish reasons, are prepared to make sacrifices of their own, drag us into temporary and politically deficient agreements with Mashonaland just to protect some of our rights while leaving us exposed to wider abuse.

It is amazing how complete, even within Matabeleland, is the delusion that the removal of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF from Zimbabwean political space and by extension fellowship with the Zimbabwean opposition alliance is the solution to Mthwakazi’s political problems. I am afraid, but that is presumptuous and dangerous politics played out by our opportunistic brothers and sisters who have made a living out of compromising their being.

Some Mthwakazians have exaggerated the importance of the MDC alliance to Mthwakazi and by extension dragged us along down the dysfunctional sewerage system of Zimbabwean politics. The MDC is nothing but a poor photocopy of ZANU PF dictatorship; a dysfunctional or malfunctioning dictatorship is not a democracy.

We cannot alter the direction of Zimbabwean politics, but we can use our creativity and experience of living within the foundations of Zimbabwean politics to steer ourselves away, in any direction; we are in control of where we go, that is the privilege we must utilise. Today, let us disconnect ourselves from those locals who continue to be used by ZANU PF and the MDC to try to persuade us to see positive ‘change’ in the absence of change in the Zimbabwean political space.

Just like the shambolic 1987 unity accord merger of ZANU PF and PF ZAPU miraculously gave birth to ZANU PF, we have an alliance of the MDC with numerous other organisations conveniently called the MDC. Explain to me how that works out, and I will escort you to the nearest psychiatrist, with your consent of course. These names define power transactions within the system and that is quite simply bad news for Mthwakazi.

Assumptions that the MDC alliance, which in many ways is frankly the MDC immediately before its split in 2005, has changed are as dangerous as they are delusional. Why should anyone believe that the alliance will change the foundational structure of Zimbabwean politics when its core Mashonaland leadership has nothing to benefit from that? The Tsvangirai faction has never shown any genuine interest in instituting fair power flows between Mashonaland and Mthwakazi. What are the party’s views on the devolution of power?

The Zimbabwe political foundation places Mthwakazi on the second-tier of everything; it is built to suppress Mthwakazi; the Zimbabwean system and its supporting institutions are wholly rooted in Shona supremacy; they are designed to benefit, prioritise and protect ethnic Shona people before anyone else. By default, within the system, ethnic Shona people have disproportionate access to opportunities than other population groups.

When Tsvangirai emerged in the late 1990s we were made to believe he was the face of political change and democracy in Zimbabwe. The reality is that the man has not shaken the fundamentals of Zimbabwean politics, he has just been a 0 to 1 tremor on the Richter scale, and we do not feel these. His attempt amounts to nothing but redesigning reception rooms in the Zimbabwean political mansion, re-doing some paint and artwork but leaving the foundation untouched.

We may want to conveniently deny it, but Tsvangirai is the MDC and vice versa, his leadership has not changed and he will not start trying to do anything that risks upsetting his main constituency in Mashonaland now; likewise, the MDC has not changed. We reject cosmetic change whose objective is to maintain the supremacy of Shona creed in the political mansion, only accommodating Matabeleland next to the toilet of that mansion.

We maintain that we are no longer satisfied with the second-tier status; we want to make it clear that anyone prepared to work with us will have to acknowledge that they will have to include our interests not accommodate us in an otherwise foreign system that does not reflect our needs. That calls for a total revamp of the system; federalism is the only governance system that will allow us to be ourselves.