Contemporary Africa has overseen the rise of dictatorships which have presided over weak population and civil institutions while governments have become too strong making peaceful change impossible. This has inadvertently opened doors to military coup d’états (coups) in some parts of the continent. However, there is an unwritten golden rule in the conduct of coup plotters – let no average citizen into the plot, let alone know the truth behind any part of the process. A ‘palace revolution’ is the unwelcome outcome, and because the average African citizen has no stake in a coup, he or she has no place kowtowing to military coups.
Military coups are about access to power and resources, not public service which is why coup-plotters will never give decisive roles to the public. The average person is never part of the decision-making process or given any significant role in any part of the process, from planning to execution.
To gain public approval, coup-plotters use the media to feed the public with disinformation, misinformation, and outright lies both about the reasons for military actions and their public benefits.
Public celebrations of coups must not be misconstrued for an endorsement of these interventions but a sign of desperation for change. The public understands that coups are neither progressive nor beneficial to the average person, but they celebrate the downfall of dictators in the hope a new dawn will set in.
Often, coup-plotters have exploited genuine public concerns of endemic corruption, poor economies, insecurity, and poor governance to justify overthrowing sitting governments, yet the resulting regimes have not only failed to address the identified issues, but they have also exacerbated them.
Knowledge is important, the public needs to be aware of a consistent theme of Africa’s postcolonial military coups of government and institutions; coups have no benefits to the average citizen. Evidence is that for every coup is another, then another, and significant financial cost. This would be anything from disproportionate government spending towards the military enterprise away from essential public services to reduced investment in the local economy.
Using guns to depose sitting dictatorships is the easy bit, the most difficult part is bringing real political change, that is, to install a democratic system and make the rise of a new dictatorship impossible. Brute power has failed to achieve the genuine democratic changes our countries so desperately need; resultant military regimes have resisted strategic change towards the redistribution of effective power in society.
To ignore the major problem of dictatorships, that of power imbalance between the population and civil institutions and government is counterproductive. Coup-plotters merely replace dictators, and just as under the deposed dictatorship, under the military leadership, the population and civil institutions of society are weakened and the government made too strong.
Resultant military regimes often go on a purging spree of perceived enemies while also pursuing and protecting personal interests. They continue to entrench corrupt systems, and even more revealing, they invest more in accruing more power.
Politics must be a civil process through which citizens address pressing issues in society, including differences and forming socially effective coalitions. The military must never assume the role of shaping society, but it must be confined to the barracks ready for its exclusive role of protecting the nation from external enemies.
Breaking off chains of dictatorship requires that everyone in our community resets their mindset; there is an appreciation of the fact changing our minds and accepting responsibility will be the beginning of progress.
Progress is neither automatic nor inevitable, hence civilians must take steps toward taking control of their political, social, and economic spaces. The goal of socioeconomic and political justice in our communities requires passionate men and women willing to fight for themselves and their communities.
We understand that good fortune will not fall out of the sky onto our palms, there is a price to be paid. If the average citizen chooses not to take an active role in reshaping local politics so that policies reflect and serve local communities, not the elite, poor outcomes will be the new norm. The average person will be kept at arm’s length where decisions about his life are concerned and then turned into a charity case to meet his needs.
Military coup d’états serve the military and political elite, simple as that. There are no genuine benefits to the average person. People must withdraw their trust in projects whose intricacies are kept secret to them. We must change mindsets to a default position where we do not embrace any political change over which we have no control, ‘If I am not part of a process, the process is not part of me’. Coups are more about the access and control of resources by certain population groups and denial of same to others; they are scarcely about effective redistribution of power to empower the average person in society.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 