Being victims of ZANU PF politics, or survivors of it is a mindset. We have an innate ability to engender better political and economic outcomes for Matabeleland, but success needs to be perceived beyond the removal, from the region, of the obsolete mainstream politics of Zimbabwe to also entail a change of mindsets in Matabeleland. Mindset affects everything – from shaping perception, attitude, to policy formulation and decisions, to the way a government treats its citizens, to how it keeps checks and balances on its own power.
To shift a mindset of any kind, awareness is essential. We cannot change something we are not aware of hence, the need to prioritise building awareness of the different mindsets. We need to educate the public about the basics of mindset and its influence on our lives.
If one is to understand ZANU PF’s politics and policy toward Matabeleland and governance, they must first understand the concepts of ‘scarcity mindset’, ‘abundance mindset’, ‘survival values’ and ‘self-expression values.’ This will inform our understanding of why ZANU PF is fearful of not being in control or challenged, why it is filled with hate of those it perceives to be a threat to its desires, and why it has chosen to be a wholly dictatorial institution.
A scarcity mindset is a way of thinking characterised by a belief that resources are limited and that one will never have enough to meet their needs. On the contrary, an abundance mindset is the belief that there are enough resources for everyone to enjoy and sees life’s possibilities as limitless.
According to World Values Survey (WVS) (Inglehart and Welzel, 2010), ‘survival values’ emphasise economic and physical security and are linked with ethnocentrism and low levels of tolerance while ‘self-expression values’ give high priority to environmental protection, growing tolerance towards others and gender equality, and rising demands for participation in decision-making in economic and political life.
Mindsets shape our perception of reality and influence our actions, which in turn reinforces our beliefs and expectations – a cyclical process known as a self-fulfilling prophecy; in a self-fulfilling prophecy our beliefs or expectations cause us to act and react in ways that cause our predictions to come true.
ZANU PF is stuck in a scarcity mindset characterised by a pervasive fear of ethnic Shona people losing power and control and that triggers its survival values instinct. In its fear of losing power and control to people of Matabeleland, ZANU PF has invested in hatred of people of Nguni extraction, and people of Matabeleland in general; the party has built a robust safety net of institutions and attitudes that favour the ethnic Shona population group while deliberately building a network of scepticism around Matabeleland people.
Unfortunately, by trading cooperation, the courage to learn from and work with each other and grow has been lost, and a sense of injustice and rebellion cultivated among minority population groups.
While ZANU PF is a sore thumb in Matabeleland’s lived experience and has become a source of socioeconomic and political dysfunction, Matabeleland is fast becoming its worst enemy in that it deepens and maintains the dysfunction by how it is responding to it. Instead of using our strength, we are trying to use the ZANU PF socio-political template to address its symptomatic features in our region, that is the highway to failure.
Reframing our approach is vital, we must build Matabeleland capacity within and avoid reacting to ZANU PF; we must not be hostages to ZANU PF politics. Fear must not be the foundation of our reconstruction efforts. Doubling down on ZANU PF’s exclusionary and discriminatory policies, not just fretting about them, will set the tone for real reforms in the region.
We do understand that the ZANU PF political base is a pervasive, self-perpetuating scarcity mindset. This a zero-sum paradigm of life that views resources and opportunities as limited; sees winners and losers, ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, and nothing in between. This mindset fosters insecurity, debilitating anxiety, fear, greed (think of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme that begun in 2000), secretive behaviours, hoarding of information/ resources, and destructive competitiveness as opposed to nurturing relationships and networks, and building strong, trusting communities.
Irrational fear has driven ZANU PF and the country to the brink; the party is stuck in its traditions because it is anxious about losing power and control, thus it has found comfort in authoritarianism and focused on policy reforms intent on enacting laws designed to benefit those who already ‘have’ and preclude those who do not already “have” from ever ‘having’. There is inherent fear that redistribution of power will create power blind spots that may lead to ZANU PF losing control of Matabeleland.
We argue that Matabeleland has the innate capacity to achieve fairer systems and institutions that will foster collaborative efforts to build transparent, representative, and sustainable politics and empower local economies.
A scarcity mindset restricts creativity as it encourages clinging to the familiar, paralysed by the fear of potential future need. Yet, progress often requires sacrifice. Holding onto roles, titles, or even specific viewpoints out of fear can hinder growth. Progress might mean giving up a title, a position of authority, or an obsolete policy position. In his acclaimed book “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” John Maxwell writes, “A leader must give up to go up”. By letting go of obsolete ideas and institutions, we create room for growth and new opportunities.
We must detach from ZANUism, reject the philosophy that views those who hold different opinions as a threat, and object to policies that try and condition the public to view hatred of certain population groups as patriotic.
To rebuild Matabeleland, we must focus on our innate capability to foster collaboration and transparency. We must shift away from an unhealthy scarcity mindset rooted in lack and limitation rather than possibilities and what is available.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 