Human rights are for all, NOT just the majority OR the well-off

Emboldened and empowered by the silence of the law (locally and internationally), the post-independence regime of Robert Mugabe sought to politicise fear in Matabeleland, wipe out difference and create a one-party state. The 5^th Brigade operation codenamed Gukurahundi, targeted and murdered unarmed civilians in Matabeleland purportedly to enforce security in the region.

Mugabe’s intervention in Matabeleland laid the foundations for political injustice countrywide where other forms of terror – disappearances of dissenters, assaults, killings, threats to perceived opponents of the State, etc., are used with impunity.

Fear has become the main factor in political choice and behaviour in society. A huge section of Matabeleland society has not got the kind of political leaders and system it deserves, and it is equally true that the region is still unable to get the kind of institutions or structures it insists on.

Zimbabwe continues to be a disastrous experiment in political leadership. Acquiring power for the sake of associated personal benefits remains the main reason politicians are in position, not public service. We need to end years of performative democracy and divisive politics.

We must set in motion genuine socio-political pathways to achieve legitimate political and economic independence for everyone. Public participation is a huge part of that. It is important for oversight for the civilian population to engage in social and political matters and decisions about who and how they are led. It is just as important for the civilian population not to be easily convinced by politicians that they know what we need.

Politicians know a lot about what they need from us but act naive about what we need from them. While politicians may have different ideological positions their main goal has remained the same, to control a divided public and in that they unite. On the other hand, the public remains divided at the expense of its power and interests.

The public must take control and ensure what can be done by communities is done by communities and federal government only features on invitation.

Social and political injustice are the face of national politics of the independent Zimbabwe where minority groups and opinions are marginalised or systemically coopted into majority population groups and ideas. The idea of a nation is often conflated with the false notion of ethnic Shona language, culture, norms and values’ superiority.

We argue that mainstream politics of Zimbabwe is a ZANU PF creation; an ethnic Shona movement that continues to appropriate state power to abuse certain population groups and to suppress certain social and political opinion, control who governs, and how. We do not want to be governed on the idea of ZANU PF of us but on who we decide to be.

Mainstream Zimbabwe politics and its multiparty discourse is merely performative democracy with no legitimate democratic credentials. It is a false democracy façade whose main role is being a surveillance tool for the state apparatuses. Elections and protests are fundamental for the State to identify dissenting voices and control national political narratives.

The reality is that the State of Zimbabwe is a military dictatorship that empowers injustice and withdraws independence from certain population groups. What we see daily is the kind of independence rooted in the oppression of certain population groups and denial of their humanity and their very right to exist.

No system is perfect for all the people, all the time; every system requires adaptations to suit target communities and times. The major weakness of mainstream politics of Zimbabwe is its rigidity in its bias towards majority ethnic Shona and marginalisation and suppression of minority ethnic groups.

It would be beneficial for majority population groups to abandon the idea of dominance and work honestly with minorities to rebuild a representative system. Even ethnic Shona people are not a monolith; a representative system and institutions saves the interests for all. Human rights abuse and oppression of minorities in Zimbabwe results from the majority population group substituting their own culture and creed for the law.

And when a State is allowed to obtain political capital from othering certain population groups, it expands the ‘other’ categories making the space unsafe for anyone holding or expressing unpopular views.

We must never ignore or protect the abuse of human rights because we are not victims today. We must develop systemic intolerance to abuse of basic human rights of all regardless of race, tribe, religion, sex, political affiliation, etc. Protecting rights of certain population groups should not translate to a compromise of the rights of others. However, we have, in Zimbabwe, an ongoing problem in which the political system and institutions work in such a way that the rights of some are secured by the denial of rights to others.

The status quo needs to be challenged and replaced by a political calculus built on dreams of a world beyond the absurdities of discrimination. Difference must never be equal to less; our systems need to accommodate diversity in communities and ideas.