So the Zanu PF Congress has come and gone. Inevitably, I found myself reflecting on what its highlights were and whether it had set a clear path for the country, especially in terms of the economy.
You see, Zanu PF is the ruling party. Love it or hate it, it has the mandate to run the affairs of the country (Bright Matonga said we have to put up with Zanu PF until 2018, by the way). Whether they are doing a good job or not is another story.
So, I followed the proceedings at the Congress with the hope that somehow there would be one or two signs that we (Zimbabweans) are headed in a positive direction. I have to confess, I did not have much hope. A part of me was kind of not expecting much, but at the same time I expected to be pleasantly surprised. Call me an eternal optimist if you will. Or a schizophrenic. Or both?
Anyway, I was disappointed by the Congress, Comrades. In fact, I was really disappointed.
The First Lady’s acceptance speech as Secretary of the Women’s Affairs felt more like an attack on Joice Mujuru and very little else. I am not defending Mujuru as I obviously have no inside information on the goings-on in the party. I expected to hear how the Women’s League would move the gender agenda forward or how it would put pressure on Government to respect the Constitution and policies on gender equality. The Government has made numerous commitments to achieve gender equality, including in the National Gender Policy. It has also ratified the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which advocates gender parity in all sectors: “State Parties shall endeavour, that by 2015, at least fifty percent of decision-making positions in the public and private sectors are held by women...” (Article 12 subsection 1).
I expected to hear the First Lady refer to the Protocol, at the very least; and reassure Zimbabwean women that she would do all she can to remind Government of these commitments. And demand that it works towards meeting them.
But there was none of that; at least not in any meaningful measure.
To make matters worse, of the 10 people he is he is obliged to appoint to the Central Committee, only one is a woman! 10 percent. Nowhere near 50 percent. At this point I think it is highly unlikely that Government will differ from the party by appointing more women to leadership positions. I am not hopeful that Cabinet appointments will be any different. But this is the one time I would be very happy to be proved wrong. But I am not holding my breath. I suspect the Government will follow the party. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate the party from the Government, at least for me.
I am still trying to decide which speech disappointed me more: the First Lady’s or the President’s? President Mugabe also mentioned Joice Mujuru and corruption in the party. At some point he said “Haana kurambidzwa kuuya; ariko kumba uko” (No one forbade her from coming; she is at home).
In true Mugabe fashion, he talked about the sanctions imposed by the West and the land stolen by the British: “the British stole our land, go and tell them that”. He went on “...because the country [Britain] is small, the people are small-minded...” Of course, the script would be incomplete without a mention of Tony Blair: “...chibenzi chinonzi Blair...” (the fool called Blair). He also chided Cecil John Rhodes for the part he played in oppressing blacks.
Do not get me wrong. I am in no way suggesting that our history is not important. Of course, it is very important. Without history, we are like a tree without roots. But we also have to be clear about what history teaches us about what we should (and should not) perpetuate.
However, the speech did not reassure me that the Government has identified economic recovery as a priority. I do not mean that it should magically revive the whole economy. I mean identifying a priority that if addressed, might lead to sectors of the economy moving in the right direction. For me that would be electricity. I think if we increase the country’s power generation capacity, industry will benefit and eventually, the whole country. Of course, this is a very basic explanation and I am not an economist. Maybe it would not work out quite that way, but that is why I expected the President to ‘spell out’ (as we said at College) what the ruling party would do to improve the economy for the benefit of citizens.
Of course the President did say “I know the suffering of the people more than you do” but I needed to hear more. And it did not come. That disappointed me, to say the least. The ruling party holds a Congress and it does not reassure citizens of a clear economic recovery plan? Of course there is the ZimAsset economic blueprint but I needed to hear the specifics of how Government plans to turn around the economy: the A, B and C.
The reason why I am even commenting on the Congress is that I am assuming that the party, when it is in Government, works for all Zimbabweans, regardless of political party affiliation. I do hope that is a correct assumption.
I am a patriotic Zimbabwean. I love my country. That is why I would like to see the country back on track. I believe I have a right to expect the ruling party to execute its mandate to run the affairs of the country. And I believe that is not an unreasonable expectation.
But as I am about to finish writing this it occurs to me that, in the greater scheme of things, why should my opinion on politics matter? I am from the ‘wrong’ part of the country and I speak the ‘wrong’ language. And I am a woman. That is not a very good combination in our politics. The fact that I am even thinking like this saddens me because I am Zimbabwean, after all...