Party interests have sabotaged the larger Zimbabwean dream

Zimbabwe has become a polarised nation with the ordinary citizen bearing the brunt of elitist politics.

Zanu PF, the ruling party since 1980, claims that it won the 2018 election. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition since 1999, also claims that it won the same election.

The outcome of the election was highly contested. For the first time in the history of Zimbabwe, the matter was taken to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) and was broadcasted live on ZBC TV, the nation’s sole broadcaster. 

This was a departure from the Mugabe years where elections were contested, and nothing would be done. The 2008 election between Mugabe and Tsvangirai is a case in point. The matter was put before the court but judgement was never delivered. . 

The historical ConCourt hearing with a panel of nine judges, which Zimbabweans and the world followed religiously, could not save Zimbabwe from the looming political standoff. If anything, it rubberstamped it.

Zanu Pf came out of the court all smiles headed towards the cockerel perched building, its headquarters, set to occupy government offices at the Munhumutapa Buildings and form the next government.

The MDC marched to Harvest House, their headquarters, sullen but ready to occupy the streets and sing the illegitimacy song. 

Two years after the election it has become apparent to Zimbabweans that the ConCourt ruling threw the country into a political logjam that has subsequently seen Zimbabwe heading towards one destination, the dead end. 

In all this political quagmire, the ordinary Zimbabwean is stuck in the middle, left to manoeuvre in the socio-economic quicksand whilst the political elite from both ends of the political spectrum lives in affluent suburbs driving top of the range cars.

Zimbabweans are suffering. From all walks of life, whether one supports the MDC or Zanu PF, it is fact not fiction that the centre no longer holds.

Perhaps, the question that Zimbabweans must stop asking themselves as a country is who won or who did not win the election. They have asked this, times without number and it has all been a wild goose chase. 

Instead, what they should probably be asking each other is, where do we go from here and what is good for the country? This is a simple question that however, has evidently been lacking in the matrix of solving the Zimbabwean crisis.

The, it-is-us-who-won-the-election narrative maintained by the two big parties betrays them - none has the interests of the nation at heart. 

They are both pursuing party interests, at the expense of the larger Zimbabwean dream.

Sadly, even the ordinary voter has been hoodwinked into partisan politics and joined the band wagon of sacrificing the Zimbabwean agenda on the altar of party politics.

Zimbabwe has become a nation at war with itself with hardliners from the two big parties being not only their own enemies but also foes of progress.

But, the politically naive, those not affiliated to any of the big parties know what they need and what is good for the country. 

It is them whose children kick dust from school having been chased for not paying school fees. It is them who share pinches of salt over torn fences to season food that has become so difficult to come by. 

It is them who spend days and nights on fuel queues waiting for fuel that is not guaranteed. It is them who stand in bank queues waiting for money that does not buy anything.

It is them who are victims of elitist politics. 

All they need is a mediator and statesman in the mould of Thabo Mbeki and a Mugabe and Tsvangirai of 2008 and the Government of National Unity (GNU) that followed in 2009. Unfortunately, President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai are late and President Thabo Mbeki is no longer in power. 

Who will save Zimbabwe?  

The voice of Zimbabweans calling for a power sharing deal is not heard as they are deemed not politically astute to understand the dynamics of the GNU of 2009-2013, which some label as a polygamous affair.

Zanu PF regrets it. The MDC regrets it. The big parties lament it was the greatest political gaffe post-independence Zimbabwe. The big parties lost, but did Zimbabwe as a nation not win?

Zimbabwe is burning. It remains to be seen how the country will rise from the ashes. Opposition led demonstrations continue to be met with repression from the state, latest case being the July 31st demonstrations. 

The state warned that the protests would be treated as illegal. The presence of security forces on the streets of Harare on July the 31st, confirmed the state was more than ready to deal with any form of opposition led mass action. Indeed, citizen arrests in connection with the protests ensued.

Zimbabwe is again at crossroads where neither a Zanu Pf win nor an MDC win matters. It is the laymen in the street, the ordinary Zimbabwean that must win.

Unless the big parties and their hard-core supporters stop chasing the wind, innocent Zimbabweans will remain the proverbial grass that suffers when two bulls fight.

Nkosiyazi Kan Kanjiri is a University Of Fort Hare social work graduate. He writes in his own capacity.