Why you should be political - and in fact, you already are!

"Man is by nature a political animal." - Aristotle

The little boy that I once was used to wake up as early as 6 am to listen to the National Anthem – I was a child, with no concept of state symbolism and patriotism, the anthem was just an important song, like the ‘I believe’ and the ‘Our father’ and my ‘grade zero’ teacher said it was a song every Zimbabwean should know. ZBC had one TV station: for all age groups, for propaganda, entertainment and news. For that reason, my favorite TV shows, the Two Bananas, or Kool Catz or Power Rangers or Gringo or Cedric were constantly interjected by the iconic Mbare Chimurenga Choir which never seemed to cease to do a lip service to Robert Mugabe. For many years I danced to ‘Nyatsoteerera unzwe Kutonga or Ba Mugabe Vanofamba nemamonya or Baba Mugabe Murinhume’ which were all songs about the heroic, God-ordained father, king, ruler and president, Bob. The music took different forms for different seasons, his birthday, his election victory, National Heroes’ and Defense Forces, Independence or Trade fair.

The shows were also abruptly perturbed by the very sad ‘Tormented soul’ by Mathias Xavior which everyone simply knows as ‘yeyi yeyi yeyi’ which played whenever a National Hero died. Nowadays the songs persist like the, ‘Makorokoto SADC Chair murihuchi vaMnangagwa’ but about a different president, but the idea is the same, worship-like politics. A colossal chunk of my first years in education were dedicated towards shaping me into being a Zimbabwean Citizen – I was expected to know the meanings behind the lines of the national flag, a bit of history that idolizes National Heroes of the Liberation struggle, to memorize the National Pledge and to know the names of National Heroes, and even write poems about some of them! Now as a reflection on the yester years I realize how our initiation into political formation as citizens who belong to a defined territory began at a very tender age. All agents of socialization worked in tandem to shape us into groups that all pour into the overarching identity called ‘Zimbabwean’ – why else would we be so patriotic! The State itself can be understood as being forceful in shaping minds as religion.

Politics simply understood is a subset of human behavior that has to do with power and influence. We are constantly engaged in politics when we try to influence others to accept our opinions about religion, economics, sport or food, and when we try to avoid the influence of others – our interactions are such that we are either the influencer or the influenced. This is to say that politics is ubiquitous, it is everywhere and unavoidable – when we fight with our siblings over the remote, or we argue about who is better between Mbappe and Haaland, Ronaldo or Messi, or we present our reasons for going out with friends or college degree choice to our parents or when we frantically convince a professor to extend a deadline. There is politics even in schools, the tension between ‘cultural’ and ‘Sporty’ people, ‘Sciences’ and ‘Arts’ people, the selection of student leadership, the reshuffling of teachers’ duties and positions, and the vetting/censorship of what a student should say in her speech at Graduation/ Speech and Prize-giving Day!

Churches are also political, hierarchies as in Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and Orthodoxy reflect power sharing in the jurisdiction over a diocese, or Archdiocese, or ecclesiastical province or National Bishops’ Conference! The selection of Elders, Church Boards and Councils, the succession battles when a founder pastor/prophet dies, the immediate pedestalization of the Pastor’s wife and children and the appointment of section leaders (or elections) are all forms of politics. In different situations, because we realize that we are not always free and neither do we have the power to do whatever we want whenever we want, we employ certain strategies to get what we want or to control others or to at least get a benefit, over others, out of what we have to do as a collective. The hierarchies go from the level of the family and friend groups, all the way up to Politicians and Government, where strategies employed could mean the difference between life and death, poverty and prosperity, beggary or employment, slavery or freedom.

Why should you care if your vote does not make a difference?

This question itself is problematic because it reflects the false and misleading frameworks through which we were taught to understand our political selves – our political formation is crippling and regressive! Our sense of freedom is entirely laid upon the liberation struggle (which is an important part of our history, do not get me wrong) and is in relation to a ‘foreign’ and white oppressor. The first tangible sign of our victory over white minority rule was the ‘black majority vote’ in 1980, thus, ever since, the creed of the nation in public culture has been exercising the democratic right to vote once in 5 years. Even our national anthem talks about defending our Flag, which is a symbol of victory as a consequence of the blood of our heroes, for ‘foes’/ ‘Mhandu’/ ‘eZitheni’ – foes here can be understood of course, as external forces and powers that seek to colonize again as the rhetoric has always been, 'Zimbabwe will never be a colony again.' But what about internal foes, who by attacking the constitution, denying citizens of their rights, embezzling funds, desecrate the value of the Liberation Struggle? What do we mean when we sing, in the last stanza, 'may our leaders be exemplary' which has a deeper meaning in the vernacular, 'abakhokheli babelobuqotho'? The point is not necessarily the words of the questions, but that questions are not being asked at all, we were taught to listen and absorb, never to rethink, reimagine or reconsider why we do what we do, why we sing what we sing, what it means to be a member of a political society called Zimbabwe. 

This blog is calling you to think! To think for yourself. In the spirit of the enlightenment, I am begging you to move away from the tutelage of political party ideologies, to question all that you were told it is taboo to question, to think about the community and life you want for yourself. You do not need to attend a political rally, or protest or write a blog or tweet against those in power to be political, or to be a member of a political party and be clad in political regalia – by simply existing you already are. Aristotle did once say, man is by nature a political animal, which I believed to mean that politics is an undeniable part of who we are, even if the political landscape did not exist as we know it, political strategies will still be a defining and crucial aspect of our lives! We need to know what we mean when we say, in vision 2023, that Zimbabwe should become an upper middle-income democracy, and carefully speak out against all the injustices and incompetencies that impede the realization of that vision.

I am not trying to forcefully convert you, but as you go to sleep tonight and every other night, I think you should be haunted, until you are angry, by the fact that remember that 78 opposition party members, including a 1-year-old child, have been in prison for over 100 days and denied bail for simply gathering to celebrate the Day of the African Child. In isiNdebele we say, “Uthango ludla amakhomane” which directly translates to, ‘the fence is eating the gourds.’ The fence ought to protect the gourds! Who protects defenseless citizens from the tyranny of those in power?