ZANU PF treating symptoms and leaving out the causes: A prognosis of the current   party’s strategies to suppress dissenting voices.

By George Makoni 

The harassment and arrest of protesters and activists by the state is a deliberate strategy by the ZANU PF government to extinguish the spirit of resistance to the authoritarian rule by Zimbabweans.

This spirit of discontent has existed among the generality of peace loving Zimbabweans   since the turn of the millennium.

However, this has been vehemently frustrated by Mugabe and his ZANU PF regime due to their selfish fulfilment of insatiable appetite of power. Manipulation of electoral results, patronage and effective use of   repressive and ideological state apparatus were the chief reasons which kept ZANU PF in power.  Since 1980 the ZANU PF regime has relied on patronage, manipulation of electionsand the use of   repressivestate apparatusto retain power.

The violence that has characterised most of the elections held in Zimbabwe since 1980 has effectively discouraged and terrified citizens from actively participating in the country’s governance processes.

The pre-election violence charactering most of the elections held in Zimbabwe since 1980 pacified the meaningful participation of citizens in democracy and governance; this resonates with Professor Masunungure argument that we now have voters in Zimbabwe, as opposed to citizens.

Masunungure’s telling depiction of Zimbabweans illustrates the current situation in the country where citizens do not have the freedom to meaningfully contribute towards issues of their governance; rather they are only implementers of instructions rather than decision makers.

This situation has left ZANU PF oligarchs virtually in total control of the country and allowed Mugabe to run it like his private property.

This situation has culminated in severe lack of transparency and accountability in the ZANU PF government.

The looting of diamonds worth US$15 billion and the running down of once thriving parastatals is testimony of the unbridled corruption and lack of accountability that has characterised Mugabe and ZANU PF’s failed leadership since 1980.

The inconsistent economic policies by the ZANU PF government and its false promises to the electorate have brewed the current state of discontent among the citizens.

This has, however, been exacerbated by the El-Niño induced drought which has ravaged most parts of Southern Africa.

Because the ZANU PF government is now clueless and clutching a straws, Mugabe was left with no choice recently and had to use the El-Niño drought to defend his government by ridiculously stating that ZANU PF could not be blamed for the country’s food crisis because it had no powers to make rain.

While Zimbabweans are aware that the drought experienced in the last farming season was beyond human control, they argue that the government’s disaster mitigation strategy is poor and that is what has caused massive hunger and starvation in Zimbabwe where over 4 million people are in urgent need of food aid.

The partisan distribution of food aid by the ZANU PF government as exposed by the civil society reports by Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe in 2015 is testament to how the government is failing to manage this disaster.

In addition, Mugabe’s extravagance, particularly his expensive globe-trotting activities, shows how selfish and inconsiderate he is to the plight of the generality of Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2016 Livelihoods Assessment Reportrevealed that 4.5million people are facing starvation.

The situation has been worsened by unprecedented unemployment estimated to be hovering over 90 percent.

Such an environment, characterised by hunger, poverty and unemployment, is certainly a breeding ground for discontent, no wonder the endless protests by various social movements such as #Tajamuka, #ThisFlag, #MyZimbabwe and #Tasvinura among others. Opposition political parties operating under the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) banner have also raised their voices against the ZANU PF government by demanding electoral reforms before the next general elections in due in 2018.

The group, comprising 18 political parties, has threatened nation-wide protests to force the ZANU PF government to accede to their demands for a wide range of electoral reforms.

The frightened and panicking ZANU PF government has responded by violating the country’s constitution by banning demonstrations and protests.

The recent beatings and arrests of anti-government protesters and the persistent denial of bail for those detained, is deliberately calculated to frustrate the spirit of resistance among the discontented citizens.

 Also orchestrated to suppress the voices of disgruntled Zimbabweans is the harassment and torture of activists at the hands of repressive state actors.

SilvanosMudzvova, a #Tajamuka member, was left for dead after being abducted by stage agents from his home at midnight last week for calling on Mugabe to step down since he has failed to ameliorate a plethora of socio-economic challenges bedeviling the country.

Hundreds of activists and protesters have been brutalised, arrested and imprisoned by the ZANU PF government in the last few months.

The brutality and arrests have been extended to severalprotest leaders and social activists, including Evan Mawarire, Promise Mkwananzi, Mehluli Dube, Pride Mkono and Linda Masarira who has been incarcerated since 1 June 2016.

From the look of things the ZANU PF regime is determined to continue on this path of trampling the constitution and violating human rights in order to supress dissenters.

What remains very clear to all Zimbabweans, however, is that the discontent among citizens, which is a result of poverty, unemployment and poor government policies, will not be suppressed by arresting activists or banning demonstrations.

Citizens are demanding solutions to their poverty and joblessness and it’s up to the ZANU PF government to provide solutions to these problems or pave way for those who can.

George Makoni is an activist and writes in his own capacity