Wednesday 24 June 2009

Tanzania’s fading dream: The return of disappointment- Rashweat Mukundu

CNN recently featured Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in all glowing coverage that portrays him as a decent and promising leader in Africa. The coverage hovered around phantom developmental issues that the President has achieved and of course continuing sympathies over the terrorist bombings in Tanzania that took place a few years ago. I however beg to differ with CNN especially if one looks at developments in that country. The death and injury of many from unsecured army weapons that exploded last month to the recent granting of USD 3 million in damages to a leading businessperson and ruling party politician against a leading but small and struggling newspaper, ‘Mwanahalisi’ shows a country desperate for true and visionary leadership. My argument is anchored on the sad but inspirational story of ‘Mwanahalisi’ newspaper, which for some reason never found its way into the CNN discussion, at least for its significance as an attack on the free press.

The source of the legal case that the newspaper lost, the Richmond saga as it is known is a true story of monumental corruption and it resulted in senior politicians and government officials getting into trouble. It is one of the many stories of corruption that the media has exposed. It seems it payback time for the ‘Mwanahalisi’. The alleged damages to this politician have not stopped him from being an MP and running his business empire, he did not suffer a stroke as a result of ‘Mwanahalisi’ story. One would think with such as award the politician committed suicide, hence the level of monetary damages awarded. In this instance the justice system in Tanzania has to be questioned and rightfully so. Is it truly independent and how does it relate to the Tanzanian society? It is part of the establishment and elite groups attempting to thwart dissent?

On a recent visit to Tanzania, a senior editor of one of the leading media groups remarked to us that Tanzania is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for journalists and the media in general.

“Losing one case is enough to shut down whole” newspaper she said in March 2009. This statement might come out to be prophetic as lasty month the High Court awarded damages of close to USD 3 million to ruling party MP and well known businessman. This ruling against the ‘Mwanahalisi’ newspapers, a young and bold investigative newspaper sums up the situation in Tanzania. After hopes raised by economic revival in the 1990s and early 2000s, the human rights costs of this facade of a stable, peaceful country is finally being exposed for what it is, a sham. For starters one really wonders how ‘Mwanahalisi’ can pay USD 3 Million, for a story that in the public court was true, serve for a few errors that have been exploited by some politicians. Leading figures in the government were sent to jail and others resigned over this matter. While the principle is to given the judiciary all protection and respect, one really wonders how the judge reached a damage ward of USD 3 million in country were the majority survives on less than a dollar a day. Is this ruling a just ruling, we ask? Is this ruling meant to ensure justice and leave the newspaper surviving or is in fact an opportunity to deal with the ‘Mwanahalisi’ once and for all. For those of my readers not in the picture, ‘Mwanahalisi’ is a Swahili weekly, owned and run by a young team of Tanzanian journalists, operates from what others might called backyard offices, was shut down in 2008 for allegedly impugning on the name of the head of state, President Kikwete. Before that its editor Saed Kubunea was scalded with acid, beaten up, left for dead and almost; lost his sight. The ‘Mwanahalisi’ was instrumental in exposing what is now known as the Richmond saga in Tanzania where senior government officials received bribes to push for the purchase of obsolete power generators for Tanzania from the USA. The newspaper has also exposed other serious official corruption cases in Tanzania. For all its work and efforts the newspaper is now saddled with USD 3 Million in damages for allegedly defaming a ruling party and prominent businessperson in the Richmond deal. The judiciary, in its wisdom or lack of it, saw it fit that the damage to this official is worth 3 USD million not shillings, but USD.

Corruption is a disease that many agree has eaten Africa to the bone. That is not difficult to see even as one walks the streets of Dar. Ordinary people hassle for life in the streets, public transport is in disarray, roads are pot holed that one can even fish in them and any semblance of planning is zero. In the same streets, one sees the latest four wheel drive 4x4s and some of the officials exposed by Mwanahalisi are known to have stashed millions of USD, ill gotten wealth in overseas banks. The newspaper exposed this, and had its offices and the house of Kubenea raided and some computers and documents confiscated. For all its supposed good name, peace and so called economic progress, Tanzania is on the contrary regressing. I say so because no country and no government confident of itself and its projects and closeness to people, can harass a small newspapers as is happening to Mwanahalisi. This is in a country where there is no access to information laws, where getting the slightest of government information is a hassle. While the Tanzania of yesteryear failed because of inappropriate economic policies, at least Nyerere cycled around on his bicycle and rode an old, ordinary car. What of Kikwete and the team that surrounds him? What has this government done to improve the lives of people?
Tanzanian dreams, disappointed after a false start at independence, face yet another hurdle as the new system, a dog eat dog primitive capitalist system devour even its own children. The Mwanahalisi is suffering not because it is such a bad paper; it is suffering because it has dared to challenge the clique that is feeding on the system. This clique obviously has political protection, striving on intimidation, bribery, pseudo media enterprises and greasing the palms of those with power. It is time the international community rise to the human rights threats in Tanzania. A stable Tanzania has always been a key factor in the sub region. At some point in its life, the University of Dar was bedrock of African nationalism and revival. We wonder what to say about Dar today. The death of Mwanahalisi, should it ever come, will be a victory of evil over good, the losers in all this will be the people of Tanzania, ordinary man and women many I saw queuing hours long to ride home in creaking, life threatening buses, many who cannot even pay fees for their children, many who cannot afford to buy or build a house, many who are fed empty promises year in and years out, many who faced unsecured bombs and paid with their lives recently, many who survive in the streets of Dar. Its time we tell the Tanzanian government that their good boy image is soiled. It is time we stand by the people of Tanzania. This charade cannot go on forever //End//

Friday 19 June 2009

Reform key to Zanu PF Survival- Rashweat Mukundu

Reform key to Zanu PF Survival - Rashweat Mukundu

A FEW weeks ago Zanu PF took the rare step of announcing that it had set up a committee to address the issue of succession within the party. This announcement, made after a politburo meeting, was also accompanied by the announcement that another committee to deal with ideological issues had been set up.

The issue of succession and ideology are key to Zanu PF’s survival beyond President Robert Mugabe. By making this announcement the party leadership has set in motion a process that it might not be able to stop. Zimbabweans would be expectant that finally the party might come to terms with and sense its self-destructive mode and take a new turn, hopefully for the better.

For Zimbabweans, the Zambia situation where the Movement for Multiparty Democracy now dominates the political scene like the former Unip of Kenneth Kaunda shows that in the long run Zimbabwe’s democracy will benefit from a reformed and democratic Zanu PF. The complete dominance of the body politic by one party has to be avoided. And in any case, it will be interesting to see if a new political alternative to the current Zanu PF and MDC ideological positions can emerge within Zanu PF.
It was the demise of Chairman Mao in China, infamous for his violent Cultural Revolution and intolerance of dissent, that resulted in a major turn on economic reform. The China we see today, though not the best example on democracy, is an outcome of reform that started in the Communist Party of China. Without this, China would have gone through another cultural revolution as Zimbabwe has seen a third Chimurenga, with destructive results.
It is possible that nothing much can be achieved from these announcements. The issue of succession has been talked of in Zanu PF before and Zanu PF is inconsistent in words and delivery. This issue has also been used by Mugabe to bait the ambitious who have been exposed and dealt with ruthlessly. The fate of the likes of Dr Eddison Zvobgo was sealed on the succession question. Zvobgo was more poignant, likening the succession question in Zanu PF with the story of the madman of Ngomahuru, who upon the receiving the baton in a relay race ran away with it into the mountains. The consequence is that the madman’s team lost the race.
Indeed President Mugabe and Zanu PF have lost the race, as well as the trust and faith of the people of Zimbabwe. The party’s hold on power through democratic means has slipped. The party now survives on violence, deception and patronage. Without violence and its dwindling patronage system, the centre cannot hold in Zanu PF.
The announcements appear to be a belated realisation that a top leadership hitting the mid 80s cannot be relied upon to take the party into the future. Zanu PF has been blind to the fact that since the mid-1990s it lost the people of Zimbabwe completely. This is despite the failure to unite the nation soon after Independence leading to the massacres of innocent civilians in Matabeleland. Zanu PF faces the real possibility of complete demise if it mishandles its succession issue.
At the centre of this succession is the need for a credible and visionary leadership to rise within the party. A leadership that can lead with brains and vision and not violence and patronage as we have seen in the past. It is clear that the patronage system of Zanu PF has permeated all facets of its political body and the state. A senior official in the Local Government ministry is known to boast that he is not a member of Zanu PF, but a shareholder. People who have shouted the loudest in support of Mugabe have suddenly become rich, not only owning ill-gotten farms but also getting all sorts of deals to supply this and that.
City council security guards, who a few years ago were doing commendably well by arresting pickpockets at Mbare Musika now have a new and enriching vocation, shouting praises of President Mugabe and are now living pretty. Zanu PF has relied so much on its abuse of state security organs, the CIO, army and police to the extent that not many people have any trust in these.
But this abuse cannot go on forever. At some point the vakomana, meaning security chiefs that Zanu PF has relied on so much, will also have to give up. Zanu PF has looked outward to external forces such as the security forces and patronage to maintain its hold on power. Failure of the party to realise these weaknesses and take them into account as part of the succession debate and ideological refocus means the future of the party is doomed.
Those who have stood by Zanu PF, especially the security chiefs, have created a false sense of security based on browbeating citizens and the opposition. The same grouping has lacked the foresight to realise they still need to be trusted by the people and must show a vision that can be shared.
It is here that the ideological committee set up by the politburo and includes the likes of Didymus Mutasa comes in. A critical question that it has to answer is:
will the committee be willing to face Zanu
PF’s demons in the face and seek to exorcise them?
These demons include an archaic, redundant and unattractive ideology. This ideology is based on the politics of either being with us or against us, race and ethnicity and conceptions of belonging and homogeneity which neither tolerate dissent nor respect basic principles of democracy. In this politics of Zanu PF, all citizens are expected to reconcile their views with those of Zanu PF and accept to be subservient to the dominance of Zanu PF, literally, to survive.
There is nothing wrong with Zanu PF advancing its nationalist ideology, as long as this is done persuasively and in the interest of the country. However, Zanu PF nationalism is a convoluted political position driven by an insatiable love of power. Since 2000, Zanu PF has shown total disdain for the MDC, and all its actions have been driven by hatred of the MDC and not selling its programmes and winning the hearts and minds of citizens.
Moving forward, one hopes that Zanu PF, as a minority party, will seek to reengage the people of Zimbabwe on what it can offer. As a minority party, Zanu PF can no longer afford to bury its head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, but actively seek to locate the heart beat of society, by reforming and repenting from its bad ways.
Zanu PF needs to abandon its ideology of deprivation, nepotism, violence and chaos and reengage all sectors in Zimbabwe from academia, civil society, business and labour if it is to be a party of the future. Otherwise all the efforts at succession and ideological reform will come to naught. Despite its appearance of strength and the grandstanding of security chiefs, Zanu PF is really in a corner and a shell of its former self.
Rashweat Mukundu is a Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring, Misa Regional Secretariat.