Zimbabwe’s political discourse is locked in a race to the bottom.
With every passing week, it threatens to drag this nation —which loves to brag about its literacy levels and education system — deeper into the pit of unreasonableness.
Consider this.
We are being told by some strange characters who are supposedly the intelligentsia of the opposition that the National Pledge must be ignored and barred from schools.
So it is wrong to say the National Pledge but perfectly fine to talk about constitutionalism as if that same pledge is not the child of the National Constitution.
These same people who would die opposing the Constitution-based National Pledge would rather have our nation defined by an amorphous thing called #ThisFlag without any sense of irony or embarrassment.
This is because political discourse in opposition circles tries mightily to deny the very history of “this flag”, creating the impression that we are not a product of the war fought for the freedom to be foolish they enjoy today.
Still on the National Pledge.
We also have the race-to-the-bottom-discourse of some church leaders, who are in reality more of mere Bible owners because they clearly are not literate enough to read and interpret it beyond grabbing money from the gullible, abusing female congregants and subscribing to whatever view will please opposition activists.
These church leaders mobilise against a National Pledge that affirms the supremacy of God (in reference to all religions) as stated in a National Constitution that many of them voted “yes” to just three short years ago.
Seriously, do these fellows ever think before they open their mouths?
Do they ever think before they act? It would appear these activists who try and hide behind the Bible have learnt very well from the unthinking ranks of the political opposition.
Public discourse by oppositional elements is plagued by a level of hypocrisy that is beyond shameful.
Think of this.
We are repeatedly told by opposition politicians and their activists in the private media that it is the height of evil for President Mugabe to seek medical treatment abroad.
The President does so for his own reasons. It is his right.
Now we are told that Morgan Tsvangirai has sought medical care outside Zimbabwe and everything is hunky-dory.
In fact, we should be wishing Tsvangirai a speedy recovery and should not intrude on the family during his period of convalescence. Is it not that what is good for the gander is good for the goose? Not so, it would seem, for the hypocritical public discourse of opposition politicians and their minions in the media.
Shall we go on?
One more example would suffice so as not to belabour what is an obvious point.
The past two weeks have seen private media providing much space and opposition politicians devoting much time to condemning the March 25, 2016 Million Man March in support of President Mugabe.
The march is being driven by Zanu-PF’s Youth League.
Some dullards opine that this is a waste of resources, they say the money being expended on the march should go job creation and the like. Well, the march is a party initiative — not a Government event. Political parties have the right to hold marches.
It is not even as if Zanu-PF marches often. And to make matters worse, the opposition has been calling for all manner of marches in recent months, and after that farce in Harare some time back, they promised bigger and better ones.
So, the opposition should be encouraged to march but when Zanu-PF decides to embark on a rare demonstration it suddenly becomes a waste of resources?
Give us a break!
What really makes all this frightening is that such shallow, hypocritical and ahistorical public political discourse is coming from supposedly educated people who want to run this country.
One thing is very clear.
With this kind of engagement, Zimbabwe is in very serious trouble.
COMMENT: With ‘intellectuals’ like these
The Sunday Mail
Zimbabwe’s political discourse is locked in a race to the bottom.
With every passing week, it threatens to drag this nation —which loves to brag about its literacy levels and education system — deeper into the pit of unreasonableness.
Consider this.
We are being told by some strange characters who are supposedly the intelligentsia of the opposition that the National Pledge must be ignored and barred from schools.
So it is wrong to say the National Pledge but perfectly fine to talk about constitutionalism as if that same pledge is not the child of the National Constitution.
These same people who would die opposing the Constitution-based National Pledge would rather have our nation defined by an amorphous thing called #ThisFlag without any sense of irony or embarrassment.
This is because political discourse in opposition circles tries mightily to deny the very history of “this flag”, creating the impression that we are not a product of the war fought for the freedom to be foolish they enjoy today.
Still on the National Pledge.
We also have the race-to-the-bottom-discourse of some church leaders, who are in reality more of mere Bible owners because they clearly are not literate enough to read and interpret it beyond grabbing money from the gullible, abusing female congregants and subscribing to whatever view will please opposition activists.
These church leaders mobilise against a National Pledge that affirms the supremacy of God (in reference to all religions) as stated in a National Constitution that many of them voted “yes” to just three short years ago.
Seriously, do these fellows ever think before they open their mouths?
Do they ever think before they act? It would appear these activists who try and hide behind the Bible have learnt very well from the unthinking ranks of the political opposition.
Public discourse by oppositional elements is plagued by a level of hypocrisy that is beyond shameful.
Think of this.
We are repeatedly told by opposition politicians and their activists in the private media that it is the height of evil for President Mugabe to seek medical treatment abroad.
The President does so for his own reasons. It is his right.
Now we are told that Morgan Tsvangirai has sought medical care outside Zimbabwe and everything is hunky-dory.
In fact, we should be wishing Tsvangirai a speedy recovery and should not intrude on the family during his period of convalescence. Is it not that what is good for the gander is good for the goose? Not so, it would seem, for the hypocritical public discourse of opposition politicians and their minions in the media.
Shall we go on?
One more example would suffice so as not to belabour what is an obvious point.
The past two weeks have seen private media providing much space and opposition politicians devoting much time to condemning the March 25, 2016 Million Man March in support of President Mugabe.
The march is being driven by Zanu-PF’s Youth League.
Some dullards opine that this is a waste of resources, they say the money being expended on the march should go job creation and the like. Well, the march is a party initiative — not a Government event. Political parties have the right to hold marches.
It is not even as if Zanu-PF marches often. And to make matters worse, the opposition has been calling for all manner of marches in recent months, and after that farce in Harare some time back, they promised bigger and better ones.
So, the opposition should be encouraged to march but when Zanu-PF decides to embark on a rare demonstration it suddenly becomes a waste of resources?
Give us a break!
What really makes all this frightening is that such shallow, hypocritical and ahistorical public political discourse is coming from supposedly educated people who want to run this country.
One thing is very clear.
With this kind of engagement, Zimbabwe is in very serious trouble.
CARTOON
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