The quest to redefine democracy

13 Jan, 2019 - 00:01 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Fay Chung

Zimbabwe, through the Lancaster House Agreement, inherited a form of democracy which gave us political freedom without economic freedom.

Some constitutional changes took place over the past four decades of independence, but in my view, the changes could have minimised or increased our democracy.

It is thus important for Zimbabweans to examine the different expressions of democracy.

Do we enjoy more or less democracy? Can we improve on our democracy?

Democracy is defined as government for the people by the people. This is generally linked to people having the right to vote for their leaders.

Democracy as practiced in Zimbabwe has been defined for us by the West, and comprises regular multi-party elections every five years.

It emphasises “free and fair” elections, which entail freedom to organise, freedom of speech and use of media, and freedom from conflict and torture.

It does not touch on the fact that there is widespread poverty amongst the population.

But can we have real democracy when 70 percent of the population are very poor? The Western definition does not include any procedures to enable the poor to extricate themselves from their unenviable circumstances.

Is this anomaly, therefore, not enough reason to call for a redefinition of democracy in light of the high levels of poverty in our country?

It is my humble submission that Zimbabwe’s democracy can be enlarged through the inclusion of economic democracy?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948

It is useful to compare democratic rights to the United Nations Declaration of Rights promulgated in 1948. This sets out the rights as agreed after the Second World War. Human rights can be divided into political, social/cultural and economic rights. There is a tendency to emphasise political and social/cultural rights, and to ignore economic rights, yet it is important to look at human rights as whole, as dire poverty makes it difficult, if not impossible, for political and social/cultural rights to be protected.

One result of this harmful and disastrous poverty is that the poor are easily exploited by the wealthy and powerful, especially at election time.

The poor are likely to vote for those who can provide them with fertiliser and seeds, as these are now so exorbitantly priced that most of the poor cannot afford them. Yet they must grow their own food if they are not to starve. Parliamentary candidates who can provide free T-shirts and lavish meals at rallies are more likely to win votes, as voters think that those who are too poor to provide even these basics will not be worth voting for.

The poor always expect some modest material reward for their votes.

Political Rights

In the West, we have a strong tradition of parliamentary democracy, which means that people are given the opportunity to select and elect their representatives in parliament once every five years.

Zimbabwe had a constitutional presidency, 1980 – 1987, but the post was changed into an executive presidency in 1987.

The Western model, which was the admired and foundational model for most African countries, is based on multi-party democracy.

Historically, Zimbabwe had two liberation movements – the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).

Each of these formed independent armies, Zipra under Zapu, and Zanla under Zanu.

These two rival movements morphed into separate political parties, although the Frontline States of Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia all favoured the unification of the two movements and armies into a united force.

The 1987 Unity Agreement by the leaders of the two parties brought about immediate “peace”, but the residual effects of the pain of the dissident era are still being felt today.

After the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), people in some areas most affected by dissident activities have generally voted for the MDC.

This was multi-party democracy Zimbabwe-style, but rooted in poverty, conflict, and suffering.

Zimbabwe has had elections every five years, but this has not solved the country’s challenges.

It is evident that multi-party democracy, a desirable “good” supported by all Zimbabweans, is insufficient in bringing unity, peace and prosperity.

It is now generally accepted that the Executive Presidency under Robert Mugabe gave him dictatorial powers.

The two major decisions necessitated by the executive presidency was to send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1998 and the land reform programme.

These were followed by United States sanctions under ZDERA, which were adopted by most Western nations.

Government’s hyper-inflationary response that followed destroyed all economic activity, worsening the situation.

The 2008 elections did not solve the crisis, which was only resolved through the SADC intervention headed by President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.

Another major weakness of the two largest parties has been the focus on personalities rather than on policies and strategies.

Once the executive presidency was established, President Mugabe morphed into a demi-god, and indeed was named Deputy God by his ardent followers who claimed he would rule even from the grave.

The result of this hero-worship was that any form of criticism, however mild, technical or professional, was seen as unforgiveable “treason”.

The same thing is happening to the MDC, whose charismatic leader, Nelson Chamisa, is seen as an undisputed prophet whose every word is indubitable.

Demi-gods are a Zimbabwean phenomenon, a dangerous threat to democracy. The Deputy Gods already know all the answers.

Compounded by flattery, they do not need to listen to any advice.

Another Zimbabwean phenomenon is the weak Parliament, where many parliamentarians think that their main function is to praise and obey the leader. The culture of blind obedience was fostered both by tradition and by colonialism.

The result is that many parliamentarians do not have an incisive grasp of the legislation they pass. The National Budget is an example. It is approved by Parliament every year, but few parliamentarians can boast that they have analysed the budget in detail.

Concerted effort should be made to strengthen Parliament, with particular emphasis on parliamentary committees.

Socio/Cultural Rights

The UN Human Rights Declaration Article 25 emphasises the right to health and education, as well as to cultural expression.

It states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.”

The right to education is specifically mentioned: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”

Zimbabwe was very successful in the provision of both health and education in the first two decades after independence, but the next two decades were later characterised by serious problems in both sectors.

This serious downturn affected service provision as well as economic growth. The military-inspired removal of President Mugabe’s regime has brought hope to the country.

Economic Rights

The Declaration of Human Rights places great emphasis on economic rights with Article 23 saying:

“(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

Zimbabwe has definitely not done very well in terms of providing economic growth and jobs for all. In particular, the poor have had to fend for themselves, mainly through the informal economy.

Conclusions

The challenge Zimbabwe faces is how to link democracy to human rights. There is a need for a time frame, because some things can be implemented immediately, whereas others will require a medium- and long-term perspective. Greater respect and adherence to human rights can lead to better democracy, national unity and peace.

Some of the basic human rights such as education, health and clean water supply were achieved at the beginning of independence, but they have been seriously undermined in the last two decades.

Urgent action includes the following:

l Agriculture provides the food and foundation of the whole economy. The Budget for agriculture has almost doubled. However, we were told by President Mnangagwa that 88 percent of our farmers have not received sufficient training and do not have sufficient experience. This is a challenge both to democracy and human rights: poverty and starvation do not promote democracy and human rights. Should Zimbabwe succeed in doubling its agricultural production, it can have an enormous impact on poverty. Special reliance must be placed on our 3000 Extension Officers, who will play a key role in helping to improve productivity.

l Free primary education that allowed every child to go to school is the most fundamental human right, and was respected for 20 years. Today, we are a little wealthier than in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet the situation today is that 25 percent of children do not complete Grade 7. This means about one million primary age children are missing from school. A return to free primary education will ensure that this basic human right is respected. If not we will soon have a new generation of illiterates and semi-literates, and we will have created them ourselves after Independence.

l The present habit of cutting the health budget by the amount it receives in free medicines is erroneous, as the free medicines cover only a few diseases. A better solution would be for Government to provide technical, managerial and financing support to enable Zimbabwe’s pharmaceutical companies to provide all the basic commonly used drugs in the country. This will entail a public-private partnership, although it needs to be carefully monitored to avoid the abuse of State funds given to the private sector in the past. If support was given through banks rather than through RBZ, the chances of corrupt use of the funds would be better limited.

l Finally, the very large informal economy presently employs 5,7 million people. What a feat! Yet most of these workers live in poverty. Some are not even paid, but only receive enough food to survive. The informal economy addresses poverty alleviation: without the communal and resettled farmers Zimbabwe would have millions dying of starvation.

In order for democracy and human rights to function, Government needs to invest in the informal economy, through research, development, large-scale training, construction of infrastructure, and loans. Poverty is the greatest threat to human rights in Zimbabwe, and it needs to be addressed ferociously.

Unless poverty is addressed it is difficult if not impossible to have real democracy and to achieve human rights.

 

Fay King Chung  was Deputy Secretary for Administration in the Ministry of Education from 1980 to 1988 and Minister of Education from 1988 to 1993.

 

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