Chronicle Editor
We are in an age of toxic politics. We have been in it since 2000. In that age, minds rarely, rather, do not meet on anything. It is all about opposing each other for the sake of it, needlessly slinging mud at each other, most of the adversarial tendencies and mudslinging coming from the opposition targeting Zanu-PF.
It was therefore a different feeling yesterday when an opposition-controlled local authority accorded probably its highest civic honour on President Mnangagwa. Victoria Falls, which became the country’s youngest city on Tuesday, took a decision to accord Freedom of the City on the President.
Since 2000, the city has been largely won by the MDC with Zanu-PF winning one or two wards. Therefore, given the highly conflictual politics in the country, not many would have fathomed the local authority honouring a ruling party official, least of all its President and First Secretary.
The President was naturally elated to accept this very epochal honour, stating in his acceptance speech how profound it was as it came not from a council controlled by his party.
“The fact that this conferment of Freedom of the City has been accorded to me under the auspices of the local authority constituted by opposition council members attests to the unique character of the leadership of this council and the people of Victoria Falls,” he said.
“It is equally a testimony of the strong inherent national spirit of unity among our people. As a young council, I commend your wisdom. Through this gesture, you have demonstrated that we are all Zimbabweans and what unites us and bonds us together, is far stronger than any issues that could ever divide us. In unity, peace, love and emboldened by the desire to defend, guard and advance our national interests, the success and prosperity of our country is merely a matter of time.”
President Mnangagwa came in three years ago as a reformist with a different way of running the country. He has always spoken for national unity, noting that, yes, we belong to different political formations, ethnic backgrounds and so on, but we sing one national anthem, our flag is one, we all belong to this country hemmed by the Zambezi and the Limpopo rivers and have one national interest.
Sadly, that hand has been spurned. Mr Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance has been especially caustic. It is still steeped in the overly belligerent First Republic mode of always defending themselves and attacking the other side.
They still think that the US and European Union sanctions are punishing Zanu-PF and its leadership despite clear evidence that they are punishing every Zimbabwean, particularly the poor including opposition members and supporters. They have refused to participate in forums meant to thaw relations and come up with a consensus to move the country forward politically, socially and economically. The biggest they have refused to be part of is the Political Actors Dialogue.
They say they don’t recognise the President and routinely walk out of Parliament when he officially opens parliamentary sessions.
Amid all that general negativity, Victoria Falls City Council has done it. That is the sort of a meeting of the minds we see in many countries, but which we painfully miss here.
We hope that other opposition parties and opposition-led local authorities such as Harare and Bulawayo will take a leaf from what Victoria Falls City Council has done. Zimbabweans do not deserve toxic politics that not only bring emotional stress on them but also impoverish them. The people want a break from politics.
They want to live their lives and be in election mode for only a few weeks every five years.
Online Reporter