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The polarisation caused by the stand-off between Zimbabwe’s main political actors over the course of the last 14 or so years is going to be hard to remove from the minds of many people. The inability to separate national interest from narrow party interest has become deeply ingrained in the psyches of many.
Unfortunately, there really is nothing that can be done to change such deep-set attitudes in those who are not willing to let go of their vice-like grip onto unproductive outlooks. Many people, though, are willing to rethink their positions and are flexible enough to accept that often enough, things are not cast in stone and that at the end of the day what really matters is that we build a Zimbabwe that future generations can truly be proud of.
Part of the problem of failing to separate common interests from individual preferences lies in the inability by the media, Government and civic society to properly define the national interest over the last 33 years.
On the one hand, Government has certainly tried though perhaps their efforts were not sophisticated enough to encompass the important role of education and identity in inculcating that sense of national interest that is needed in every citizen.
On the other hand, large sections of the media and civic society have often deliberately muddied the waters and actively sought to denigrate the national interest so as to pursue their own borrowed agendas.
The result has been that today we still have people who talk of “Zanu-PF” ambassadors and “MDC” ambassadors.
This level of wilful and destructive lack of appreciation of the nation-state has become even more apparent since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that some ambassadors had been recalled.
It should be common knowledge that ambassadors work on the basis of fixed-term contracts that can be renewed. Ambassadors can be recalled and not given any other posting, or they can be reassigned to a new mission abroad.
This is something that happens every four years, and 2014 is no exception.
But since Government said some 20 ambassadors would be back home — some for good and some for possible reassignment elsewhere — we have been getting strange interpretations of this very normal and routine procedure from sections of society that should know better. We are not talking here about the antics of Ms Jacqueline Zwambila in Australia. How she chooses to demean herself and grovel at the feet of empire so as to butter her bread is her own business.
What we are talking about here is how the media have deliberately planted in the public psyche the creation of “Zanu-PF” and “MDC” ambassadors.
An ambassador is appointed to represent the Head of State and Government and not represent a political party.
Mischievous individuals and organisations are pursuing this line of thinking that seeks to reduce offices of State to mere party offices.
It is this same kind of thinking made the inclusive Government almost unworkable as some people thought they were in the administration to further MDC-T politics while forgetting that they were supposed to be in the service of the entire nation.
The same goes for Zanu-PF. All cadres who are seconded to Government by the party must know that they are there to work for the entire nation.
In fact, Zanu-PF will find that it will win itself more admirers if its people in Government discharge their duties to all Zimbabweans regardless of their political affiliation.
That in turn will do wonders for the image of Government and will also cascade down into reinforcing that sense of national interest that is lacking at many levels of our society. The national interest is not a specific subject that can be taught in schools. Rather it is something that is bred by the example of the leadership.
Online Reporter