Online Reporter
Richard Runyararo Mahomva
MYLONAS and Tudor (2021: 17) argue that states are self-conscious entities in the process of nation-building.
Likewise, states facilitate the legitimacy of emotions of belonging as the foundation of voluntary fraternal/patriotic ties.
Thereafter, nationhood produces collective conscience-driven principles of how power must behave and be regulated for the common-good.
I call this “governance conscience”, and to every nation’s biography is a mother-party of liberation.
For purposes of my analysis, I argue that the mother-party of any revolution produces party morals, which in turn frame and guide national development.
Mylonas and Tudor (2021) further ask, “Why do some states heavily invest in nation-building while others do not?”
Given the relationship of coloniser and formerly colonised states, Professor Simbi Mubako’s latest autobiographic offering, “Zimbabwe at 45: The Struggle for Sovereign Autonomy and Prosperity”, is a sharp relevant response to this geo-political reality, particularly in reference to the West’s footprint of imperialism which was dismantled by African nationalist agitations of the 60s.
In terms of self-consciousness, the historical celebration of Zimbabwe’s 45th independence as a towering theme of the book is substantiated by the author’s metaphoric representation of Zimbabwe as an “adult” democracy.
Beneath this sovereign adulthood, there is a grotesque history of colonial molestation which begat a nationalist resistance offspring called Zimbabwe in 1980.
Like all post-colonies, in 1980, Zimbabwe was destined for colonially designed fissures of tribalism, sustained post-colonial racial inequalities, negotiated constitutional illegalities on property ownership, neo-colonial replacement of organic democratic values with anti-nationalist regime-change ideas, deliberate attempts to sabotage the state’s loyalties to black economic empowerment, concerted Western obsessions to produce a comprador bourgeoisie class and intellectuals servicing the demonisation of nation-building and all Government policies.
The publication focuses on these key themes and demonstrates how sovereign autonomy and prosperity have been consolidated in the context of this hostile environment.
Given this background, Prof Mubako’s submission affirms the view that “ . . . states developing in higher-threats environments were more likely in nation-building strategies to homogenise their populations” (Mylonas & Tudor 2021).
Therefore, this book is a rallying call for Zimbabweans to unite against the forces of externally driven interest for us to be a divided people.
Prof Mubako’s book is a useful point of reference to understand the structural/institutional challenges which Zimbabwe has endured in the last 45 years of its independence.
At the centre of the nation’s existence is the party of the permanent national revolution — Zanu-PF — and its unifying character gluing all of us together.
Authorship humility
While the author was intellectually invested in the advancement of our national liberation as a prominent legal advisor to the nationalists, as well as an information and publicity specialist, he avoids emphasising liberation credentials — a trend associated with most of his contemporaries — including some who were in the peripheries of decision-making but are fascinated with writing themselves back to history as icons.
A good case in point is former President’s Department Director-General Happyton Bonyongwe (2024)’s autobiography, “One Among Many”.
I have avoided reviewing the book primarily because of that shortcoming.
On the contrary, liberation patriarchs and some possible seniors/role models to Bonyongwe and his armed struggle agemates present more modest self-projections of their respective role in the history of modern-day Zimbabwe.
To this end, several autobiographies come to mind, namely the late Father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo (1983)’s “Story of My Life”, Maurice Nyagumbo (1980)’s “With the People: An Autobiography from the Zimbabwean Struggle”, Edgar Tekere’(2007)s “Lifetime of Struggle”, Tshinga Dube’(2021)’s “Quite Flows the Zambezi” and Obert Mpofu (2021)’s “On the Shoulders of Struggle: Memoirs of a Political Insider”.
Prof Mubako follows this tradition of modesty as a cross-cutting theme of his self-location in the Zimbabwean story.
He is reserved about the salient side of his lofty credentials.
This is instructive of the need for those in power or associated with power to be humble in carrying out their national duties.
Prof Mubako represents a rare crop of intellectual nationalists of the Second Chimurenga, and his footprint is awash in prominent phases of our liberation phases alongside luminaries like the late former President Robert Mugabe, late Vice- President Joshua Nkomo, late Vice-President Simon Vengesayi Muzenda and Chairman Herbert Chitepo.
The party man
In the book, Prof Mubako gives first-hand references to the inaugural ZANU Congress of 1964. This makes him a reservoir of the party history, its founding values and morals of existence, as well as the mother of our national liberation.
Just like the current President, Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, Prof Mubako is one of the few repositories of this epic moment in the history of ZANU PF.
That makes his book an authoritative source of articulating the party line spelt out in the 1977 Central Committee Meeting by Cde Robert Mugabe.
The book is timely given that Ambassador Mubako has served as “a supervisor for party elections which periodically take place all over the country, very much like national elections” (page 139).
Prof Mubako makes a pertinent reflection on the process of internal leadership selection in the party.
As guided by the party’s inaugural and the current constitution, Ambassador Mubako argues that members of the Central Committee are elected from the country’s ten provinces.
This buttresses in the importance of regional balancing in the construction of firm party structures and the importance of internal democracy in mirroring benchmarks of leadership election even at a national level: The Central Committee is analogous to the national Parliament.
The main functions of the Central Committee are to make policies and regulations and act as the top decision-making body between congresses.
At levels below the Politburo, ZANU PF is a thoroughly democratic body in theory and generally in practice.
While celebrating this strong and inherent democratic culture of the party, Prof Mubako argues that manipulation of internal party systems for selfish/counter-revolutionary inclinations is strongly despised in ZANU PF.
As such, he posits that: “The peddling of wealth and influence in order to be elected is strongly frowned upon. The imposition of office holders by superior party bosses is strictly forbidden. However, at the top level, democracy has over the years been steadily eroded. If we go back to the first Congress of 1964, all the members of the top executive were directly elected by congress delegates. Those few who escaped the dragnet went into exile where they constituted a war council known as Dare reChimurenga. Members of the Dare reChimurenga, led by a chairman, were elected by delegates in exile, including members of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) on the basis of one-person-one-vote. At one time, Chairman Chitepo proposed an amendment of the constitution in order to allow him, as chairman, to appoint other Dare members. The proposal was roundly rejected even though it was under conditions of war (Page 139-140).”
Fast forward, at the peak of contradictions which became evident in the party, culminating in Operation Restore Legacy in November 2017, Prof Mubako recalls that: “The Central Committee was surprisingly unanimous in asserting its authority over the President and First Secretary. It went further to reinstate Emmerson Mnangagwa’s membership in the party and elected him as the new party President and First Secretary. That was the ultimate display of democratic authority in ZANU PF. Ndabaningi Sithole had been removed from the leadership of the party in similar circumstances but during the war. (Page 140-141).”
These two intergenerational anecdotes demonstrate the permanence of democracy as a key feature of the ZANU PF political tradition.
Prof Mubako’s submission underscores the supremacy of democracy in determining processes for leadership selection in the party for purposes of sustainable power consolidation.
Party morals and leadership grooming
In Prof Mubako’s view, internal democracy is a pivotal moral benchmark of a political party’s existence.
Strong internal democracy mechanisms guarantee the grooming of electable public servants whose personalities are also relatable with the electorate in its variant sectional assortments of national belonging.
Tracing the roots of this important existential facet of ZANU PF, Prof Mubako argues that there has never been a culture of politicians imposing themselves on the people in ZANU PF since 1964.
Likewise, that must never be allowed to happen now or in the near future.
Assuming leadership in the party must be a product of massive popular support which one gets from party members.
He further states that this tradition was even carried through to the post-independence congresses, which ZANU PF has held to date.
However, on the contrary, the culture of rigorous internal democracy has found very thin expression in the party’s opposition, from Tekere’s ZUM, Dumbutshena’s Forum Party, Tsvangirai’s MDC and its last-born factional offspring, the CCC.
For this reason, ZANU PF will be in power for many years to come as it produces leaders out of mass popular support from the party’s internal democratic processes.
In conclusion, the book is anchored on various governance themes, including, but not limited to, the Africanisation of the Judiciary, public service reforms, realignment of property rights, to ethos of quality, erstwhile factional contradictions in ZANU PF and the ideological genesis of the Second Republic.
However, my pointed analysis on governance conscience and party morals is anchored on Prof Mubako’s confidence in the values of ZANU PF in delivering on the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe from a humanising point and the universal clarion call of defending the “right to be human” — beyond the imperialist narrow frames of democracy and human rights.
The writer expresses his passion for Zimbabwe’s development as guided by the cardinal founding values of ZANU PF.
Therefore, I recommend the book to ZANU PF and non-ZANU PF members keen on appreciating how the party’s guiding values have been key in sustaining its stay in power since 1963.
This is also an important book for established and emerging political and law academics who may want to draw inspiration from one of the pathfinders of Zimbabwe’s litigation sector, a reputable elderly statesman and academic Cde Simbi Mubako.
