Chronicle Editor
Mugove Hamadziripi, Sunday News Correspondent
THE Affirmative Action Group (AAG) was duly formed in the year 1994, out of frustration by the young black businessmen Philip Chiyangwa and the late Peter Pamire.
This was after the failure of the then Indigenous Business Development Centre (IBDC) to steer the ship of economic changes among the black Zimbabweans or the previously disadvantaged.
Affirmative action is a policy that aims to increase opportunities in the workplace or education to under-represented parts of society by taking into account an individual’s colour, race, sex, religion, or national origin.
The AGG came to prominence in the 1990s as a way to promote equal opportunities across various segments of society.
Since the late 1990s, almost 80 percent of local businesses and Government entities have implemented affirmative action programmes to increase the number of previously disadvantaged Zimbabweans from certain groups within companies, institutions, and other areas of society including tertiary institutions.
The affirmative policy focuses on demographics that have historically had low representation in positions of leadership, professional roles, and academics, and is often considered a means of countering historical discrimination against particular groups.
Affirmative action seeks to overturn historical trends of discrimination against an individual’s identity by providing assistance to groups identified as subject to past or present discrimination. Some of these policies attempted to enact change through various means such as requiring that certain quotas are met when hiring, providing financial support in the form of grants and scholarships.
Zimbabwe, just like most countries following the same trajectory, has been crafting affirmative policies that have sought to address inequity and discrimination.
Years after implementing affirmative action in Zimbabwe, where do we stand as a country and what should be done?
The achievements of affirmative action, must be predicated on an acceptance and appreciation on the part of all Zimbabweans that the black community has had decades and decades of injustice, disadvantage, inequality, and marginalisation — politically, economically, educationally and otherwise — and that it is the correction of this imbalance that will set us on the road to attaining true justice, equality and democracy.
However, it can be academically argued that most Zimbabweans have been marginalised in virtually all facets of life since colonial days.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe adopted in 2013 is widely acknowledged for its firm commitment to gender equality.
The Constitution has been structured to empower locals to achieve socio-economic equability. After all, that is what Chimurenga / Umvukela was all about.
Today, a majority of Zimbabweans are seeking to be part of institutionalised life as equal citizens.
They are seeking equality before the law, they are seeking equality and protection under the law-, they are seeking to participate equally in Zimbabwe’s free enterprise system. They are seeking equality of opportunities.
In the face of glaring socio-economic inequalities, AAG was born to rectify these anomalies.
Colonialism has been a bitter experience which has left deep scars, and that the systematically enforced racial divisions engendered by colonial rule must, just as systematically, be reversed.
AAG is expected to redress the colonial legacy of poverty and deprivation must be dealt with through realistic and sustained programmes aimed at achieving an improved standard of life in a peaceful society.
These programmes must be implemented by all levels of Government, by other groups, including big and small businesses, and by individuals.
In Zimbabwe, the discourse on affirmative action is sometimes dominated by emotional engagement.
It would be wrong, for instance, to interpret a policy of affirmative action as being in its nature anti-white, which is how some Zimbabweans have tended to argue.
The beneficiaries of affirmative action are supposed to be those who suffered most under the colonial regime, without being, on the other hand, a punitive measure against those who benefited from colonial era.
Affirmative action is not a matter of doing a favour to the less-deserving. It is a matter of positive and co-operative action on an issue of concern to all Zimbabweans. It calls for concerted efforts among the different sectors of our society. There must be established institutional processes to create the pathways towards a shared vision of equality and long-term prosperity.
The issue of developing a detailed and clear policy and implementation plan for affirmative action should be more firmly on the agenda of Government. The conditions that sustained economic privilege to colonial have not, unfortunately, qualitatively changed with the end of minority rule. The change of Government in 1980s has not necessarily changed the nature of Zimbabwean society. A change in Government (representing control over State apparatuses), although necessary, is insufficient for the transformation of the State in its role as the political embodiment and expression of wider relations in society.
Positively, the Zimbabwean Government has created opportunities for advancing the project of transformation and colonial redress. Zimbabweans need to recognise that the colonial system remains largely intact, and while we have in theory achieved a non-racial, non-sexist democracy, we as Zimbabweans, through the AAG, must now aim to implement the Constitutional directives which envision this ideal.
AAG, with support of the Government of Zimbabwe, must work on a deliberate and intensive efforts to make sure that all Zimbabweans, outside political affiliations, ethnicity or gender, are demographically representative.
This would include political leadership, business management, public administration, and the industrial sector. It is considered a matter of national importance that this effort should be embarked upon urgently and with serious commitment.
The situation prevailing is not one that can be only pro-active; it has to justifiably and necessarily reverse the effects of decades of discrimination, dismantle the processes which have sustained the social, economic and political privilege of the minority, and restore a balance to socially engineered imbalances.
Starting 2021, for affirmative action or efforts to be effective, there needs to be commitment at the top, that is the Central Government. The impact of affirmative action should be viewed as benefiting all Zimbabweans. Efforts should as well bring on board people living with disability and those communities which are isolated and marginalised.
Women should be given opportunities to empower themselves. Small businesses should be recognised in all local opportunities since they are a cog in our national economy. AAG need to engage our people in rural areas, the disadvantaged, disabled groups, poor low socio-economic groups. All Zimbabweans need to be brought on board.
The question still arises; what measures can be put in place to make affirmative action work? Efforts should start by raising awareness among the target audience, making the enlightened on the advantages of affirmative action, which is being driven by the AAG.
This should be achieved through continued sensitisation. Honest and truthful dialogue should be viewed to be essential by all persons involved in the process and implementation of affirmative action.
-Mugove Hamadziripi is an executive member of the AAG Matabeleland South Region. He is writing in his personal capacity. He can be reached at [email protected]; Twitter: @mhamadziripi
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