By Takura Zhangazha*
The last two years, 2020 and 2021 have been almost
dystopian. Not only for us here in
Zimbabwe but also globally due to the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic which in
its various mutations, still remains with us.
Having lost so many lives we can be forgiven for, at some
point, having functioned in fear and without specific reason to hope that
things will get better in the immediate future.
And this includes the year ahead, 2022.
And from our recent experiences during the pandemic, if previously we did
not, we now know that twelve months can give the impression of a lifetime.
And it is these ‘lifetime’ twelve months that face us in the
form of the year 2022 that I will focus on.
Not on the basis of religion (I am not a prophet) but on the likelihood
of events as they have occurred in the past, the recent present and how they
will likely pan out in the immediate future. With a specific focus on Zimbabwe.
I will do this in at least four respects but with an
underlying perspective that regrettably Covid19 is still going to cause
disruptions and a continuum of fearful if not tragic national consciousness.
These are as follows; the form and shape of the national political
economy (I will explain later why I combine the two), the social lives of
Zimbabweans, the placement of the country in international relations and
finally the potential realities that we will still have to face at the end of
2022.
Where we consider Zimbabwe’s political economy in 2022, it must
be done mainly from an ideological angle.
I have deliberately combined the ‘political’ with the ‘economy’ not for academic
purposes but in order to make it more apparent that in our current context, it
would appear that in 2022 neither can function without the other. This is mainly because the ruling Zanu Pf government
has taken a neo-liberal approach to how they run both politics and the national
economy. If at the beginning of their
five-year tenure in power at the helm of what they have referred to as the
Second Republic, they sought to create a functional framework for the ‘ease of
doing business’. In 2022 they will consolidate this. And the signs are already there with major
mining deals being approved and witnessed by the president, public-private partnerships
being implemented for infrastructure development. A situation which has sown
the seed of the establishment of a revolving door between the state (government)
and private capital (business). Something
that never re-occurred with Mugabe’s government.
This means that all our politics will largely pivot around a
neoliberal belief in the efficacy of the ‘free market’ and ‘trickle down
economics’. A template that immediately
makes for very populist politics either side of the political divide. While the greater curiosity particularly on
social media will be around what the shape and form of opposition politics will
be in 2022, my riposte would be that it will be more of the same. That is divisions, splits, counter-splits but
all still worshipping at the same altar of neoliberalism as is Zanu PF. In short our politics will not have any
seismic shifts beyond electoral campaigns for 2023 and the accompanying
polarisation.
On the social and livelihood side of Zimbabwean lives, 2022
will see a lot more young Zimbabweans focusing on their individual lives beyond
collective responsibility. The question,
“what is in it for me?”, based on lifestyle desires and ambitions will become
more prevalent. Especially within the
context of the current pandemic. Hence
our emerging populist ‘celebrity culture’ of following people who are referred
to as ‘Mbinga’s’. One that will retain a
mixture of religion and material consumerism.
A materialism that religion can now only hang onto as a lifeline given
the current pandemic.
Thirdly, Zimbabwe’s placement within international relations
will take on a more ambiguous turn. Not that our pariah status in global media
will ever go away but because of the current government’s ‘ease of doing
business’ approach to support global private capital our story will become more
nuanced. It will not be human rights organisations
that will be at the forefront of the Zimbabwean narrative but private corporations. As is the case now with mining projects such
as the Invictus oil and gas endeavour in
Muzarabani, the financialisation of capital
(selling of Australian listed Arcadia mine to Chinese interests) and
outsourcing of infrastructural development.
Finally, and as we look ahead, the year 2022, will likely be
one that may perhaps teach us a few rapid lessons. With the most paramount one
being that unless our political culture is driven by collective values beyond individual
leaders, it will be subjected to materialist ‘performance legitimacy’ public
judgment. In other words, very raw populism which will rise in its crescendo
for 2023. Even in a pandemic. Beyond this political angle, we need to
embrace the real possibility that 2022 should be year of greater honesty to
ourselves as a country and one in which we take greater care of each
other. Personally but more importantly, institutionally.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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