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Vincent Gono, Features Editor

ANCIENT Greek philosopher, Socrates whose timeless wisdom still shapes lives in today’s world opined that: “A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.”

Socrates’s description of morality finds expression in today’s politics where for reasons of political expediency, a number of politicians from the opposition have often shown that they are short of the basic values that define right from wrong.

They have at almost every turn, been found wanting. They have been found guilty of flouting the principles and values of ubuntu, of practicing politics of lies, anarchy and vulgarity, politics without principle.

Or maybe, just maybe, a good number of them have read from the same book and stanza of one author who says, where there is politics or economics, there is no morality.

African philosophy scholar Mr Joel Mukusha says values of African philosophy and ubuntu respect human dignity. It reveres the person past (dead), the person present and the person to be born which explains the respect given to pregnant mothers in most African societies and institutions.

He says any African who doesn’t respect the sanctity of human life or respect the three stages of human life doesn’t qualify to be African.

“Our politicians should learn to unite people and not to malign them. People are there as individuals, as family and as a community. It is in this regard that any malignment of family from community or individual from family should not be on the basis of politics or encouraged by politicians. They depend on those institutions for political power and any attempt or attack on them is detrimental to their politics in the long run,” he said.

He added that people respected political figures such as Dr Nkomo and Dr Muzenda on that basis of remaining African and upholding the values of African philosophy.

He submitted that politicians from the opposition have failed the test of being African if the argument that morality is a product of culture is anything to go by.

“They lack maturity. They lack logic and they lack being African and respect for African traditions, values and ethos. Most of them are young and immature, they don’t think what their actions do to the families and the communities of the affected people and it’s so sad,” he added.

The opposition politicians have claimed in a number of instances that Zanu-PF has been responsible for even the clearest cases of thuggery and criminal activities that is divorced from politics.

“Our morality is based on so many factors: of where we were born, who we were born to, what values were instilled in us, what values we chose, the way that our lives have shaped us. That dictates so much of what we assume is our morality, and also the culture, all of these things,” wrote Oscar Isaac.

So maybe, we should examine the factors that influence the behaviour of opposition politicians from the stand point of wanting to know where they were born, who they were born to and what values were instilled in them.

Probably it can explain better their senseless claim for all victims of criminal activity and the smear campaign that anyone who gets attacked by thugs is a Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) supporter and any attacker is Zanu-PF.

Criminals have always been an unwanted party of society. But to assume that they ask for one’s political affiliation before they pounce is all too nonsensical. Some of the cases are as police described them, “crimes of passion” where affairs go sour and people attack each other.

Apportioning political parties to the victim or the attacker sounds childish, immature because the two would have agreed to a love affair fully knowing where they belong politically.

The country’s politicians should learn to treat crime as it is without putting politics or undertones of it in crime. Gaining political capital through lies bereaves the affected family more and usually creates more divisions within a community and the concept of ubuntu does not condone that.

Capitalising on death to gain political mileage has become an old trick that has outlived its welcome in the country and our politicians should learn to respect both family and African culture.

The CCC should be ashamed that the death of Lobengula West businessman Mr Langelihle Dube exposed this growing shameful trend after police arrested the culprits who are known criminals and who have terrorized the residents.

Unfortunately, word out there is that he was attacked by Zanu-PF for being a CCC supporter and one political analyst said the opposition political party was running its campaign on the basis of a fallacy that all people who were dying between now and next election were CCC supporters being killed by Zanu-PF thugs.

“What makes it more interestingly shameful is that CCC has no structures on the ground. So, their claims will not be based on anything substantial but the malice of dragging Zanu-PF’s name in sewer. Surely some of the people that are alleged to have been killed by Zanu-PF are not politically useful to deserve that. CCC should let families mourn their relatives without dividing people on political grounds.

“It should also allow police to do their work without throwing political biases in the way of investigations,” he said.

He added that it was known that the opposition was born from the West and it gets both finance and ideology from there so, by being unAfrican it was merely singing for its supper at the doorstep of the imperialistic parent whose agenda is to effect regime change through hook and crook.