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Perspective Stephen Mpofu
EMPTY tins howl, howl and howl to the gallery of dry winds that leave behind no sodden earth to swallow seed and digest it to multiply itself and feed hungry mouths.In an environment of political stability and even one of relative calm, political oppositions play an important role as catalysts for national, social and economic development and, in that way, send ruling parties running for their continued tenure in power. What then happens is that in order not to trip and fall headlong, the party in power formulates developmental policies with the potential to emancipate the entire nation – and no opposition of sound political virility can thumb its nose on plans meant to fill the bellies of supporters across the political divide.

Picture, therefore, a soccer team — or any other sporting team for that matter —whose players pull down their opponent by the jersey instead of demonstrating their dribbling dexterity past the opponent to shoot into goal. As is well known in the game, such rough players incur the wrath of the referee who is left with no alternative but to flash the red card with obvious consequences.Who will disagree that those who heckled President Mugabe when delivering his State of the Nation Address to the joint houses of parliament on Tuesday engaged in an act tantamount to pulling him down by the jersey so he would not score to the delight of anxious Zimbabweans eager to see a speedy recovery of an economy blighted by and large by illegal Western sanctions also invited upon the Zimbabwean people by the very opposition whose howls were replayed with an increased volume in Washington DC by the Voice of America and probably also by overseas media owned by the enemies of the Zanu-PF government for whom the popular land reform programme is anathema to those foreign governments.In his address, President Mugabe spoke of measures such as reforming any Act seen by potential investors as restrictive in order for direct foreign investment to come marching in as it were and oil the wheels of economic transformation to turn faster and more effectively for members of both the opposition and those of Zanu-PF itself.

The President’s speech touched also on corruption, rampant in some sectors, as an impediment to direct foreign investment and said corrupt practices must be rooted out. Now, in the absence of the hecklers posting better alternative measures for improving our beleaguered economy, would it be an exaggeration to suggest that the opposition’s behaviour in parliament was a case of grapes being sour and should therefore be dismissed as a nullity?

Or is one to believe that the opposition in Zimbabwe has a blinkered vision that makes its members believe direct foreign investment, as espoused not just by the Government but by all who wish the economy to be brought back to an even keel, could result in foreign economic reoccupation of this country? Otherwise one is left wondering as to whether those who oppose the government’s policies do so just for the sake of opposing since they themselves have not come up with better measures to resuscitate the economy, now virtually on its knees, and put it on a faster lane of development.

Even in countries like our own with the political system still far from maturation, but nevertheless heading in that direction, the onus is on opposition parties to demonstrate to voters, who wield the trump card in their hands, that they possess both the capacity and drive or willpower and are therefore a potential government in waiting. However, to demonstrate a mettle for pulling down those in power by the jersey is something not likely to make the opposition plant their foot firmly on the way to the minds and hearts of the electorate who at all times keep the red card in the implacable grip of their hands to show it to anyone with a tendency for political hooliganism, such as disrupting a head of state in the course of making a speech to try to reinstate hope in the minds of a nation dogged by forlorn hopes of ever returning to the days of a buoyant economy. Let us reverse the bromide to discover whether those who tried to disrupt President Mugabe’s address would relish being heckled themselves should by some chance they find themselves in power one day.

In fact was their action not tantamount to de-campaigning themselves? In countries where democracy enjoys its heydays opposition political parties don’t just criticise those in power for the sake of criticising. Rather, they make strenuous efforts to convince voters by producing policies and programmes on social, economic and political development which they promote as being superior to those of sitting governments in order that the opposition may truly be seen as an alternative government in waiting and one which voters will give the thumbs up when the time becomes opportune.

There is probably not much harm in opposition parties wooing and receiving foreign moral support. But there is a great deal of danger inherent in such support turning recipients into proxies so blind as to be turned into Trojan horses by connoisseurs of hegemony. It is probably for this reason that Zimbabwean political parties are supposed to get local government rather than foreign financial assistance as the latter exposes local politicians to dangerous foreign exploitation to the detriment of national coherence and stability.In retrospect, therefore, the opposition in Zimbabwe should relate to those in power in the same way as they would like to be treated when in power themselves and not be too antagonistic as to court public resentment.Thus, above all, it behooves on all Zimbabweans as bona fide residents to run with the government’s measures that include attracting foreign capital to help fertilise the ground for economic growth so that when industrialisation and agriculture are full steam ahead with jobs and food galore, the people of this country will walk with their heads raised high.And so a word of warning suffices here, and it is that any propensity for smiting one another with the tongue by leaders across the political line will be detrimental to Zimbabwe’s image abroad.