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| Riot police beat up an ordinary protester in Mufakose during the 06 July protests (Source: Newsday) |
The first week of July 2016 has started on
a fiery note. Harare, Beitbridge and Bulawayo have been burning. Questions have been asked about the faces of
the people or individuals behind the general July people’s protests and the 6
July stay away. Some sectors of the society, for their own interests have begun
to dishonestly ascribe to some social media characters these obvious results of general
resentment against the bad governance in Zimbabwe. They have chosen to ignore
that touts can organise themselves, and likewise cross-border trades do not need
social media prodding to agitate their grievances. The same with civil servants
who had virtually had a months’ salary taken away from them by the Ministry of
Finance.
Organic
Protests
The July protests by Zimbabweans
were organic. That is the answer. At Beitbridge, informal traders were incensed
after the Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued SI 64/2016, also cited as the
Control of Goods (Open General Import
Licence) (No.2) (Amendment) Notice, 2016 (No.8) on 17 June 2016. The
statutory instrument (SI 64/2016) is a law which seeks to control the import of
basic goods and foodstuffs into the country. The merits or demerits of the SI
are not the subject of this opinion. However, it cannot be doubted that people
were not consulted. Hence the major grievance seemed to have been on lack of
consultation and adequate notice from the government. Due to its usual disregard
of the people’s views, the government got its just deserts when the border town
of Beitbridge burned.
With the heat from Beitbridge
still on, touts and public transport operators staged some powerful protests in
Harare and Bulawayo, notably in the poor, working class suburb of Epworth, just
outside eastern Harare. Epworth is a community which lies in the forgotten periphery
of the capital city, and is usually associated with prostitution, school dropouts
and crime. This is also a community which is not really the territory for
social media activisms and where there is virtually little to no Wi-Fi
availability. But where people suffer the worst of economic crisis. It is a
community where the majority of unemployed youths, decided to say enough s
enough and to face down the ever-worsening harassment by traffic police on
combis, which was their main source of livelihood.
Whilst these protests were
ranging, civil servants were mobilising for strike against lack of payment of
June wages by the government. Organisations such as the Rural Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (RTUZ) had been calling for action since the day the salary postponement
was announced (which incredibly was the same day SI 64/2016 was gazetted). Likewise,
the youth coalition/movement known as #Tajamuka had been fearlessly leading protest-actions
from the front, at bank queues and at courts.
Media
bosses and fear for radical actions
Now despite the actions by these
various organics groups and movements, it shocking when on the day after the
stayaway, the private press have decided to ascribe the people’s efforts to have
been caused by a mere call from a certain social media character. The intention
behind that is obvious and shall be analysed here.
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| Lenin Tinashe Chisaira |
Most of the private press in
zimbabwe is owned by business interests. These interests, no matter how they
may try to support pro-democracy activism, themselves fear the rise of anti-capitalist
sentiments. They feel threatened themselves when they witness organic movements
calling for the burning of business and private property. This is because media
bosses also attend meetings and play gold with fellow business executives from
targeted sectors. In addition, media bosses also invest in various businesses
such as in the transport and supermarket sectors.
They try to water down radical protest
and place moderate characters as front men, denying credit to the grassroots. The
Daily News and Newsday editions of 07 July 2016, have gone at length to claim that
the recent 06 July #ZimShutDown2016 / #ZimbabweShutDown / #ShutDownZim action
was called by people whose recent disregard for vibrant protest and whose
efforts at demobilising and dismissing visible ground protests by groups like
#Tajamuka, opposition parties and the general populace have been well known and
well documented. Genuine people and their grievances as well as the frontline
actions of organic movements like #Tajamuka are deliberately and shockingly being
side-lined.
In a nutshell, through it is
good to acknowledge the power of social media, it is also pertinent that we do
not forget the most factual conclusion that can be carried away from the events
of these weeks. The fact is that it is the people’s actions on the ground that
can shake a system, i.e., the vibrant actions of ordinary people who rise up
and express genuine grievances against, among other things, police harassment,
corruption and the exploitative taste for lavish living by government elites. It
can never be sole twitter and social media activisms that can uproot a system. Social
media activism is good, but only when it supplements vibrant action on the ground.
At the other end, throughout
history, the private press and the state media have almost always tried to hijack
or distort people’s efforts. This is due to considerations for profit-making, politics
as well as the protection of private
business interests and property. However, history will be the judge. Bravo, the
ordinary people of Zimbabwe and those in foreign lands who are in solidarity.
[Lenin
Tinashe Chisaira is an activist and lawyer by profession. Twitter:
@LeninChisaira ; Website: www.africafightnow.org ; Blog: www.cdetinashe.blogspot.com ]
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