What does democracy mean in the minority tribes?
Posted by ZDN on August 11, 2009
Comments from a Zimbabwean refugee in Johannesburg.
M Ndebele is from the Bulawayo area of Zimbabwe and is a victim of serious torture as a result of having helped his party, the MDC, to coordinate electoral activity in his ward. He is currently on the streets of Johannesburg.
Some say democracy means doing anything that you want even if doesn’t make sense. I knew the word democracy but I did not get into its deep meaning when I joined the Movement for Democratic Change back in 1999. It was my first ever time to engage myself into party politics. One of the reasons why I joined MDC apart from Mugabe must go was this word democracy. I thought this democracy does exist and as a Zimbabwean I will only be able to grab it when Mugabe is out of power, unfortunately not.
I thought democracy only meant expressing yourself, to run, demonstrate and march in the streets and not be beaten by the police. I thought it was only when I was wearing an MDC t-shirt and war veterans were wearing their Zanu t-shirts and no one cared. I do not think democracy does exist. If democracy does exist Mugabe was supposed to be behind bars and Morgan Tsvangirai was not going to sign the GNU. He was supposed to be the legitimate president of Zimbabwe if democracy does exist.
Where can you find this democracy in the world? Let me see in America, no, Martin Luther was killed fighting for blacks in America. That is not democracy. In Zimbabwe, Morgan won the election 29 March 2008 but was denied to rule. In Botswana and South Africa fellow Africans who are refugees protected by UNHCR and taxed by the governments when they buy anything in the shops are denied access to hospital when they are sick from incurable diseases. That is not democracy, in fact it is an unfair abuse of the word itself.
My friend a refugee in Hillbrow said democracy does not exist, if it does exist why cant we have an Ndebele president, a president from Bulawayo?
Now I understand that democracy is not just becoming free to wear things of a party you support. Democracy is broad. If democracy was there Mugabe was not going to announce that the government needs to adopt the Kariba Draft constitution. The constitution was going to be done in local languages and by visual mechanisms so that those who do not know how to read and write can also participate. That will be democracy.
People say democracy is very expensive and it is true, you can shed blood, have a lot of money and even rule for thirty years but it will be impossible to achieve, buy or get democracy. For sure democracy is expensive. I now realise that democracy is a never get freedom. Another man said democracy is a Ntikoloshe. A Ntikoloshe is a creature that is used by witch doctors and bewitches people at night and cannot be seen.
If democracy really existed there will no fighting of equality between men and women. ln democracy people elect their representative in parliament there will be no fighting for position. There was supposed to be no parliament which will pass laws against some of the people even they are the ones who elected them. So democracy is unfair or does not exist.
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