Criminality vs Political support

Clive Mutame Siachiyako

It is unacceptable taking political support into senseless actions. Supporting a particular political party should not be done to harm others. Instead, it should be done to convince them see sense in what the party offers. It is important to apply decent steps in marketing a political party one supports. Modernity demands communicative rationality; where through discursive praxis we win others into our political party. People should be made to connect with the values of the party by supporters who bring valuable points on the table.

This is can be the ideal political party support. But what we see in the Zambian political cadres in total criminality camouflaged into political support. Who supports a political party by running a tipper truck into an international airport runway? What kind of support is that? What happened to reasoning it out? What happened to people’s freedom of association and assembly? If someone wants to move into a different direction, they do not want to associate with you, why not let them go and build up things from the gap they left?

Violence may seem a romantic means to ‘discipline’ each other in political corridors. But there is a day of reciprocity. The same cadres will turn into something else once they gain so much ground. They will instil violence on anyone their way. To go by example, in 2013 a consortium of civil society gathered in Bible Gospel Outreach Church in Africa (BIGOCA) in Matero were battered like thieves inside the church? WHY? They were praying against government removal of subsidies on maize meal, agriculture and fuel [Black Friday]. Very arrogant responses were given to those on whom violence was meted. Nobody seemed to care.

In some situations people have been killed during elections or clashes between cadres. This is happening simply because they belong to different parties. What happened to humanistic virtues? Why should political affiliation make us bitter enemies? It is not worthy shedding blood over political divide. We have the right to belong to any party of choice. We have to respect that fact. We cannot force people to associate with us if they do not want. Let them be and we should focus on building political parties into something more sellable.

We are really taking God’s name in vein calling ourselves a Christian nation with such behaviour. What is Christ-like with the level of intolerance we are experiencing from political supporters? Nothing! It is pure mockery to the cross.

People with different views have been butchered many times and nobody seemed to care. Yesterday [January 23, 2016] the international airport in Ndola was exposed to the same style of criminality and nobody seems to care. It was later reported that the police on the Copperbelt said “we thought they were Miles Sampa’s supporters who drove into the airport runway.” Since when did supporters start going onto the runway with ugly machines like a tipper truck? Not even when receiving the President is that allowed to happen.

Historicity evidence shows that criminal elements take advantage of loose arrangements to fix opponents in society. In worse situations they have become ungovernable and take over normal running of society. This can be exemplified by unlawfulness in the acquisition of land in Lusaka. Political supporters have given themselves the Commissioner of Lands powers in some way, selling plots and reselling those that have remained dormant. Shanty and illegal compounds have been legalised by municipalities in favour of cadres’ decision to have compounds created anywhere they see land. No proper planning is done in creating these compounds. The end result is chaotic formation of townships in Lusaka and other places.

Trends of organised criminal groups that have been let loose ruin he societal fabric. It happened in India when the Bollywood, one of the most prolific and profitable film industries in the world; became the target of underground mob. The underground mob had initially helped Bollywood with financing when government refused to finance the industry. Bollywood was cheerful to get such support. Government watched things unfold. Nobody seemed to care.

But after a bloody decade in the 90s, the fabric of the underworld changed. The ruthless and brash gangsters who had replaced the old dons and their ‘work ethics', toned down their activities. Instead of contract killings and extortion, they got involved in the corporate sector, especially real estate. The mob looked at the next target. They needed continuity. The system which thought was doing a favour to them by letting them do things their way to get around life’s hurdles had long term headache to bring sanity to that messy.

The legacy of Communism in Russia also manifested into the famous Red Mafia. The Mafia emerged after Russia switched to a free market economy. The Red Mafia took advantage of that economic freedom and took control of close to 40% of the Russian economy, doing all sorts of things to get what they wanted. Sadly, most of the things they did were crime laden. The Red Mafia earned themselves the name of the “the most fearsome, violent, creative, and well-educated criminal organisations in the world.”

In the beginning nobody cared. Some commentators indicate that some government officials benefited from such actions. But things got out of hand. The group nearly got at anybody in any fashion they wanted even in other counties like USA. The mafia became very difficult to locate and shut down.

Going by what cadres are doing, allowing them to do things the way they want any further may land us into serious chaos. We are making governance institutions very weak. For example, the police are often put in a limbo when cadres unleash their vermin of others. They have to tread between saving their jobs and dealing with the erring cadres sternly. The case of often saving the job and let the violence go on. Cadres have locked up and ushered out civil servants in some situations, and dealing with such cadres has remained a daunting task to law enforcers.

What kind of society are we building really? Where is our sense of reasonability? Even as cadres, we need an iota of reasoning when sent to attack others. Politics of Stone Age are over; we need to apply ourselves differently. We have to use rationality rather than violence of divergent views.

Throwing insults at others opposition our views, stoning them and scorning them will not add value to anyone’s livelihood. Collaborating and learning from them would be cooler than this heinous approach. We need to new mindset in politics. We need a new breed of political supporters. We need maturity, soberness and dignity in our political conduct. We will stand to benefit more by reasoning together. Narrow interests are killing our society.

It is time political parties prepared their supporters to apply themselves in rational reasoning. Prepare them to work hard to win electorates’ hearts during elections. Prepare them to apply themselves differently and make politics more admirable. No party should tolerate and prepare a generation of criminal minds. It will cost the country badly in the long run, if in the short term is seems too romantic to let go. Political party Presidents have to get the grip of things. They should shake off hateful mindsets and try to nurture cadres who fit into a competitive and modern society where communicative rationality is the rule of the thumb. It is time to sober up and end the rot!!