Lions and Jackals

LIONS AND JACKALS

“They follow me because I am a lion and they are my Jackals” Henry VIII in ‘A Man for All Seasons’

This line is too often quoted by my mother as she starred in a play with an all-female cast; she can instantly break into long monologues stored deep in the recesses of her psyche but this line sticks out. This line underlines the perversity and addiction of power, the symbiosis between the Ruler and the ruled, the King and court, the President and the Parliament. It can be read in many ways so it is open to interpretation; I always see it as it was meant to be seen. The story of the play is about Henry and his best friend Thomas More who was also his biggest rival and objected to him splitting away from the Catholic Church. More was a serious threat to Henry so he was duly tortured and dispatched by followers of Henry who wanted to maintain the status quo. I have read so many books on power that I could found an Academy of Megalomaniacal Studies; there are many schools of thought which advocate different approaches from the Art of War, to The Prince, Das Capital, and the dreaded Mein Kampf. After reading all those books you will come to the same conclusion that power can be summed up in the saying above.

Jackals have small jaws and cannot hunt animals larger than rats but they band together and follow lions and commandeer the left-overs. Like Hyenas perform a sanitary function of clearing rotting shells, so do jackals but they are chained to the fortunes of the Lions. When the lions starve, so do they, when the lions gorge, so do they. Africans come from oral cultures that were informed by Spirits and nature that were held in a fearful balance by the protection of ancestors. Western thought has redefined our consciousness but that ancient culture is rooted deep in our sub-conscious and cannot be expunged. Socrates or Aristotle would debate in depth about various nuances but an analogy from nature cuts through all the pedantics. So the Jackals this week were the ZANU-PF leaders who saw their lion savaged in the polls; at first they went through shock, then denial, then bargaining, then anger and eventually reverted to the Neanderthal brutes that they were. The Army chiefs of staff were the most vehement disciples holding Mugabe in power; knowing they couldn’t survive without their Lion.


The Zimbabwe crisis resurrects all the polemics of history such as colonisation vs. globalisation and the question of WHY IS AFRICA SO MESSED UP? On the time-online site I found a man called Arthur from Bath who said “It all went wrong when we abolished slavery.” The news gave a forum for airing the usual racist attitudes towards Africa, using bad headlines to beat us. Forget the fact that Africa has 53 nations, only 6 have wars so 90% are peaceful, Africa has 7% growth annually, its middle-classes are growing at a faster rate than China. Yet there is a remnant of the reaction to colonialism, ZANU-PF is still the bawdy vaudeville act complete with stupid niggers rolling their eyes, tap-dancing their anti-colonial routine while reinforcing every stereotype of Africans as negatively as they can. Last week I attended a talk given by Andrew Mwenda; a journalist notorious in Uganda for opposing and exposing the government. He talked of the media bias displayed in the Western press towards Africa as they perpetuate the image of AIDS, coups, wars, famine, environmental damage and plain awfulness that exists in Africa.

How does a Zimbabwe occur? Is it just our innate stupidity or is it a deliberate act. I met a Zimbabwean at a birthday party and talked at length about it; he was ambivalent, respecting Bob for the liberation effort while decrying that he had outstayed his welcome. That is the paradox of Mugabe; he did the right thing in the wrong way for the wrong reasons at the wrong time. 160,000% inflation, starving billionaires, political oppression and yet the Zimbabweans still endure this man. The scar of history is easy to pick open whenever a leader wishes to, in African history the white man is the villain and seen as responsible for all the ills in society or more precisely the scapegoat for all our misdemeanours. All regimes begin with such hope and idealism, then they encounter opposition, then they react to counter this opposition, they crush it, and then become obsessed with their own survival.


Yoweri Museveni is the best case to highlight this; he came to power with an idealistic programme to abolish tribalism, educate his people and develop his country. Soon he was using tribalism to divide and rule his people; he was plundering and sacrificed development for personal gain. “Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely” goes the saying. In NO AFRICAN COUNTRY is there true democracy and rule of law, none what so ever. Democracy is at odds with traditional African thinking, where power is centralised in the hands of an “elected King” as the Monty Python joke goes, you don’t vote for Kings. This means that power is solidified around the president meaning he cannot leave the seat because power is addictive and the jackals won’t let him leave. Kwame Nkurumah had this situation in the 60’s; after independence he began to crush all opposition and became more Stalinist therefore squandering the goodwill he earned in the 50’s. The lion just sits back and lies in the sun all day, the females hunt, he gets the lions share, his only purpose is when a rival lion comes to take over then he must defend his pride.


Competence vs. loyalty; this is the oldest dilemma which faces leaders. Should one put a smart guy who wants the top job or a loyal idiot who won’t oppose the system? Leaders often opt for the latter; it is easy and simple. “Le’tat cest moi” said Mobutu “I am the State.” One becomes so intertwined with the state that you view yourself as one and the same. In every African country the secret state spies protect the government; they harass and arrest opposition members, the ruling party owns the economy, the Army holds sway, leaders steal with impunity. Some African nations manage to purvey a myth of freedom but it is all lies; because even if the opposition was in power then they would do the same. Our societies are not evolved enough to tolerate criticism, our institutions are not developed enough to protect individual freedoms, our people are not educated enough to know their rights and responsibilities. This makes democracy as we know it an impossibility; we can only hope for benign leaders who steal less, tolerate corruption less, have a grand vision for their nations and torture less than others.


So the Zimbabwe situation is exacerbated by the honour among thieves that is African politics. Why don’t our own leaders speak against Mugabe? Are they hoping that when their time comes that people will remain silent? “Don’t judge lest you yourself be judged” in other words if all African leaders keep quiet then all is well. Mugabe is no fool; he knows how to hang on, he can just simply refuse to acknowledge the result and Zimbabwe will carry on bleeding while we watch. But some good might come out of Mugabe, when the economy picks up then they will no longer be held hostage by white farmers. That is why I said he did the right thing in the wrong way; he confiscated the farms while giving them to his cronies and destroyed the viable farming sector without transferring it smoothly. A radical white Zimbabwean once put it perfectly “He should have just taxed the bastards off the land, like they did in UK. He didn’t have to kill the golden goose.” Africa has only had 18 years of trying to achieve true democracy, it will take time but when it comes it will be a totally different version that is suited to us and our particular needs.