Zambians from different walks of life went to vote in another presidential and general election on 28 September. But to go and vote after every five years is a nasty thing to every person who lives in a society where this political freedom is an appendage to unexplained political and social forces beyond their control.
And to those who lack political vision, nationalism conceived under state capitalism (self-reliance) seems to be the revolutionary way to arrest economic underdevelopment. Economic development minus a rise in people’s living standards shall keep on haunting many an African country. It is an economic misnomer that can only be resolved by the workers and peasants themselves.
Unlike the Western countries, where political campaigns are waged through bribing voters, in Zambia the strength of political parties is determined by ethnic and tribal loyalties. Parliamentary democracy entails the acceptance of political plurality and hence the readiness to resolve political antagonisms through open and democratic means (votes). It is the case that in Zambia the political and intellectual credibility of politicians are not taken into consideration by the voters, in the sense that people only vote for a political party to which they have close ethnic and tribal affinities. Thus the outcome of the general election can only be interpreted in terms of the existing ethnic and tribal patterns.
But every class-conscious person understands and appreciates the fact that only the workers and peasants can change the biased and parochial historic condition. It is not the charismatic flamboyance of political leaders, nor the ethnic life blood of political parties that is at stake, but the social and economic system dependent upon the accumulation of profit through the intensification of poverty and misery.
Today the political opposition in Zambia is split into tribal factions. The FDD, UNIP and UPND have banded together and formed a new political party called the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). The unexpected death of the late UPND president Anderson Mazoka has left a political vacuum in Zambia’s domestic politics that the UDA has come to replenish. It is without doubt that the UDA has been created through the political connivance of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, who is nowadays dubbed the ‘father of Zambian politics’.
The ruling MMD (Movement for Multi-Party Democracy) is in command of the largest ethnic and tribal following, in Luapula and northern provinces. However, playing the dirty politics of poverty the MMD has lost working class political sympathy in the Copper Belt – where unemployment remains rampant. It may seem that the privatisation of the giant copper mining conglomerate (ZCCM) was a wrong political gesture by the MMD, because the backbone of Zambia’s economy is copper and nothing else.
Adding to the flames of political mediocrity was the former Minister without Portfolio, Michael Sata, who campaiged very hard on the Copper Belt. Sata has succeeded in creating a popular political party (PF) on the Copper Belt – especially among the disgruntled mining communities by promising that he would nationalise the mining of copper in Zambia if he won the general election.
In the event the presidential race was won by the outgoing president, Levy Mwanawasa, of the MMD who now starts a second five-year term. But it was a sad day for many people in Lusaka and the Copper Belt who had voted massively for Michael Sata, the leader of the Patriotic Front. He came second with 847,000 votes compared to 1,177,000 for Mwanawasa. Third, just behind Sata, was Hakainde Hichilema of the UDA.
The Patriotic Front received a large number of votes in Lusaka, Copper Belt, Luapula and Northern Provinces. It was mostly the workers, university students and the unemployed who voted for the Patriotic Front. But the overall result confirmed that people in Zambia still vote for a political party to which they have close ethnic and tribal affinities. Both the MMD and Patriotic Front lost heavily in Southern Province, the home ground of UDA Presidential contender, but did well in the tribal homeland of their candidates.
The defeat of Sata by Mwanawasa led to widespread riots in Lusaka, the Copper Belt and Northern Province and the result of the general elections have been rejected by both Sata and Hichilema. While Sata won the votes of many workers, the majority of votes for Mwanawasa were received from rural areas – from people who do not appreciate the economic and political implications of modern democracy.
Because the MMD government does not have majority support, it is very difficult to see what tactics President Mwanawasa will use to win the confidence of PF supporters on the Copper Belt and in Lusaka.
The general elections are over and a new government is in office. The workers and peasants remain where they have always belonged: on the leeward side. The general election has not changed the existing political and economic status quo, which will remain so long as the political struggle is waged through political betrayal and character assassinations, and not in the interests of the workers and peasants.
We in the World Socialist Movement are in support of working class political struggle on the principle of international working class solidarity. But we remain opposed to every other political party that aims to reform capitalism. We advocate a classless, moneyless and stateless society – Socialism – as the only alternative to capitalism.
Kephas Mulenga
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