Financial Gazette (Harare)
Anthony Jongwe
29 November 2008
opinion
TO some extent, Zimbabwe and Somalia share a number of similarities. Both countries are characterised by conflict and hyperinflation that have spawned a serious humanitarian crisis, which is endangering lives of millions of their citizens.
Add to this the spectre of marauding pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the illegal diamond panners of Chia-dzwa, the picture of perfectly failed states emerges, complete with pockets of criminal economies.
The conflict in Somalia as is the one in Zimbabwe revolves around the failure by leaders to agree on a transitional government framework critical to the restoration of order and security.
Albeit it may be argued that Zimbabwe has not regressed to the anarchical state that had become Somalia in the past 15 years, it is an incontrovertible truth that the continued political stand-off emanating from the global political agreement of September 15 involving Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations has created a an unprecedented humanitarian crisis for the country's citizens.
Zimbabwe has been operating without a government for nearly a year now and this has impinged negatively on the provision of basic services to the extent that the health and education sectors are in total disarray.
At this juncture, the country is grappling with a serious cholera outbreak that has claimed hundreds of lives. There are signs that the epidemic is spreading from its epicenter in the poor Harare suburb of Budiriro to far-flung corners of the country su-ch a Beitbridge on the border with South Africa.
The cholera epidemic is happening against a backdrop of renewed industrial action by the country's health personnel over unsafe working conditions and poor remuneration. Most of the country's referral institutions are currently closed, leaving the burden of caring for the sick to the private sector.
In reality, most Zimba-bweans cannot afford private medical care and must therefore, consult the 'prophets' and 'sangomas'.
Like Somalia, the country is experiencing serious food crisis as a result of a poor harvests in the 2007/2008 farming season. This food crisis has posed serious nutritional challenges to those living with HIV/AIDS.
Although the country has recently launched a consolidated global appeal for food assistance and has even followed this up with a formal agreement with the World Food Programme on distribution logistics, it is a matter of 'too little, too late'.
There are harrowing tales from the countryside of how decent citizens have been reduced to scavengers for food in competition with animals such as donkeys.
The country's education sector has not been spared. For close to two decades now, our country had built a solid reputation as a bastion of world-class education.
That reputation has remarkably slipped before our eyes over the past few years as our educational institutions have witnessed an unpr-ecedented exodus of staff to neighbouring countries.
The few brave professionals that have remained have to contend with salt of the earth remuneration thereby, compromising morale and commitment.
The net effect has been the demise of a service, in which the country had built a solid competitive advantage. I shall not bother to refer to the cash crisis that has robbed each and every citizen of his dignity and its ramifications on the other crises.
It is important to take stock of where we are as a country if we are to chart meaningful paths into the future.
The above challenges call for a paradigm shift in doing business by our collective leadership in these trying yet decisive moments in the history of our country.
The leadership that is required in these times is not only transformational, but highly predicated on the tenets of ethics.
It is therefore, imperative that I restate some of these ethical perspectives as the basis for this transformational leadership agenda necessary for addressing some of challenges bedeviling this great country.
The first of these perspectives is utilitarianism, which asks leaders to weigh the possible costs and benefits of moral choices.
Leaders should always seek to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Is it really ethical for our political leadership to be squabbling over rhetoric while millions of our countrymen are starring death due to disease and starvation?
In this regard, it is worthwhile to note the highly symbolic and ethically significant gesture last week by the leader of the MDC-T, Morgan Tsvangirai, when he argued for the increase in humanitarian assistance instead of the imposition of new smart sanctions by the EU on Zimbabwe. This is the kind of ethical leadership required by all the protagonists in the political arena.
A second ethical perspective is called the categorical imperative, which was propounded by German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
The term 'categorical' means 'without exception'. This perspective urges our leaders to do what is right no matter what the consequences. By this standard, some actions such as lying, cheating, murder, are always wrong.
Our collective political leadership should therefore, always strive to do what is right. It is wrong to foment hatred among citizens in the name of political expediency.
Political violence has largely been a result of unethical leadership by some of our elected political leaders and has caused a lot of unnecessary societal dislocation and suffering.
A third ethical perspective is communitarianism, which focuses leadership attention on its responsibility to the larger community and the need to make decisions that support the common good.
There is need to discourage selfishness and individualism, which have done a lot of damage in the form of corruption.
Finally, it is important for our collective political leadership to be consistently altruistic in their actions, by which, it is implied that leaders should put others first no matter what the personal cost.
In conclusion, the field of virtue ethics identifies integrity, restraint from impulse, respect for others and persistence in the face of adversity as key traits in a model political leader.
An important point is that virtues shape the way leaders both see and behave. As we all seek a solution to the political stand-off, the focus must now shift to ethical leadership.
Antony Jongwe holds an MBA; BSc (Hons) Politics and Admin-istration (UZ); Dip TM; M.I.P.M.Z and the is founder and principal consultant of Global Workforce Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.
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