A discerning electorate is a must for functioning democracy; quality leaders is a bonus!

Let us assume there was indeed the brave and visionary leader in Zimbabwe who could lead the nation out of the nightmare Mugabe landed us into. Will the Zimbabweans electorate give him or her their vote and support? Hell no! Democracy assumes you have a discerning electorate, I would not say the Zimbabwean people are a discerning lot. Remember these are the people who took Mugabe to their hearts and for decades refused to see him for the tyrant he is. When they finally dumped Mugabe they embraced Tsvangirai, a flawed character who should be herding goats and not masquerading as PM, with blind zeal.

The Zimbabwean people have yet to learn that there is a lot more to electing leaders than putting a cross on a piece of paper. They have to distinguish reason and sense from empty rhetoric and rubbish. And to do so, they have to understand the subject matters, at least the basics, before them and thus ask the different candidates the pertinent questions. Until they do, the candidate offering them nothing but empty promises will certain appeal to an undiscerning electorate.

Cream will rise to the top if you have a jar of milk, yes. If again and again you find not cream but scum rising to the top: then the jar is not full of milk but sewage. Mark my words; without a discerning electorate, Zimbabwe will never ever get out of the hell-hole Mugabe landed us into! Of course to be a discerning voter will demand hard work on the part of the voter – they have to understand what can and can not be done. On the economic front, for example, the people have to understand it may have taken six years for the Zimbabwe economy to shrink by 84% it will take decades to rebuild it back; so they must be patient. They have to learn to see the bigger picture and not be gullible and be bowled over by one minor achievement as they did when the ships filled with goods after the formation of the GNU in 2008 only to finally realise the regime had no answer to all the other teething national problems like ending violence, creating jobs, etc.

The people had looking to a Moses character to get them out of this mess. The Children of Israeli had Moses but still they had to walk all the way from Egypt to the Promised Land and face all manner of hardships along the way. Zimbabweans look to the leaders to do everything for them. After independence in 1980 the people should have realised that the tough road ahead had just begin; it was their responsibility to ensure Mugabe remained accountable to them at all times by paying attention to everything the regime was doing. They did not and have paid dearly for it.

A Moses figure head is great but that is not enough for a effective and functional democracy; the people, the electorate must be discerning, walk the walk and talk the talk! Even if a Moses figure was to be found, the people have to do their bit; he would never carry everyone and all their worldly belonging all the way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Beside one should never under estimate the psychological benefit to all those who do walk every step of the journey. Beside God Himself does not do for us what we can do for ourselves and it is naïve to some how expect that a leader, a mere mortal, will do everything for us!