Politricking

Politricking

I was in a court room recently were I heard disturbing stories of how politics was reaching the courtroom galleries! And by politics I do mean the issues of governance, as in who rules where and what party is doing what and where. “Seriously?” I asked myself before I set out to find out more and I must admit that this is one case where I was really glad that there was no well-known political leader involved (at least when it comes to the national levels). I must admit this right here right now because there have been cases when these leaders of ours have been entangled in some enraging crimes such as Domestic violence, assault as well as rape, to mention but a few. But that is not the point here.

Just to fill in people a bit about this particular case, I shall refer to as ‘politricks’: a male and a female found themselves on opposite sides of the law. The man admitted his wrong doing and said as much before the courts but that is not before a lot of shenanigans had been pulled both before the courts and outside them. Having failed to get the woman he had wronged to drop the charges- and it is not because he failed to intimidate her enough…I will not take to the task of elaborating how many people nor how repeatedly her place of residence was frequented by those who ‘sympathised’ with the accused/ defendant- the defendant then pulled a shocker! I shall describe it as a shocker because to me, it is such. He had the gallery filled with members of his political party! Allow me to elucidate on what it is that I found to be shocking about this whole action. The girl and her family are also from the same political party!! Yes, they all are! So my first question is: what the hell was the message being tried to be communicated by this gallery of political sympathisers who had come against this aggrieved young woman? Were they effectively communicating to her and anyone else who would hear about the outcome of the court case that:

a)      Male members of this particular party are above the law and can get away with whatever they do? I ask this question because there was effort put into, not only trying to get the young woman to drop the charges but also in intimidating her once the case was given a court date and was appearing before the magistrates.

b)      The party supported wayward people? This is a question I asked myself when I heard that a ‘treasurer’ or some other post-wielding woman had come to the courtroom evidently in support and solidarity with the young man. Please note that the young man in pleading, pleaded guilty of the crime he had been accused of and this was said in the presence of a full gallery, of which this ‘posted’ woman and the ‘army’ of supporters were a part of. Also note that ‘army’ is my own choice of word and I do intend to communicate with that word the impression I got about the crowd of young men that came on the day the case first appeared in court.

c)       Whatever had happened between these two people ceased to become a civil/ social/ criminal issue and had become a party issue the moment someone(s) decided to view it as such? Goodness forbid I ever find out who it was as I will seek them out for clarification on this unfortunate decision and subsequent choice of action.

I have so many questions but unfortunately, I may never get the answers to them especially when it comes to this incident. What I have then observed, probably prior to this case, is how we, as a nation have developed this idea of politricking! It is just sad and very regrettable that we have allowed politics to be such a huge animal that it can enter any territory and space and effectively make/ enforce certain decisions and courses of action. We have allowed certain ‘party’ people to be above reproach and in turn they have become so ‘huge’ that mentioning their names and misdemeanours has become an unwritten law! We have forgotten that we are all humans and that these politicians are in power simply because we have somehow ‘allowed’/ ‘accepted’/ ‘voted’ and also ‘boycotted’ them into office…at the end of the day, these leaders of ours are accountable to us, the masses/ the electorate and the common ‘apathetic’ citizens.

How many times have we associated someone’s actions to being directly linked and ‘absolved’ simply because we connected them to a political office? We even go about claiming how such and such a political party is violent and how such and such a political party is corrupt etc. Have we come to that place where we no longer allow an individual to have a choice that has no political connotations? This is just sad and pathetic. And do note that I also include myself in this one. We have stopped demanding accountability from one another as well as from our leaders. We have now left it to the ‘party’ as if it is made up of non-human beings or something. Where is our sense of national pride? Where is our sense of individual pride? Where is our hunhu? I am dejected but at the same time, I am rejuvenated. I shall demand of myself and of anyone else accountability, to self, the next person/citizen as well as to the nation.

I want to be of the opinion that our ‘leaders’ might not be fully aware of just how much damage political parties have wreaked within the fibre of the nation. I would want to think that should we wake up one day in the very near future, of say tomorrow (and I mean the tomorrow that comes after the lapse of twenty-four hours)…were we to wake up and there was no political party, some people would not know what to do with their lives. We have people who eat and drink in the name of the party. Think about this seriously…do you not know someone who is surviving simply because they mention certain ‘party’ people or because they belong to certain political parties? They could be the local ‘bid wig’ or the local drunkard who drinks ‘scuds’ and such alcoholic beverages at the local drinking holes because they are known to be affiliated to political party X. They can even be those women who can ask people to do whatever it is the ask for because they hold ‘political posts’ (and by posts I do not mean anything significant, they could be the cell treasurer or they are seen to be a runner for the cell/ ward secretary.) Is this what our nation has decided regarding politics? is it really politics or it is now politricks?