Time to expose the merchants of chaos

They can also be defined as rabble-rousers. They create chaos where there is tranquility. What is strange about these characters is that they feel secure in chaos, even where peace appears favorable to them. Such characters exist across the strata of human societies. They are few in numbers but causing flames across the world.

For instance, a wife who happens to be a merchant of chaos could oppose a husband who engages in projects, genuinely intended for disadvantaged people. Such opposition would have nothing to do with affordability. She may falsely use reasons of not having been properly consulted. Or create conspiracies of infidelity against her husband.

In most corporate organizations, where bosses are merchants of chaos, nonperformers are promoted, rather than good performers. They highlight bad things rather than good things, and blame good performers, instead of bad performers. They would tolerate and justify the worst performers, within the organization. Such good performers eventually leave, out of frustration.

The superiors who are merchants of chaos desire all credit to themselves, rather than acknowledge good performing subordinates. The only reason for keeping nonperformers around them is ensuring the fortification of their positions. In the eyes of common men, they appear as deserving of high respect, compared with their nonperforming subordinates.

At the national level, this was typical of Mugabe’s thirty-seven years of leadership. The only strange thing is that the merchants of chaos seem to always have zealots who defend them, even without valuable product to show. This is why, even with a clearly decadent state of Zimbabwe, there are those strongly believing everything is normal.

In December 1979 the Patriotic Front, comprising ZANU and ZAPU, finally achieved what Zimbabweans had hoped for. The initial failure, by the Patriotic Front negotiators, was their inability to articulate the fact that whites were not different from the rest of Zimbabweans.

The difference between Zimbabwean and South African settlements, is that the South African settlement avoided discriminating between whites and blacks. This is why the Democratic Alliance, dominated by whites, continues to keep the ANC under considerable check. There could be a sinister reason for the British to have insisted on the protection of the minority white Rhodesians.

They had already noticed the unfolding drama that would immerge in Zimbabwe—having already secured a deal with their man—Robert Mugabe? This cannot be deniable when considering that the unleashing of the North Korean Fifth Brigade, took place during the presence of the British monitoring forces. One has to understand the mechanics of the merchants of chaos to appreciate this viewpoint.

As documented, the late General Tongogara had supported the idea of uniting the two liberation forces, before elections. Only the insane would not support the unity idea. The leadership of the united Patriotic Front could not have been questionable. Those who personally knew Nkomo could attest to the unlikelihood of him objecting to the appointment of Mugabe as leader of the Patriotic Front.

There is no justifiable reason for Mugabe to have preferred fighting elections separately, after the Lancaster House talks. Could Mugabe not have anticipated problems of skirmishes between ZANLA and ZIPRA? A careful analysis shows that Mugabe, actually, itched for the brawls, during the presence of the British Army.

The British monitoring force presented a most convenient opportunity, to effectively crush the ZIPRA insurgents, aiming at a one-party state. Britain had been fully aware of the intended one-party state agenda. As outlined in my previous installment, the chaos in Zimbabwe was advantageous to the British government. See [Why there is hope in Chamisa rather than in ED]

Hence Britain could not censure the newly installed Prime Minister, for the excesses in dealing with the opposition. Bear in mind that, during negotiations, the British had lobbied for the protection of the so-called white minority. The war of liberation had not been against whites, necessarily. But against the wrong system.

Nevertheless, it seems, Britain cunningly succeeded in making the liberation war appear as having been against the whites. Zimbabweans ought to highly commend the late Joshua Nkomo for refusing to succumb to a senseless civil war. More people could have died, as ZIPRA was known to be heavily equipped, militarily.

Nkomo could have possibly roped in the Rhodesian forces, under Peter Walls—to fight against Mugabe’s treachery. That could not have been selling out, necessarily. As much as many people view Ian Smith villainously, actually, Smith needs to be accorded a hero status. My views are backed by the following:

There is a saying, suggesting that necessity is the mother of invention. The white Rhodesians used the sanctions crisis to come up with highly innovative skills in modern industrialization. Those ideas, actually, surpassed most of what sustains the so-called developed world.

This made the UN sanctions ineffective, as confirmed by the Rhodesian currency, being stronger than the US dollar, in 1980. The problem with our African people is that they think independence means getting things for free. Nothing could have been wrong with adopting the expertise in Smith’s government, in 1980.

It seemed ZANU PF had all along been interested in power, rather than the independence of the Zimbabwean people. This is where good people were viewed as a threat, as long as not supporting a corrupt system. Joining the gravy train was considered shrewd, by most of the naïve people.

An English Historian and Philosopher, Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) is attributed for having pronounced what misses most scholars. He said poor countries are poor due to not having sufficient challenges in their environments. In other words, his view was that Africans fail to progress in civilization, due to not perceiving challenges in their environments. What Arnold Toynbee said is true.

Consider the scenario of women, out in rural areas, appearing comfortable, yet having to walk long distances to fetch water with buckets. Their husbands are not challenged to invent ideas like drilling boreholes for their women. Let alone facilitating infrastructures like piped water into their homes.

They are too comfortable to come up with such ideas, considered essential in the developed world. No wonder why crafty politicians take advantage of them. The reconciliatory statement, by Robert Mugabe, was intended to hoodwink whites, more than carrying substance for the black people. This had long been arranged by the British government.

It made Mugabe a likable fellow in the Western world, although butchering his own people, on tribal lines. Bear in mind that the Merchants of chaos are experts in creating crises where there is no crisis. A good example is when listening to how Donald Trump speaks. The unwise could view America as undemocratic. According to Trump; “Everyone knows that Biden stole the elections!”

Thankfully, the American institutions are strong, as not to allow traction in such stupidity. To the naïve, Donald Trump is driven by the love of his country. Don’t be fooled. All merchants of chaos are driven by the love of self, rather than the love of the country and its people.

Donald Trump is known for not speaking much without praising himself. As far as Trump is concerned, he is the cleverest person in the entire world. In short, the merchants of chaos are known to think about themselves, more than they think about their fellow countrymen.

Fast forward to the coup in November 2017. Even with an appalling human rights record, ED could have turned out to be one of the greatest heroes, Zimbabwe had ever had. His “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra, had some takers.

Unbeknown to many, the hope of thousands of marchers in support of removing Mugabe was crushed by a single statement by Chinamasa. On being asked whether there would be a GNU, after the coup, Chinamasa did not hesitate to state that the coup was a ZANU PF project.

Faced with the stark reality of treachery, for the first time, still, most Zimbabweans resigned into a state of denial. Their desire had been to see Mugabe’s back, anyway. This was another of ZANU PF’s cunning ways of doing things.

I doubt that what Chinamasa said on that day was popularly supported among ZANU PF members? Nevertheless, it had a profound impact on developing what prevails today. Those desiring to oppose Chinamasa, in ZANU PF, developed cold feet, in fear of being labeled “G40.”

This is notwithstanding that, in reality, there is nothing sinister about G40. The merchants of chaos use such labels to create phenomenal hatred, before engaging in murders in the process. Such are the machinations of the merchants of chaos.

There is a need for Zimbabweans to analyze what causes the country’s problems. Nothing else reveals, except the existence of the merchants of chaos. These are people who mischievously joined the liberation struggle for their own interests. The majority of them were criminal fugitives hiding behind the common cause of the liberation struggle.

They later mentored their offspring into professional looters, in the disguise of them being treated as faithful cadres in the ZANU PF party. Unless exposed, the country continues in the trajectory of demise. The youth should wake up to the challenge and bring a new order, to steer the country out of the morass.

Not much is wrong with our country, except the existence of a few merchants of chaos, surviving on blood-sucking the innocent Zimbabweans. They need exposure for everyone to accurately identify them. The majority of our people, simply, need to live normal lives supporting their families. The following are twelve characteristics by which these psychotics can be identified:

1. They speak only in very broad generalities. “They say…” “Everybody thinks…” “Everyone knows…” and such expressions are in continual use, particularly when imparting rumors. When asked “who is everybody…” it normally turns out to be only one source, from which the person pretends it would be the opinion of the whole society.

2. They deal mainly with bad news, critical or hostile remarks, invalidating, and generally suppressing other people. They are traditional gossipers. A husband who is a merchant of chaos, could, actually, peddle lies suggesting that his wife would be promiscuous, after being promoted at her workplace.

3. They alter, in order to worsen communication when relaying information. Good news is stopped and only bad news, often embellished, including inventing bad news, in order to cause a turbulent environment.

4. One of the sad things about the merchants of chaos is that they seem unable to be converted, even though being regular attendees in some church institutions. They are commonly awarded with leadership positions, because of their authoritarian nature, but not converted.

5. They are often surrounded by people who are unable to make their own decisions. As influenced by such characters who love exerting dominance and authority over the weaklings in their surroundings.

6. They select the wrong target when confronted with problems. If having a problem at work, the wife becomes a target, bearing the brunt, rather than the actual cause of the problem at work. The same condition is applied to their workplaces, due to quarrels at home, without anything to do with workplace issues.

7. They cannot finish projects they would have started—whatever kind. They are surrounded by several unfinished projects, like study programs, incomplete building projects, etc.

8. They may freely confess to the most alarming crimes when forced to do so, yet they would have no faintest sense of responsibility for them. Their actions have little or nothing to do with their own volition. Things “just happened…” No sense of remorse or feeling of shame, thereof.

9. They support only destructive or corrupt groups and are found to be viciously opposed to groups that engage in constructive, or betterment of society. They are only good at blaming those viewed as opposing their agenda of destruction.

10. They are also distinguishable by their constantly discouraging those with innovative ideas, like the upcoming artists. They feel threatened by the hardworking people, engaged in developmental programs.

11. They, particularly, become mad at those engaging in programs that seek to improve other people’s lives. They support anti-social activities, in the name of partisan loyalty. To them, the death of other people is highly necessary for their own survival.

12. If you lend your car to any of such characters, you can be sure that it would be returned with an empty tank, or having been damaged, somehow.

Most people have some or more of these character traits. However, the true merchants of chaos possess almost all of them. Additionally, such people cannot have time to read articles, such as this one. What is written here, is abominable and not worth reading to the merchants of chaos.

Pride is their trademark, as other people’s lives do not matter much. It is only them who should be accorded with the audience. They view others as pretenders. To them, success implies driving beautiful cars. But without producing anything for the welfare of other people.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. In a simple conversational tone, most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope.

The Print copy is now available at Amazon.com for $13.99

Also available as an e-copy at Lulu.com  for $6.99