In the last few years I have been involved in several public debates and have noticed a very strong blame culture come to life that has somehow done little to address current problems faced by Zimbabwean society. As I write this article I automatically become a victim of such a culture as I attempt to identify the causes and possible solutions around this seemingly never ending thought process that has been strengthened by our current leaders since independence. How many times in the last 30 years have you heard the word 'colonialism', 'imperialism', 'tribalism', 'neo-colonialism' and all the other isms? I'm sure we all know that those words have been associated with some kind of negativity affecting Africans and other developing countries, but has the continuous use of the words changed anything? Has the use of the words changed our socio-economic environments to benefit a broader society? Is blaming the past in-consistences going to fix the present in-consistences? I think history has taught us a lot of sad stories about the past but should we continuously dig the past in order to create a better future? Well I'll leave you to be your own judge to those questions, we are all obviously motivated by different things in life, if constantly being reminded about the negative past drives your work output or general outlook on life then let it be, however I believe positive thoughts influence positive actions.
I have through time realised that this constant investigation into our past develops a loop to the problems we currently face, as in most cases no one is prepared to take responsibility or more so accept that a particular group is responsible for creating the problem in the first place thereby forcing it to spiral on a continuous endless loop..
‘When problems occur, we are likely to start looking for someone to blame before we start looking for a solution.’
Let us analyse the difference between blame and accountability, accountability is holding someone responsible for an action, whereas blame is more associated with accusation. Blame also induces fear, which I think explains the Zimbabwean leadership crisis and political impasse which has been caused as a result of past wrongs, be it human right violations to corrupt governance. Because of these existing and constant accusations from the past, our leaders fear has been transformed to a violent defensive action to resist any change demanded by the people of Zimbabwe.
The difference between blame and accountability is particularly significant in political governance issues and the traditional work place. Fear can induce a person to work, but it cannot cultivate enthusiasm. A good example of this type of fear is common in public servants who have been highly politicised especially security services where service delivery is based on orders, which in most cases are punishable if not followed. Fear can also put a person off entirely especially in circumstances where a safe and open environment for protest does not exist. Unfortunately, blame doesn’t stop at hurting someone. It has the potential to seriously damage a career or a relationship. Fear of being blamed holds people back from acknowledging their mistakes or shortcomings and also destroys opportunities to learn from them. This I believe has been Zimbabwe’s greatest challenge where senior government officials have too many skeletons (wrongs) hanging in the closets and therefore fear leaving their positions of authority and power out of fear of prosecution for past offences committed whilst in official government service.
Let us analyse the difference between blame and accountability, accountability is holding someone responsible for an action, whereas blame is more associated with accusation. Blame also induces fear, which I think explains the Zimbabwean leadership crisis and political impasse which has been caused as a result of past wrongs, be it human right violations to corrupt governance. Because of these existing and constant accusations from the past, our leaders fear has been transformed to a violent defensive action to resist any change demanded by the people of Zimbabwe.
The difference between blame and accountability is particularly significant in political governance issues and the traditional work place. Fear can induce a person to work, but it cannot cultivate enthusiasm. A good example of this type of fear is common in public servants who have been highly politicised especially security services where service delivery is based on orders, which in most cases are punishable if not followed. Fear can also put a person off entirely especially in circumstances where a safe and open environment for protest does not exist. Unfortunately, blame doesn’t stop at hurting someone. It has the potential to seriously damage a career or a relationship. Fear of being blamed holds people back from acknowledging their mistakes or shortcomings and also destroys opportunities to learn from them. This I believe has been Zimbabwe’s greatest challenge where senior government officials have too many skeletons (wrongs) hanging in the closets and therefore fear leaving their positions of authority and power out of fear of prosecution for past offences committed whilst in official government service.
A more productive approach would be to hold people accountable if necessary create legislation to enforce this. In the case of governments accountability would require a non-partisan enforcement agency that cannot be influenced by political leadership. If a mistake is made, it should be acknowledged so that a lesson can be learned for the future. People rarely get fired for making a few small mistakes, but they do lose their jobs if they go on making the same mistakes over and over again. The challenge for new leadership lies in changing this blame culture to a more accountable system of governance, this obviously will require a complete over-haul of public service systems through reforming of the politicised public services so that law enforcement can take place without any outside interference hopefully creating a more respectable society regardless of any individuals social status or authority (position in society).
If we held our leaders accountable they wouldn’t feel like they were being blamed but rather held responsible for their actions. Blaming is malicious and has the capacity to injure. Injury leads to lies and deceit as the blamed attempt to defend and justify their actions. Holding someone accountable, on the other hand, requires the person to take responsibility. The biggest difference between the two approaches is their effectiveness when it comes to encouraging error creator to learn from the problems so that future mistakes can be avoided.
Fear of getting blamed prevents new thoughts (creativity) and ideas from taking wing. How we hate to hear someone say, “This sounds like a good idea, but if it backfires, you will be solely responsible!” Comments like this very effectively nip new ideas in the bud. But with some minor linguistic changes, the same sentiment can be expressed in an encouraging manner. What I’m trying to say is the language used by our media to describe negative events though sincere may actually turn out to be very intimidating and quite scary to someone with great responsibility and power involved in those negative events. The result becomes the power of the pen (Media) and voice (people) versus the power of authority (politician) and force (Military) which equals dictatorship or continuous socio-economic instability.
Conclusively mistakes cannot be ignored, nor can we gloss over them with evasive language. Ultimately it is important to face mistakes and learn from them. Mistakes must contribute to the quest for perfection and growth. Blaming someone for a mistake allows neither of these things to happen. In the process, it tears down existing structures of confidence and passion-vital ingredients for professional development. It's time for a progressive culture, one that seeks solutions based on analysing past mistakes.
If we held our leaders accountable they wouldn’t feel like they were being blamed but rather held responsible for their actions. Blaming is malicious and has the capacity to injure. Injury leads to lies and deceit as the blamed attempt to defend and justify their actions. Holding someone accountable, on the other hand, requires the person to take responsibility. The biggest difference between the two approaches is their effectiveness when it comes to encouraging error creator to learn from the problems so that future mistakes can be avoided.
Fear of getting blamed prevents new thoughts (creativity) and ideas from taking wing. How we hate to hear someone say, “This sounds like a good idea, but if it backfires, you will be solely responsible!” Comments like this very effectively nip new ideas in the bud. But with some minor linguistic changes, the same sentiment can be expressed in an encouraging manner. What I’m trying to say is the language used by our media to describe negative events though sincere may actually turn out to be very intimidating and quite scary to someone with great responsibility and power involved in those negative events. The result becomes the power of the pen (Media) and voice (people) versus the power of authority (politician) and force (Military) which equals dictatorship or continuous socio-economic instability.
Conclusively mistakes cannot be ignored, nor can we gloss over them with evasive language. Ultimately it is important to face mistakes and learn from them. Mistakes must contribute to the quest for perfection and growth. Blaming someone for a mistake allows neither of these things to happen. In the process, it tears down existing structures of confidence and passion-vital ingredients for professional development. It's time for a progressive culture, one that seeks solutions based on analysing past mistakes.
“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” ~Albert Ellis
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