While there is a danger that today's turmoil will take us backwards, there are also grounds for believing it might move us forward. Firstly, the claim that democracy is now being threatened assumes that it was in healthy shape at the outset. But in two of the cases, that ignores recent history. President Frederick Chiluba invented reasons to bar former president Kenneth Kaunda from running for president while, in the early days of post-independence Zimbabwe, extreme force was used to quell opposition in Matabeleland. These are merely well-known examples of a restricted democracy in which the freedom to challenge the ruling party has been sharply limited, in practice if not in law.
Current events are simply a more extreme form of features which have been visible for years.
In our case, political and civil freedoms have been respected. But again, the innuendo that competing for office is treachery does not emerge out of thin air. Again, we are witnessing only a stronger form of that which has been evident for a while. This should not be a surprise. And this may be precisely why current events may be a source of hope.