By Wilbert Mukori- “Africa’s future is being sold out even as we speak” by Kenneth Mufuka is a “must read” to all Zimbabweans out there.
There is no denying that Zimbabwe is in a serious political and economic mess. Mankind is a creature of reason and, per se, Zimbabweans should be asking ourselves why the country is in this mess. In the article, Professor Mufuka is asking these pertinent questions and offering so answers too; which is why the article is a “must read”!
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is bad governance. If Zimbabweans had risen to the intellectual challenge making sure we had a robust political system capable of delivering competent leaders who remained democratically accountable to the people; Zimbabwe would not be in this mess.
41 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship have taken a heavy toll on this nation. Basic services such as education and health care have collapsed and 49% of the population now live in abject poverty. Zanu PF has murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans and the regime is set to commit even more heinous crimes in its desperate effort to hang on to dictatorship at all costs.
The economic and political mess in Zimbabwe cannot be allowed to continue; the situation is unsustainable. The call for Zimbabweans to think and find a way out of this mess is more urgent now than ever!
“African leaders today pay no mind whatever to new research showing the intentions of our former colonisers and the approaching new colonialism of China. On the other hand, the new globalists, are ahead of us. They have adapted, speak new languages, and above all have assimilated blacks to speak on their behalf,” argued Professor Mufuka.
“Thus Katherine R. Gerbner, in her Harvard doctoral thesis (2013), wrote the following:
“Missionaries argued that slave conversion would solidify planter power, make slaves more obedient and hardworking, and make slavery into a viable Protestant institution. They also encouraged the development of a race-based justification for slavery and sought to pass legislation that confirmed the legality of enslaving black Christians.”
Ms Gerbner’s missionaries brainwashed the blacks to become “obedient and harding slaves” is wilfully inadequate on many fronts. Blacks are not the only people to be conquered and enslaved; so why is it that only blacks were so easily brainwashed one national group after another, one generation after another and century after century.
Even when slavery was finally abolished blacks have moved from one form of servitude to another; from slavery to West colonial oppression to black oppression and now Chinese colonial oppression.
“We are being enslaved in broad daylight,” Mufuka argued.
“The colonial Africans, the worst being our present leadership, are deeply embedded in colonialism to the extent that they are completely unable to think for themselves. They have respect for any other race, other than their own.
“The treatment of blacks by blacks in South Africa and perhaps in Zimbabwe is unspeakable.”
In blaming our own black leaders Mufuka was zooming in on the real cause why Zimbabwe is in a real mess. But even he failed to zoom in on the real cause – ourselves, especially the so called intelligentsia.
In June, Zanu PF Acting National Political Commissar, Patrick Chimanasa, announced that Zanu PF was denying the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, for example. The announcement was water off a duck’s back to Zimbabwe intelligentsia, both in the country and outside, proof it is not only the leaders but the people themselves who are incapable of thinking for themselves.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is the nation’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation have been stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, unable to remove it from office, because the party rigged elections. And by cherry picking who can and cannot vote in the coming elections; Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections already!
Free, fair and credible elections is not only a right; it is the very essence of good governance and democratic accountability; the very things Zimbabwe needs to get out of this mess.
“Poor blacks, as mentioned above earlier, the think tanks encourage religious zeal to mollify the poor,” concluded Professor Mufuka
“Lastly, here is another shocker. Black thinkers (yours included) have no room to exercise their calling in their homelands. Those at home are wise to keep their peace, or they will find themselves in some jailhouse, or disappear like Itai Dzamara.”
This does not make any sense at all! So Zimbabweans back in Zimbabwe must say nothing for fear of imprisonment or worse and those outside Zimbabwe cannot speak because by leaving the country they have lost their voice too!
None Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe and outside have denounced Zanu PF’s blatant human rights violations including the failure to hold free and fair elections. The foreigners have also condemned Zimbabwe’s opportunistic opposition politicians’ betrayal of the people by failing to to implement reforms and the insanity of participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.
If foreigners have found a voice to express their concerns what more Zimbabweans ourselves whose interests in what is happening in Zimbabwe is much more than humanitarian concerns. Zimbabweans in the country and outside have elected to say nothing out of self censorship.
Peace! Zimbabwe is in a country in total economic meltdown the 49% of the population now living in abject poverty are as restless as rumbling volcano. By resisting all attempts to peaceful and orderly change through the holding of free, fair and credible elections, the nation has, per se, elected violent and disruptive change.
There is a limit to how much economic hardship and political repression the people can endure, in Zimbabwe, that limit was been exceeded a long time ago. The nation has been sitting on a ticketing time bomb, there will be violent social unrest as the only way to end the Zanu PF dictatorship; it is a matter of when and not if.
Zimbabweans have certainly become renowned for blaming others for all our problems, we are the helpless victims in everything.
Still, when Zimbabwe attained her independence on 18 th April 1980, Zimbabweans because masters of our destiny which meant we must take ownership of all that happened. The victim mentality is symptomatic of one who will not take responsibility preferring the comfort of the helpless victim.
Indeed, given Zimbabweans’ helpless victim mentality it no surprise the country’s sunk into the abyss must be one of the quickest in human history. The men and women, the so called intellectuals to whom the nation should have looked up to lead in thinking have instead been leading from the front in offering scapegoats and excuses for every failure.