A lion surrounded by hunters does not sleep

 

This is what was seen by visionary leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and other founding fathers of the Organisation of African Union.

So many scholars like Francis Fanon, Amilca Cabral, George Ayitteyi, and other revolutionaries like Che-Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, and Thomas Sankara were equally concerned of the path that Africa was to take if it was going to make any meaningful development.

The founding fathers had a Pan-African vision of uniting Africa politically then the rest would follow.
This Pan-African project was anti-imperialistic and what is intriguing is that Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah were already thinking of neo-colonialism.

What is worrisome is that Africa still continues to be a pawn on the imperialist chessboard because even up to now we cannot talk of a United States of Africa.

The glaring reality is that the Pan-African vision is not making any headway.
The sobering truth is that there are a lot of conflicts and civil wars that are happening in many African states.

African leaders have unwittingly failed to see the essence of educating their people, training them and inculcating in them a sense of belonging.

The failure to inculcate and teach both the masses and politicians to be patriotic has resulted in a lot of divisions and animosity among Africans.

They have discarded the revolutionary philosophy that those who struggled against colonialism had cherished.

It is therefore not surprising that Africans are failing to defend at all costs the conquests that we have made as Africans.

Ordinary people, the elite, both with high or low responsibilities are failing to understand the importance of having a well-modelled national or continental vision.

President Mugabe has once again called for African leaders to reflect on the objectives of the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity now the African Union.

What President Mugabe is saying is that Africa must now have a President of a United States of Africa who is pragmatic and prudent enough to catapult Africa to greater heights politically and economically.

Africa’s armed forces and its people must not forget for a single instant the greatest contribution made by all those who died fighting for the liberation of Africa.
Their dreams and aspirations must be realised.

This calls for African leaders to be visionary and being visionary does not entail endangering the future of the African children by selling their heritage.

This demands courage on the part of our ruling elite.
The African people must be courageous to struggle against neo-imperialist agents.
They must also make a determined struggle against some of their own who are prepared to sell out Africa’s heritage and prejudice the African people’s march to total ownership of their resources.
It is the ownership of resources that bequeath the African people with dignity, liberty and progress.

We strongly contend that African leaders and their people must take a cue from what has transpired and what is currently happening in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is one country that reflects deeply on the goals that the fallen heroes and heroines of the second Chimurenga had.

The importance of this is that the revolutionary ethos that was carried on from the second Chimurenga has enabled Zimbabweans to think correctly.

Many progressive Zimbabweans, with the exception of a few, have become responsible citizens because they are aware that they have something that they want to protect and develop.
Zimbabwe as a country is not the first country in the world to embark on a programme of resource nationalisation and it is not going to be the last to do so.

In all struggles, people make a choice, people must choose a path that they have to follow and this can be a path that leads to prosperity or a path that will lead to where we will play a subservient role to our erstwhile colonisers.

It is in this guise that we contend that the decisions and choices that the Zimbabwean masses will make in the forthcoming elections this year may have a bearing on how Africa will develop both politically and economically.

The interests of the Zimbabwean masses must be on the forefront in the context of Zimbabweans in general.

What the Zimbabwean electorate should reflect on is whether their respective political parties and party leaders want to protect the independence of their country and people?
If politicians demand solidarity from the people, then they must be seen to be consistent, they must show solidarity with the people as well.

The ruling elite must show solidarity with those who want to genuinely benefit from their country’s resources not those who want to use Paul to enrich Peter or themselves.

Africa must say no to the Mobutu Sese Sekos of Africa.
Africa can genuinely achieve what it wants if our men and women are dedicated.
They must be strong willed and must not afford the luxury of stooping so low to cheat the people who elected them into office.

They must be true representatives of their own people, representatives who look their fellow comrades straight in the face and tell them that we must decide our own fate and be determiners of our own destinies.

Our programmes and policies in Africa must reflect the revolutionary ethos that is rooted in the teachings of Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Robert Mugabe, Steve Biko, Jomo Kenyatta and others. Africa’s liberation struggles must be cherished.
They were struggles meant to usher in revolutionary democracy.

This must be known by the African people and they must not be deceived.
Revolutionary democracy stresses that Africa combats any opportunism and do away with any tendencies of cronyism and comradeship which does not serve or benefit the African masses.
Zimbabweans have categorically stated that we must own and control our own resources and will not tolerate lack of control or compromise.

Africa must therefore be accorded room to develop like any other people in the world.
What all this means is that they must have a ruling elite that is responsible, representatives who do not misinform the people.

True representatives of the people must not prefer luxury in inciting or sowing seeds of disorganisation so that they can escape control.

As Africans we must by now be aware of the devastating consequences of politicising issues.
Africa has experienced a lot of civil wars and military coups that have retarded any meaningful political and economic development.

African leaders must consult with people in their various countries periodically so as to discuss their difficulties and the developments that they need.

If they have not been doing this then they are not responsible politicians, they have all along been deceiving the people; they have been mere imposters.

They have simply been accomplices working to derail progress of their own countries. What the African leaders must realise is that the enemy is very active and wants to keep Africa divided.
What Africans must know is that a lion surrounded by hunters does not sleep it must fight for its survival.

It is a fact of life that neo-liberals use their own organisations to prevent or obstruct meaningful development in third world countries.

African people must own their resources which by natural right belong to them.
It is only then that they will seize to be mere pawns in the hands of westerners.
If Africans fail to benefit from their own God-given resources then the future of their children is futile. It will entail that they will be kept in a perpetual state of disempowerment and our erstwhile colonisers in a perpetual situation of privilege.

This entails that Africa will forever be  encircled with hunger.
If we open our eyes it is not difficulty and evident to see that International Non Governmental

Organisations (INGOs) and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and their own legislations are notorious in defending the neo-liberal status quo.

This brings in the media who are controlled by powerful moneyed social classes which are most favoured by the prevailing system.

Dear reader if you are to reflect on how the West became rich, from whom did they get their wealth, Did they get these riches from their grandparents or fathers?

If we are to interrogate their genealogical tree of richness to see the justness of their possessions one will not be of the mark if one contends that such wealth is wealth that was accumulated out of thievery and injustice.

What the whites were spending and enjoying in Africa was not their own but they were spending what is ours.

The same goes to our corrupt representatives who do not want the masses to enjoy what is their own.
Miranda brilliantly observed that the cruel reality is that “unless one person loses another cannot find, the rich person is either an unjust person or the heir of  one.

What this means is that the donors are not giving financial hand-outs to third world countries because they are poor; that would be an error, they are handing over to the third world what is their own.”

We strongly contend that Africa’s economic and political development must be firmly fixed in the Pan-Africanist ideology.

As Africans we must take heed of Che-Guevara’s advice that “a revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe, you have to make it fall.

Darlington.N.Mahuku and Bowden. B.C.Mbanje are lecturers in international relations, and peace and governance with Bindura University of Science Education.