Chronicle EditorVincent Gono, Features Editor
THERE is a dictum offered by Frantz Fanon in his book, Black Skin, White Masks. He interrogates the conscience of the historical colonial narrative with a contemporary anger derived from African consciousness — a consciousness that the white man desires the black man to remain blind to.
He wrote: “The fantasy of the native is precisely to occupy the master’s place while keeping his place in the slave’s avenging anger. ‘Black skins, white masks’ is not, for example, a neat division; it is a doubling, dissembling image of being in at least two places at once which makes it impossible for the devalued, insatiable evolué (an abandonment neurotic, Fanon claims) to accept the coloniser’s invitation to identity.”
And true to his writings, the African consciousness has remained blurred to the truth where there is no neat division in identity with analysts taking a swipe at Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Adv Nelson Chamisa for his recklessness behind the mic which continue to betray his political ideological intercourse with the West.
They have called for the expedition of the Patriotic Bill so that those that go out to demonise the country can be brought to face the music.
The calls come amid pronouncements by Adv Chamisa that he has been around the world lobbying the Western countries to tighten screws on Zimbabwe in his pursuance of regime change.
African philosophy scholar and political analyst, Mr Joel Mukusha said the opposition’s position was a clear manifestation of a political party that was anti-Zimbabwe and anti-Africa. He said the use of the “sunga one sunga” dozen hypothesis as a way of derailing Zimbabwe’s development in all its totality by rallying countries such as Denmark, UK and Germany against the country was a misnomer and was irrelevant for Zimbabwe.
“Political parties should talk of development, peace and unity. We also need to see them talking about a dose of Pan-Africanism as we work with other parties outside Africa.
“There is no need to punish the people of Zimbabwe, including those that follow that political party by influencing other countries to put pressure through embargoes in the financial service sector.
“This is represented well by the open knowledge that they (CCC leadership) conspired with the US when they went there pleading for an extension of sanctions in Zimbabwe to continue injuring the economy of the country as they push for the ouster of Zanu-PF,” said Mr Mukusha.
He said the opposition was mindlessly destroying the future of the country’s next generations, the future of the country and the economy of Zimbabwe as sanctions have caused loss of credit lines into the country leaving many languishing in poverty and living in squalor.
“They are not political messiahs or missionaries of peace but mercenaries who qualify in Frantz Fanon’s dictum the black skin, white mask. It’s so surprising that after closing growth in Zimbabwe the same people want to mislead people through feigning that it was the ruling party’s misgovernance when evidence is there that they are working hand in glove with enemies of the State.
“Such levels of stooge-ness is not only dangerous but Satanic. I am not against any political party but I am against the type of thinking where our own people are found respecting, winning and dining as well as glorifying our erstwhile colonisers who stunted our growth, looted our resources and killed our people. It is sad,” added Mr Mukusha.
He said opposition political leaders should not campaign against their countries, instead they should be Zimbabwe-oriented. They should be patriotic and have their countries at heart, adding that they should read from the stanza in the philosophical wisdom of President Mnangagwa when he said nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo (a country is built by its owners).
“They are now playing saint blaming Zanu-PF for lack of development and employment but they are the ones who lobbied for the sanctions and are not ashamed of publicly declaring it.”
He said he was not saying there should be no opposition political parties, but opposition political parties should focus on the development of Zimbabwe and employ Zimbabwean solutions to Zimbabwean problems, not a situation where ideologies were imported from former colonisers who still have vested interests in controlling the country’s economy.
“That is unthinkable and unreasonable. It shows that political bankruptcy is stinking high and wide. Opposition political parties should front their own countries’ cause. They should win elections on the strength of their ideologies and not through pressuring people by exerting pain imported from Europe,” said Mr Mukusha.
Another political analyst Mr Methuseli Moyo said there was no debate those Western countries like UK, Denmark and Germany were part of their backers financially and ideologically.
“Their ideology is not clear, except that they say they want to bring about change,” he said.
He said the CCC was the same old “MDC” wine in a new bottle, where, other than the name, nothing had changed. Asked how the CCC quantifies its support base when it has no structures in place, he said they were relying on MDC structures which they still needed to formalise for their operations to be more effective.
And in a tweet, Professor Jonathan Moyo also questioned why and how the CCC claims everyone as its member when it had no structures or ideology.
“#PlzAnswerAnyone — As a brand new party formed in Jan 2022; with no link to any current or past political party; without having held a founding congress; with no ideology; with no constitution and with no structures; how can, or on what basis does, #CCC claim anyone as its member?,” tweeted Prof Moyo.
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