Online Reporter
Garikayi Chipfunde, [email protected]
EVERY country in the world has its imperfections. Public institutions stumble, policies sometimes fail and systems require constant reform.
What defines a mature and forward-looking nation is not the absence of these challenges, but the attitude of its citizens towards their leadership, institutions and national image.
One famous political scientist, Benedict Anderson, once argued that “nations are imagined communities.” By this he meant that a nation exists because its people believe in it, speak about it, and imagine themselves as part of a shared project. If citizens collectively imagine their country as broken, corrupt and irredeemable, that image gradually becomes its lived reality. But if they imagine it as reformable, dignified and worthy of improvement, that belief itself becomes a nation-building force.
In many successful nations, citizens instinctively understand that protecting the image of their country is a shared responsibility. Criticism is allowed, even encouraged, but it is largely constructive, measured and channelled through appropriate platforms.
Citizens are conscious that reckless public condemnation of national institutions does not merely embarrass those institutions, it weakens the country itself. Institutions carry the image of the nation.
While some citizens speak passionately about development, dignity and sovereignty, others actively undermine these very goals by projecting an overwhelmingly negative image of national institutions to the outside world.
For them, publicising institutional shortcomings internationally has become fashionable, sometimes even profitable and is often mistaken for patriotism or courage. This approach is not only misguided but deeply harmful.
When institutions such as national examination bodies, local universities, public hospitals, security services or public media are constantly portrayed in a negative light, the damage goes far beyond those institutions.
It becomes a dent on Zimbabwe’s national image. International confidence in Zimbabwean qualifications, professionals, products and services is weakened. Ultimately, every Zimbabwean pays the price.
One famous political economist Francis Fukuyama reminds us that “trust is the expectation that arises within a community of regular, honest, and cooperative behaviour.” Trust is not built by governments alone, it is cultivated socially. When citizens repeatedly signal distrust in their own institutions to the outside world, they erode the very social capital that enables economic growth, professional mobility and international credibility.
Achille Mbembe, a famous philosopher, warned that postcolonial societies must resist internalising narratives of failure imposed by history and power. Nations that continually rehearse their dysfunction risk turning critique into self-negation. When criticism ceases to be a tool of reform and becomes a performance of despair, it feeds
the very marginalisation it seeks to resist.
The consequences are not abstract. A student presenting a Zimbabwean certificate abroad, a graduate seeking employment, or a professional competing internationally may face doubt and discrimination rooted not in incompetence, but in a damaged national reputation. Ironically, those who contribute to this negative image are not spared, the damage boomerangs to affect their children, relatives and communities.
It affects their children applying to foreign institutions, their relatives doing business across borders, their friends seeking partnerships, and even themselves when they carry the Zimbabwean identity into global spaces.
Globally respected institutions did not achieve their standing by continuously discrediting themselves. Their citizens defend their institutions fiercely while working to improve them internally. They consume locally produced goods and services with pride. They speak positively about their education systems, health sectors and public services. This confidence sends a powerful message to the world: if citizens believe in their own institutions, they must be worth trusting.
A famous philosopher, Kwame Anthony Appiah, also argued that “identities are shaped by the stories we tell about ourselves.” A nation that repeatedly tells the story of its incompetence and dysfunction will eventually be seen through that lens. But a nation that acknowledges its flaws while affirming its worth shapes a different global perception, one of resilience and seriousness.
This is not a call for blind patriotism or silence in the face of wrongdoing. Accountability remains a cornerstone of democracy. However, there is a clear distinction between constructive criticism and reckless exposure. Constructive criticism seeks reform, engages institutions responsibly, uses lawful channels and aims to strengthen systems for the benefit of current and future generations. Destructive exposure, by contrast, thrives on sensationalism, external validation and public embarrassment, often with little regard for long-term national consequences.
Citizenship is more than a legal status or a constitutional entitlement; it is a responsibility. To be Zimbabwean is to carry the country’s image wherever one goes.
Protecting that image is not the duty of government alone, but of every citizen who claims ownership of the nation.
If Zimbabweans do not believe in their own institutions, the world will not either. National confidence begins at home. Supporting, strengthening and marketing our institutions is an investment in our collective future.
Zimbabweans must ask themselves a hard question: if they do not believe in their own institutions, why should anyone else?
The habit of publicly disowning national institutions while enjoying the protections and benefits of citizenship is not activism, it is self-sabotage. No nation has ever developed through collective self-contempt.
If Zimbabwe is to progress, its citizens must rediscover pride in citizenship. That pride does not mean denying problems, it means choosing solutions over spectacle, reform over ridicule and nation-building over nation-bashing.
Zimbabweans must actively market their institutions instead of tearing them down. They must encourage confidence in their examination bodies, universities, hospitals, security services and public media, while demanding accountability through responsible engagement.
National confidence begins at home.
The future of Zimbabwe will not be secured by those who shout its weaknesses to the world, but by those who work, sometimes quietly, sometimes firmly, to strengthen it from within. History will not judge citizens by how loudly they complained, but by whether they build or destroy the inheritance of future generations.
Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo/ Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. A country is built and protected by its citizens.
*Garikayi Chipfunde is a social scientist. He writes in his own capacity.
