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Elliot Ziwira, Senior Writer
A story is told about a special class teacher, who, having been satisfied that enough progress had been made on unlocking his charges’ mental acumen, decides to enlighten them on the essence of doors.
His lesson, naturally starts with his recap on the previous lesson in which he highlights what a door is.
As a teaching aid, he has to draw a huge door on the chalkboard. Having been convinced that his good learners were aware of what a door was, he asked them what it was used for.
“We use the door when we want to go to the toilet,” little Mickey says.
“And when it is break-time or lunchtime, or when it is time to go home”, adds smiley Suzie.
More contributions come in, all pointing to what a door is used for, much to the glee of the committed teacher.
Then, the lesson moves on to focus on how a door is closed, locked and unlocked; and how a locked door cannot be used.
All this is done with the teacher using both the actual door and the imaginary door on the chalkboard.
Then, as the lesson draws to a close, he decides to emphasise his theme by pointing to the door on the board, and asks his class what it is once more.
“It is a door,” they roar enthusiastically. They even explain what it is used for.
Now, it is time to go home, so he dismisses them.
Much to his chagrin, they excitedly rush to the chalkboard, pushing and shoving to find their way out, as home beckons.
As this is going on, the teacher notices that Jingo remains behind, and is laughing hilariously at his fellow classmates, who to him are probably out of their minds.
Of his 15 charges, the teacher reasons, it is only Jingo, who got it all. It is encouraging after all, he thinks out loud, so he calls out to Jingo:
“Why are you standing there laughing, instead of joining the others?”
“Sir,” he says in peals of laughter; “Those guys are crazy; crazy, indeed!”
Sure, there is hope in this one, the good teacher is delighted. He might be the hero here!
“Why do you think they are crazy?” he pushes it further.
“How could they push and shove like that at the door, yet am the one holding the key?”
Disappointment cannot even describe the feeling that comes with such an outburst, not so much because the keys may not even be there, but because it is meant for a non-existent door.
The door and the key exist in poor Jingo’s mind, yet he feels that he has a solution to the goodies waiting behind the door — at home.
Dear, gentle reader, have you ever been in a situation where you lost, or misplaced your keys?
You get so desperate to the extent that you listen to whoever appears to have a solution to your problem.
Throwing caution to the wind, you become frantic, and seek solutions nowhere and everywhere. You may even decide to break in.
Whatever happens only depends on you accepting that you have lost a key to a door you know exists, and whose key number or design you are aware of.
Well, the reality is that the people of Zimbabwe are going through difficult times.
They are suffering, which suffering came about as a result of sanctions begged for by those who now claim to have the key.
There is a door that is closed in their face; the door to the common good, the door to collective prosperity. They so much wish this door is unlocked.
MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa stands in the corner, and like Jingo, claims to be holding the key to that Golden Future Time desired by all.
It may be well that he holds the key. It may also be that indeed, there is a door to be unlocked, which door can be unlocked by him.
However, the existence of such a door, should go beyond imagination to capture the reality of the polarisation of the political landscape in Zimbabwe.
Whoever may have that key should be clean on what is meant by collective suffering, and the reason why the door is locked and by who.
Addressing a paltry crowd in Mbare on January 21, Chamisa dangled his so-called key in a quest to make the world believe that he has the solution to the problems bedevilling the motherland.
With everyone desperately seeking solutions, Chamisa admits to being part of the problem, which he then claims to have a solution to.
He speaks of unity and peace, yet he uses divisive language and advocates violence.
He said: “I have told foreign governments not to invite (President) Mnangagwa, because he only has one side and I have the other part. We need national re-engagement so that together we can re-engage the world.”
Claiming that the West is “in agreement” with him, Chamisa hunts with the hounds, and seeks to run with the hares.
Solutions cannot be found in a situation where those claiming to have the key need to unlock their minds first and be able to point out which door needs to be opened.
Closing out one’s own country from the outside world is neither cool nor grandiose.
It is a sign of political immaturity and moral bankruptcy.
Yes, “together we can re-engage the world”, only if that togetherness is informed by oneness.
Together means little, if the one who calls for it believes that he is more together than others, yet at the same time admitting that he only has a part of the whole to his side.
When locks work in combination, because of the existence of separate parts of the whole, as what obtains in a democracy, which democracy Chamisa confesses to, by portending that no one has all of the sum, then, the key is in the hands of all.
Suffice to say, President Mnangagwa holds a bigger chunk of the whole by virtue of having won the Presidential poll on July 30, 2018.
Each of the 18 members of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) holds a share, and Chamisa holds a share, which no matter how significant it can be, remains equally part of the whole.
It follows, then, that for the combination lock to be undone, everyone who holds part of the code, should contribute without claiming to be the Alpha and Omega.
No one should claim to own citizens, because they do not belong to political parties.
They belong to each other.
Those codes politicians separately hold to unlock the combination key to our prosperity, are only made possible by the goodwill of the collective; the people.
Like Jingo, if Chamisa, indeed, holds the key, he has to be schooled on the fact that those pushing and shoving to find a way out through an imaginary door, are aware of the existence of an exit somewhere, only that they do not know where it could be.
They need to be convinced that the right door exists somewhere if their mindset is shifted to consider other possibilities that go beyond the imagination.
Otherwise he should simply tack his imaginary key into the coin pocket of his pair of trousers and keep quiet.
As President Mnangagwa aptly pointed out at the closing ceremony of the 49th International Pastors Deeper Life Leadership Conference at the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Forward in Faith Ministries’ Africa Multinational for Christ College in Harare on Sunday:
“We are one nation, indeed one family, we must live in peace and harmony. Since we were all created in His image, we should resist the temptation to be violent towards one another. It is not our Zimbabwean culture to be violent, to hate and do evil to one another.”
Online Reporter