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Tichaona Zindoga
Here is where it all began: Chinhoyi. It is where 47 years ago, on April 28 seven gallant guerillas took on colonial forces for a whole day in what is now known as the Chinhoyi Battle.It was heroic. It was historic. It was also the 68th anniversary of the execution of Zimbabwe’s revolutionary matriarch, Ambuya Chahwe, the medium of the Nehanda Spirit.
On the day, David Guzuzu, Arthur Maramba, Christopher Chatambudza, Simon Chingozha Nyandoro, Godfrey Manyerenyere, Godwin Dube and Chubby Savanhu launched the Second Chimurenga, the armed struggle that 14 years later gave Zimbabwe its Independence from Britain.
The cadres came from Guruve, Makonde and Hurungwe as they entered the country from Zambia. Their stated mission was to perform acts of sabotage, but they were waylaid by Rhodesian Forces, who attacked them with ground and air power.
The settler force had all its evil sophistication, but the valiant guerillas stood their ground. They were only defeated when they ran out of ammunition, after a gruelling encounter. The fighters held out. Some say maybe the tactics were wrong, to openly confront the enemy; but the symbolic value is huge.
Zimbabweans speak of the incident with pride and nostalgia. The very area that these chivalrous cadres wrestled the enemy has been transformed into the Mashonaland West Provincial Heroes’ Acre. Befittingly.
At the just ended Zanu-PF 14th Annual National People’s Conference held in Chinhoyi, President Mugabe in his Central Committee address last Thursday, duly situated how historic the venue for this year’s meeting was.
(The conference is held on a rotational basis in provinces.)
But President also showed something more. President Mugabe knows what is to be done and how to do it. He looks set to transform Zimbabwe, revolutionarily, after the loss of grit by Zanu-PF after conceding a lot of ground to MDC-T in the 2008 elections.
Chinhoyi was where President Mugabe tackled head on issues affecting Zanu-PF and the country at large.
He addressed the issue of factionalism in the party, an issue that threatens to tear Zanu-PF apart. He preached a party leadership that is subordinate to the grassroots. He called for servant leadership and says no to Simba Makoni’s narcissistic political example.
He decried factionalism and the mentality by some officials in thinking they own people and the tendency to impose candidates on people who should make free choices. Unity, unity, unity, he said.
Servant leadership and unity have been conspicuous by their absence in Zanu-PF of late. The people reject that. The party loses. A strong party is what President needs and needs to transform Zimbabwe. It begins psychologically.
Closing the conference on Saturday, President Mugabe exhorted the party faithful not to be ashamed or embarrassed to be Zanu-PF.
He is not ashamed of standing on principle. It is his principles that have made him the kind of leader that intellectual midgets like Tony Blair, ex UK premier and former US president George W.
Bush shy away from. The issue of principle and steadfastness cannot be gainsaid. The principle of empowerment and a sense of self determination made President Mugabe implement the land reform programme, which has led to the majority black population owning arable, commercial land.
And they are productive. Now Government is pursuing indigenisation and economic empowerment. It will reap fruit, eventually.
President Mugabe taught that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Many people have realised that, sometimes cruelly.
But professionals must be paid well, said President Mugabe and plans are afoot to pay civil servants remuneration that is in sync with the poverty datum line.
Professionals are the backbone of an efficient government. Still on the psychological front, President Mugabe points out how important it is to look east. Everybody is doing it, even despite some mind games that the West may employ. They are also looking East.
There, really, is nothing to apologise about. The Chinese example is worth emulating because the leaders have known how to adjust to leading trends and practices witness China copying and developing on Japanese technology.
There is nothing much to learn from the West these days. President Mugabe was spot on in emphasising the same: the “pinkman does not think”, he said.
It is a new mentality gaining currency. A new zeitgeist. A Chinese newspaper put it succinctly in an editorial when it situated Britain and its loss of relevance, which fate is going to befall most European countries some of whom are now going to ex-colonies begging for alms.
It said: “The (UK Prime Minister David) Cameron administration should acknowledge that the UK is not a big power in the eyes of the Chinese . . . It is just an old European country apt for travel and study.”
This is just how the tables are turning. Have turned. And President Mugabe is in step with these developments. What is also important is that the Government looks seriously into beneficiation and value addition.
Minerals should not be exported in raw form. It is an aberration. And woe betide the likes of Zimplats and Zimbabwe Mineral Development Corporation: if you don’t shape up, you will ship out. It will be very interesting to see how ZMDC shapes up; dudes, the master is not happy!
And reasonably so. You have been sleeping and we have lost out. Related to the transformation of the mineral sector is the centralisation of diamond mining.
It is what neighbours like South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola do. Rightly. Government must be seen to be doing something and purposefully so via a reformed ZMDC vehicle.
The growth of Zimbabwe is predicated on the implementing Zim Asset. President Mugabe is up for it. He knows what is to be done, and how to do it. And he needs to hedge on successes and crack the whip on failures and practitioners of failure.
Online Reporter