adminstand in defence of African nationalists like the late Ndabaningi Sithole in court.
Arguably it was not because of his love for money. He was already responding to the revolutionary clarion call to fight for the independence of Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole.
This is the reason why he decided to abandon his lucrative career in Tanzania where he was Director of Public Prosecutions and went to Zambia to exert his energies in directing the armed struggle as Chairman of the Zanu-PF’s Dare reChimurenga.
This was a sacrifice that he and other African leaders and comrades made and it must be cherished up to this day. Many abandoned their education, others their families and lucrative careers to go and stare death in the face, so that Zimbabwe would become a sovereign country.
We must dedicate ourselves to remain true to this Zimbabwean liberation tradition and reject in toto the ugly facets of Western neo-liberal ideologies. We strongly opine that Africa must continue to resist the corrosive effects of neo-imperialism. We cannot afford continuing to wash our hands with spittle when there are forever flowing rivers underneath our feet.
In 1958, Cde Chitepo wrote a poem “Soko Risina Musoro-The Tale without a Head,” a poem about a wandering African who is oblivious of which direction to take. This is a challenge that has gripped some of our own political leaders. Not only in Zimbabwe but Africa as a continent. As Africans we must be decided and not continue to wander in an economic wilderness.
If as Africans we are undecided then we will not be thinking and it therefore entails that we are not prepared to take any position to better our own social-economic standing. African leaders and their people must be seen to be people who live by their wits as each day passes and they must not do this blindly. They must be fully aware and comprehend their position in relation to neo-imperialism.
Arguably neo-liberal “ideological African harlots” and imposters who thrive on the oxygen of neo-liberal kickbacks, people like the late Mobuto Sese Seko do not have an interest in reorganising their lives and that of their people for themselves. They dance according to the neoliberal, neo-imperialist drum just like Mobuto who and built mansions for foreign ambassadors at the expense of his own people.
He exploited and confused his people and saw to it that they lose focus of the Patrice Lumumba vision. This is exactly what the Western funded opposition movements do to down play the role played by their leaders and the African people themselves against colonialism. Instead of calling for a second independence in which they must all struggle to stop economic exploitation by the West they are calling for a second independence in which they are calling for regime change.
They masquerade as human rights torch bearers giving a blind eye to economic and social autarky. These are the citizens of both London and Harare. It is indeed very surprising that as Africans we are arguing on a path that we must follow and yet the fathers of the 1961 Organisation of African Unity gave us the direction that we should be pursuing up to this day.
As Africans we must be aware of the reality of the African people in the past. This cannot be relegated into the historical dustbin. African leaders and those aspiring to be future leaders must understand the interests of the African people, not only the urbanites but those residing in Binga, Pfungwe, Chayamiti and other rural areas.
It is the interest of such people that must be uppermost instead of the politicians’ own interests. If politicians address the plight of these people then they would have built a firm foundation for trust, unity and struggle. This is what President Mugabe is advocating for when he says foreign companies must be involved in uplifting the lives of the people where they are “not only taking but hoarding” our precious mineral resources from.
Roads from areas were granite rocks are daily being blasted in Mutoko must be maintained and the people in those areas must be beneficiaries of their resources that are being taken. Zimbabwe has been demonised because they have said No! to the “Nigerian Ogoni syndrome” that culminated in the death of Ken Sarowiwa.
This is what all progressive thinking Zimbabweans are envisaging in the Zimbabwean indigenisation drive. Zimbabwe cannot afford sacrificing its heritage on the altar of the international financial institutions who are an albatross on Africa’s development. African leaders must understand realpolitik, they must know that realism is essential and they must consider specific realities.
That means that the African developmental reality must be the lynchpin of how Africa must develop. This stems from the realisation that Africa is a sovereign
continent and must dictate its own development. This is the new Africa that all progressive Africans want, an Africa that does not perpetuate the “bass-boy and madam-nanny syndrome.” This entails that African people and leaders must be prepared to work and not pretend to work. In their own conscience they must know that they are worker-holic.
Genuine leaders must not afford the luxury of being retrogressive. Africans must be aware of the machinations of even some of the so called African revered intellectuals, the Rockefeller foundation graduates who have become a mafia that has confused the majority of the African citizens on the correct beneficial path that must be followed, if education is not used wisely it becomes a danger.
This calls for lecturers who are academically vigilant, who see the world and explain what is happening not through a single world ideological ontology. It is the way that those in the academic field deliver that will determine the calibre of students and future leaders that not only Zimbabwe but what Africa as a continent will have.
Will they be the President Mugabes, the Mandelas, Zumas or the Idi Amin or Mobutos? Are they going to be patriots who will defend African gains or they are going to be their own detractors who will sell their own heritage? Are we also going to have a crop of African youths who will be visionary?
Are we going to have scholars and academic who will be intellectually smart like the Chitepos? In 1991, Cde Dumiso Dabengwa made an address which not only
Zimbabwe but Africa as a whole must take note of.
He said, “We urge the emergence of a class of scholars, a new breed of Zimbabwean social scientists who should develop an ever critical mind with respect to facts and actions of politicians and must cultivate a tradition of selfless enquiry and exposure of the truth.”
What is worrisome and disturbing is that very few African scholars and politicians have bothered to write of their experiences during colonialism. It seems they are obsessed with orally telling their experiences. Many students in this contemporary world worship the written word and it is not surprising that they will believe what they will have read. If it is history that has been misinterpreted or falsified you can imagine what that future generation will be like.
This explains why in many African parliaments, a lot of time is wasted on deliberations that do not take the African people anywhere. It reminds us of Alexander Kanengoni’s novel Echoing Silences, when one comrade in the after-life was able to meet Cde Chitepo, “He saw him at last, the chairman, on the raised platform: grey hair and fiery eyes . . . And then the chairman talked angrily of a series of monumental betrayals . . . and Chitepo continued, “Its shocking to see the reluctance that we have to tell even the smallest truth. Ours shall become a nation of liars. We lie to our wives, we lie to our husbands. We lie at work. We lie in Parliament. We lie in Cabinet. We lie to each other. And what is worst is that we have begun to believe our lies. We owe the people an explanation. The struggle continues!”
When some sections of our political leaders are saying that funds from our minerals must be used to repay the IMF and World Bank debt instead of being used to cushion the sorry state of our civil servants what does that entail? If some sections of government want to prioritise job creation at the expense of the indigenisation and empowerment drive are they not misleading the people that they can be masters of their own destinies by being mere workers? What are our African leaders doing when their people are suffering?
We contend that the African struggle is a struggle that must have a direction, a struggle that must have an objective, a struggle that is aimed at fulfilling the desires and dreams of the people. This was the argument that was put forward by Jomo Kenyata in his book Facing Mount Kenya.
This was the argument that Cde Chitepo made in his public lecture at the University of Queensland in Australia. The struggle is for the land and its resources. The land is very important because that is where life emanates from and upon our demise that is where we will be buried. This is the African land and resources that must benefit all Africans because it gives us sanctuary like fish in water.
- Darlington Mahuku and Bowden Mbanje are lecturers in International Relations, and Peace and Governance with Bindura University of Science Education
Online Reporter