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The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management did not mince his words but told an all-stakeholder meeting in Lupane last week that no one from outside the region but that only the people of Matabeleland would bring about much-needed development to their region.
He was apparently responding to repeated complaints by some people from Matabeleland that the Government marginalised their region.
Of course, development, any kind of social and economic development, anywhere is as good as the quality of the leadership of those charged with emancipating their people from underdevelopment in the socio-economic realm. In Matabeleland as in other parts of the country, development initiatives should begin at the village level through wards with district and provincial development committees mobilising human and material resources to support projects that are formulated right through to their logical conclusion.
This supposes that the people have input into development policies for implementation to improve the lot of the masses in a given district or province.
By participating in working out development strategies, the people become the owners of policy formulation for their own social and economic upliftment.
Whether that coordinated approach to development exists in Matabeleland becomes a matter of conjecture; otherwise why is there that apparent lethargy and the accompanying shrill protests about the alleged neglect of the region by the State?
If truth also be told, it should be realised and accepted that the dissident activity for close to a decade in Matabeleland and in parts of the Midlands provinces stalled development especially in Matabeleland until after the Unity Accord signed on 22 December 1987 between PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF.
The dissidents whom some people in Matabeleland supported either by coercion or of their own volition, destroyed government equipment and infrastructure as they rampaged through the affected areas with the result that development projects were stopped altogether.
When relative and complete normalcy was restored, it required that the people doubled or trebled their efforts to catch up with other provinces where political order had remained undisturbed since independence in 1980.
But what have the rest of Zimbabwe seen instead? Rather than grabbing opportunities made available by government through land reform and lately via economic indigenisation and empowerment, the people of Matabeleland have been conspicuous by complaining of “marginalisation” instead of running with the programmes to develop themselves and their region.
In one extreme some people became more vociferous, blaming Gukurahundi — the Government’s response to the dissidents menace by the 5 Brigade — as though the military operation to restore order and preserve Zimbabwe as a unitary state was anathema to them.
True, the military operation caused suffering and the loss of lives of people caught in crossfire or in the belief they supported and abetted the rebels. However, the army, in no way, sought to disrupt development in Matabeleland. On the contrary, notwithstanding alleged “atrocities” by the soldiers, Gukurahundi in fact wanted to end the dissident menace and with that, create a peaceful environment conducive to development for the benefit of the Matabeleland population and the country as a whole.
Now that the dissidents’ dark cloud and the menacing shadow it cast upon the people of Zimbabwe has long cleared away, the people of Matabeleland have no reason whatsoever to sit back and blame others elsewhere other than themselves, for not joining the popular march for economic and social development for themselves, their children and for their children’s children.
As Minister Nhema pointed out, the ecology, especially in Matabeleland North Province, has been kept wonderfully intact and this is a plus for the people of that province and of the region as a whole as it means natural resources that include wildlife and timber abundant in the north remain protected for the benefit of the people in the province.
Add to that wealth, Hwange National Park teeming with game, Victoria Falls, a World Heritage Site that also teems with tourists at any given time of the year who bring much-needed income to the region and that is not to mention the mineral wealth pulsating under the soil throughout the province.
Why, therefore, should the people of Matabeleland not use all that wealth to develop themselves instead of appearing repeatedly to hold their heads in their hands and wailing about marginalisation by the State which is not?
In other provinces, MPs are always visible in the forefront, mobilising people and resources to start or speed up development for themselves. In some cases, donors have chipped in with support of this or that donation to take development a step further. The name of that game is called “leading by example”.
Why, do not leaders in Matabeleland therefore do as their counterparts elsewhere in the country?
In any case, do these people not realise that by complaining about marginalisation, they fling the door for the enemy to come marching in and dividing our nation to weaken it and then embark in an orgy of exploitation of our natural resources?
Or is one to believe that the “beautiful ones” who will stop at nothing in championing development in Matabeleland “are not yet born”.
Time will tell.
But temps fugit (which in Latin means “time flies”) so the people of Matabeleland must run a marathon, with it to catch up with the rest of the country.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter