Chronicle Editor
Costa Matyavira
THE philosophy “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo” (a country is built by its own people) may be wrongly understood and interpreted by many Zimbabweans due to ignorance and differences in political affiliations. It makes sense if people delve to find its meaning and purpose. The roots and importance of the philosophy are embedded in the ancient and modern history of Zimbabwe that is being passed from generation to generation.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is championing the mantra postulates that the philosophy is an ideology of self-determination and national responsibility and stresses the centrality of the Zimbabwean people in the country’s development agenda. The leader urges Zimbabweans to build their country brick by brick; stone upon stone and step by step. The President insist that historically, indigenous people have been a building civilization (“vavaki”) and today this is evidenced by the standing walls of Great Zimbabwe and its several siblings strewn across and beyond our territory.
In addition, Dr Nobert Hosho explains that the mantra encapsulates a deep rooted belief in self-reliance, national pride and the empowerment of Zimbabweans to drive their country’s progress.
Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the mantra is also very important as it relates to a people not to a person. It envelops a sense of unity, teamwork, peace confidence, responsibility and accountability, therefore it is a holistic approach in developing a country. It encourages everyone to participate towards a common goal, therefore it includes leadership roles and the ability of leaders to plan, organise, motivate and control their followers. Everyone’s effort is required and is taken as equally important.
The mantra also has elements of freedom and security embedded in it. People cannot develop their own country when they are oppressed. Freedom and security are a requirement to peace and progress. People in an independent state can make progress, unless they are gripped by internal and external conflicts.
The mantra also influences every nation around the globe to develop itself.
For the philosophy to be understood and fully adopted, the researcher bases his explanation of its roots on analysis of national monuments such as Great Zimbabwe and Khami ruins. The investigator also incorporates Zimbabwe’s modern history in exploring the origin and application of the mantra.
According to UNESCO world heritage, around the period 1100 and 450 AD, our ancestors constructed the ancient city called Great Zimbabwe in Masvingo province. It was constructed on 80 hectares of land and had inhabitants that exceeded 10 000 in number.
Great Zimbabwe’s most amazing feature are the stone walls of granite blocks. The stones were laid one on top of the other without the use of mortar. Some of the walls are 6m wide and 11metres high. Within the site are also huts built from bricks made from a combination of sand and clay.
In the ruins there are soapstone birds. They remind us about the beliefs of the ancient city rulers. The presence of the birds shows that the rulers and their followers were worshipers.
Leadership was dependent on inheritance and succession of chiefs.
Their economy was based on internal and external trade. It included growing of crops and keeping of livestock. Great Zimbabwe was a world trading center from the 11th to 15th century. The main trading items were gold, ivory, copper, tin and domestic animals. Evidence shows that Imports such as glass beads and porcelain were from china and Persia. There is evidence of gold and Arab coins from kilwa. Further research indicates that mining was done at Great Zimbabwe.
Khami ruins which existed after the fall of Great Zimbabwe is situated in the outskirts of Bulawayo city. It is also characterized by dry-stone walls. It was also a world trading center. The inhabitants were farmers and they traded with the Europeans and the Chinese between 1450 and 1650.
The fact that Great Zimbabwe and Khami ruins were built by indigenous people namely, the Shona and the Torwa people respectively indicates that a country is built by its owners (nyika inovakwa nevene vayo). The presence of well-constructed walls shows that, they had their own town planners, engineers, mathematicians and builders among others. They did not contract the Portuguese or Europeans to build the ruins. (Self-reliance).
Furthermore, the ruins took centuries to be built. This indicated that these people were self-determined. They were confident, responsible and accountable. They had an ideology of a step by step, brick by brick and stone upon stone concept which is today being emphasized by President Mnangagwa.
The construction of a big ancient city that was occupied by a large population indicates full participation of all the local inhabitants (national responsibility). It also reveals that there was a strong link between the leaders and their people. Leaders were able to form teams, unite them, craft strategies, delegate, motivate, communicate and evaluate progress. The holistic approach gave rise to the existence of Great Zimbabwe, so a country is built by its own citizens.
Inheritance of leadership from generation to generation, indicated that the ruins were governed by their own people, not by foreigners. (“Nyika inotongwa nevene vayo”)
Our ancestors were good economists, they knew that their economy will not be strong if it depended on farming and local trading only. They engaged in mining and international trade to get forex and foreign goods and boost their economy. The idea worked well and great Zimbabwe became an international trade center. They had an idea that Great Zimbabwe was supposed to be open for business.
Besides, the inhabitants were also concerned about their security system, that’s why they managed to build a wall which was 6m wide. They knew that foreign traders would not provide security for them. So a country is built and safeguarded by its own people.
it is clear that our forefathers managed to silently fuse the” Zimbabwe is open for business” and the “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo” philosophies to build Great Zimbabwe and khami ruins which the new generation inherited.
MODERN HISTORY
The president of the Second Republic President Emerson Mnangagwa propounded that the philosophy can also be traced back to the 19th century through to the liberation struggle when issues such as food security, freedom, and defence were championed by Zimbabweans.
For the purpose of fully comprehending the continued foundation and significance of the “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo” philosophy and its contents, the fact finder explains the following historic events with the aid of equations;
White settlers came in the 19th century and forcibly took control of resources and leadership roles of black people. Local people failed to develop their own country due to oppressive laws of the white settlers. The combined effort of ZANU and ZAPU freedom fighters brought independence in 1980.
This is summarized by the following equation;
ZANU (ZANLA) + ZAPU (ZIPRA) = independence (1980)
The unity accord signed in 1987 brought to an end tribal conflicts. The signatories of the unity accord were Cde Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF and Cde Joshua Nkomo of PF-ZAPU. According to the Herald the unity accord was reached after strenuous years of intense negotiations that involved churches, traditional leaders and civic groups. The equation below illustrates the combined effort of the two political parties.
ZANU-PF + PF-ZAPU = Unity Accord (1980)
According to Pindula news ZANU-PF and the two MDC factions united to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2009, which was functional up to year 2013. The conflict between ZANU-PF and MDC resulted in hyperinflation and shortage of basic commodities, especially in year 2008. The fusion of the three political parties resulted in economic growth, increase in food supplies and creation of jobs. Inflation fell from 231 million percent to less 5percent from 2008 to 2013 respectively. Tobacco production rose from 56 thousand tonnes to 134 thousand tonnes during 2008 and 2013. The union of the three political parties is illustrated in the equation below; (ZANU-PF lead by President Mugabe) + (MDC-T lead by Mr TsvangIrai) + (MDC-M led by Professor Mutambara) =GNU (2009).
An analysis of the above three events reveals that Zimbabweans knew that unity, peace and teamwork are the cornerstones of success. Regardless of their political affiliations, languages, religion and region the leaders united as Zimbabweans to develop Zimbabwe. They knew that tribalism, regionalism and internal conflicts do not yield positive results. Through a gradual process of step by step; brick upon brick and stone upon stone, they managed to unite everyone and build Zimbabwe.
Today, it is common knowledge that through the above mentioned leaders’ courage and resilience;
Zimbabwe is a peaceful country. Today we have beautiful cities (such as Harare, Bulawayo; Gweru and Kwekwe} and towns such as (Gwanda, Marondera and Zvishavane) and developed growth points (such as Chivi, Tsholotsho and Mvuma) A lot of Zimbabweans are landlords and are in control of their resources. Some of them are now entrepreneurs. They own mines, groceries shops, buses and trucks. In addition, a lot of indigenous people are now certified teachers, electricians, carpenters, boilermakers, builders, doctors and nurses. The businesses and types of jobs mentioned above were mainly for the white people before independence. Such progress only comes if a country is being developed by its own citizens. (“Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”)
Besides all these successes, Zimbabwe is facing economic hardships not because of sanctions only but also due to lack of unity and teamwork amongst its people. People are failing to fully apply the “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo” (a country is built by its own people) and “Zimbabwe is open for business” philosophies despite them being preached by President Mnangagwa in the second republic.
For the mantra “the country is developed by its own people” to be fully effective, all leaders of various political parties including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and the ruling ZANU-PF should understand that they are both Zimbabweans. They all have a common goal of developing their state, but for them to be successful they should unite and mix their mantras.
The combined effort of freedom fighters, Unity Accord and the GNU are a guide to the present day Zimbabwe and its future. The treaties educate people, especially leaders of various political parties to forgive one another, bury their political differences and dilute their good philosophies so that they continue to build Zimbabwe. Through synergism the leaders managed to prevent the division of the country into Northern and Southern Zimbabwe which might have resulted in a civil war. Each of the former leaders had his own philosophies, but for the sake of unity, peace and progress they diluted their mantras.
As Zimbabweans we must emulate the good footsteps of ancient and modern history and do away with the bad footsteps.
Our ancestors founded our national pride. They left the national monuments as part of our national heritage. The name Zimbabwe emanated from the word “dzimba dzamabwe” meaning houses of stones that were built by our ancestors. Today the stone houses are symbolized by the existence of Great Zimbabwe. The ruins because of their unique structures have marketed the country globally. They are now tourists’ attraction centers. They have created employment for locals. The government is earning forex from tourist visits.
The soapstone birds left at Great Zimbabwe which are on the national flag symbolizes the ancestors’ beliefs. The current and future generation beliefs are connected to those of ancestors through the Zimbabwe bird on the national flag.
The national flag has colours which are also connected to modern history. The red colour represents the blood shed during the liberation struggle, the black for black majority and white for peace post-independence. Today the flag is erected on special places such as the heroes’ acre, schools, hospitals, and police camps to remind Zimbabweans about their roots.
The lyrics of the national anthem “Simudzai Mureza Wedu We Zimbabwe/kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe” (Proudly lift High the Flag of the Land of Zimbabwe”} is also connected to our ancient and modern history, so a country is developed by its own people.
Another important thing to copy from our ancestors is the use of a mixed economy to survive. Zimbabwe should not be an agro-based economy only. If possible leaders should continue to open industries and engage in international trade with all countries globally, so that Zimbabwe becomes the world trading center again. Good history must be repeated.
If the present generation is celebrating the independence and benefitting from the national monuments left by our ancestors, they have an obligation to leave something historical and beneficial for the next generation. That’s why the President of Zimbabwe Dr Mangagwa is fulfilling his leadership role of preaching the “nyika inovakwa nevana vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo” philosophy to enhance peace, unity and progress. The president insist that our history must help inform and shape our development trajectory for a brighter and more prosperous future.
Online Reporter