People of little faith: Lessons from Israelites

Meluleki Moyo
ARGUABLY the most widely read book in the world, the Bible is a source of inspiration and enlightenment. It teaches one the truth and demonstrates any lack in one’s life and faith. It brings order in one’s life and distinguishes between right from wrong. Thanks to the whites’ adventures and explorations during the pre-colonial era.
One of the most fascinating accounts in the Bible is the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, Canaan. When Pharaoh had hardened his heart for a long time, God felt it was time to free the Israelites.

The numerous plagues that followed left Pharaoh with no option but to free the Israelites from bondage. Notable, Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to take with them their flocks and herds as Moses had stressed to him how these were crucial in their existence as a people, although he had first declined. God chose Moses to lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land.

For the purposes of enlightenment, I find it paramount to stress that Moses emerged from the people. After breaking loose from Egypt, the Israelites faced two impediments, the desert and the red sea. Their will to proceed was incapacitated. When Pharaoh’s chariots were pursuing them, they cried out to Moses saying, “… didn’t we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, and let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Exodus 14vs13. When they came to the bitter waters of Marah, they complained of thirst, hunger and they remembered Egypt, where they, according to Exodus 16vs3, “… sat around pots of meat and ate all the food” they wanted.

Despite God delivering them, they blamed all difficulties they encountered on Moses. Devoid of faith, some were just hard headed and went against Moses, the God chosen leader. In so doing, they provoked God’s anger. The earth opened up and swallowed them. When Miriam and Aaron opposed Moses, the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud and enquired why they were not afraid to speak against his servant Moses? Numbers 12 vs 1-8 (NIV).  Miriam was struck with leprosy.

King Pharaoh reminds me of one Ian Douglas Smith and his henchmen. At this point, I am quick to equate Rhodesia to Egypt. Notorious for his declaration that there was not to be black majority rule in this land in a thousand years, Smith’s rule was characterised with oppression and racial segregation, a precise definition of “gross human rights abuses”. The abused, defying passivity, took up arms, plagued and tormented his regime at every turn, during the protracted struggle for independence, leaving him with no option besides giving up.

During the times of colonial bondage, there emerged one Robert Gabriel Mugabe, with the task of leading the cause of the liberation of this country. Unlike Pharaoh however, Smith had not allowed the “liberated” to take with them, the mainstay of their existence, the land. Logically therefore, President Mugabe and his flock had every reason to go back to the colonialists and claim what rightfully belonged to them.

After independence, equipped with what was theirs and freedom from oppression, the new nation came head-on with deliberately orchestrated economic problems, typical of take-off stages anyway. It was just like the pioneer white farmers who had an ailing agricultural sector, thanks to the white agricultural policy which initiated agricultural research and experimental skills provided by the British government, coupled with their ability to suppress African agriculture, using it as a ladder to reach the apex of agricultural production.

Discriminatory segregation like the African Cattle Marketing Act of 1947, where African cattle were sold at auctions organised by the Native Department where white buyers would collude to ensure that prices remained low. No more need to mention the Land Apportionment Act of 1931. How could they not thrive when they thwarted any African initiative and potential? Fertile lands were allocated to white settlers with Africans losing access to fertile land which was being parceled out even to white ex-servicemen even after the Second World War and the new settler immigrants who flocked into the country. Who else would you expect to win in a one-man race?

Devoid of this enlightenment and faith, when the illegal sanctions were imposed on independent Zimbabwe, some sects within the liberated flock, remembered the days of colonialism. They preferred the colonial yoke to be placed on their necks again, citing how, despite being oppressed, “their bellies were always full”. People of little faith! Just like the biblical Moses, I believe. President Mugabe is always cautious and aware that it takes courage and determination to stick to your decisions, especially when leading a diversified nation. Despite being blamed by the very people he delivered from colonial bondage, President Mugabe ignored the grumbles and is ever determined to move forward. Ah! How could he not remind the people and stress the importance of resources to development?

It is no longer news that numerous parties have been formed in opposition of President Mugabe and the ruling Zanu PF. Some opposition has even emerged from within the ruling party. The loud-sounding-nothing slogans seeking “change” and you tend to wonder. Change? What change?

Finding an answer isn’t a mammoth task though, as the mayhem and pandemonium that is rocking these opposition parties just provides the perfect answer.  It will be of paramount importance to archive the disorganisation within these pathetic organisations who have misled people into fallacies and utopia, for future generations to learn, as we learn from that generation of the Israelites. Like those who chose to oppose Moses, the opposition forces arrayed to oppose President Mugabe just die a natural death.

Behold how glorious a moment it was when  delegates at the 24th Ordinary Session of the General Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, chanted “comrade”, when President Mugabe, like Moses raising his head, pumping his right fist into the air,  went up the podium to deliver his acceptance speech as AU chairman. Wasting no time, he clearly set out his vision for Africa, promising to “deliberately provoke” the African thoughts, paying special attention to issues of infrastructure, beneficiation and value addition.