adminJohn Sigauke
I had a hard time last night when trying to explain to my grade five son some political dynamics that I knew very well he could not understand. We were watching Aljazeera news together when a troop of Burundian soldiers appeared on the screen chasing and brutally beating civilians.
After explaining to him what was happening in Burundi, he seemed to have understood. He then dropped a bombshell of a question. “Why is this not happening here in Zimbabwe?” he asked.
That gave me an opportunity to school him on the political matrix in Zimbabwe, the knowledge of which could be of remarkable benefit to many.
As we celebrate 28 years of unity in this country, my son’s questions came at an appropriate juncture.
They need to know this important phase of our national history.
The main reason why there is a tremendous tranquillity in Zimbabwe is that its residents are an educated and peaceful lot.
The other equally important reason is that the country has been under the stewardship of a God-fearing and visionary leadership.
The West has been trying to fuel chaos in Zimbabwe ever since the country attained independence in 1980.
They attempted soon after independence when they pitted Zanu-PF against PF Zapu. They sponsored many other political parties with a view to changing regime by any means.
They have been dismally failing because Zimbabweans, as learned as they are, could not be easily hoodwinked into political anarchy.
Zimbabweans were always able to see through the West’s agenda, that of creating turmoil and take advantage of it to loot resources.
They succeeded in causing political chaos and disunity in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and other spots across the world. Even after placing their puppet governments, those countries have never known peace.
Zimbabweans are very good at drawing lessons from experiences of other countries. Despite political their differences, Zimbabweans would rather prefer to oust incumbent government through the ballot.
This is the reason why the violent demonstrations that the MDC-T leadership has been calling for always flopped. Nobody ever heeded the calls by Mr Tsvangirai to remove President Mugabe violently.
Most importantly, the visionary leadership of President Robert Mugabe has sustained unity in this country.
Although there were some political skirmishes in the early eighties between former PF Zapu and Zanu-PF, that dark past is forever gone, thanks to the visionary leadership of President Mugabe and the late Father Zimbabwe, Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo.
The two leaders placed national interests before theirs.
It is such self-denial that has resulted in the peaceful environment that we are enjoying today.
Ours is a peaceful environment that is friendly and conducive to investment and tourism.
President Mugabe’s generation, which is almost extinct now, will be in the history books as a generation that managed to bring and sustain peace in Zimbabwe. Cdes Mugabe and Nkomo with their respective parties and armed forces, fought side by side to dethrone the Smith regime.
They managed to unite the people of Zimbabwe in 1987 after realising that national development can only be realised when people are united. It is that vision that has sustained the unity and peace that we are enjoying today.
The challenge is for the new generation to perpetuate the legacy of unity and peace left by the likes of Cde Nkomo.
The next generation is going to inherit the jewel of Africa and a paragon of unity that is an envy of every African.
It is the duty of every Zimbabwean to cherish and perpetuate the unity. As the late Vice President John Nkomo used to say, unity begins with me, unity begins with you, unity begins with all of us.
The political leadership must lead the way in upholding unity. Factionalism in the party can cause division that can subsequently leads to serious disunity.
People may differ in their thinking but that should not give room to disarray. We should reach a point where all people in a party sing from the same hymn book and that is very possible.
As we celebrate unity day, we must take this opportunity for self reflection. One must ask him or herself if he or she is fostering unity or disunity.
Online Reporter