adminHis contribution to the political discourse will forever be missed. I pay tribute to the life of this great man.
Zimbabwe has faced a plethora of challenges which almost brought it to its knees. But God had it that we should sink to our lowest valley yet be able to chart our upward course to recovery again. It is only through unity, peace and stability that we can guard the sustainability of the current recovery path. An urgent need to reacquaint ourselves with what unites us and also what divides us arises so that we can shun the latter and cling to the former.
Africa has endured incessant pressures and tensions that have very often led to civil wars thereby retarding our growth and prosperity. Zimbabwe has been blessed with a relatively peaceful period since its birth in 1980.
That peace which became an envy of many African countries must be cherished and defended. In the face of agents of division, both local and in the world at large, who work overtime in devious campaigns that can only endanger our peace if taken to heart, the patriotic Zimbabwean should see through their lies and hatred and reject them.
It is King Solomon who said, “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down”. The past decade has seen some Zimbabweans batter down their country through selfish and foolish manoeuvres. As I wrote elsewhere, we all took our 6 pounce hammers and battered down our heritage. Amazing as it is, we made effort to bring our country, and by connection, our future down because of short-sightedness and political point scoring.
Just the last few weeks we saw the Finance Minister Tendai Biti at pains trying to explain to the world why sanctions were not working. The question then becomes: Who invited the sanctions? Did we not sit down in lengthy meetings plotting them?
Did we not criticise China and Russia when they vetoed the proposed UN sanctions on Zimbabwe? Some, in order to justify their asylum applications in some countries feigned wild torture accusations against their country and vehemently lobbied for tougher punitive measures for their own country.
Can we pause a moment and consider what could have been the effects had the UN imposed full sanctions. That we all did, some in more direct ways and others indirectly, through what we did or did not do. Some, because of political immaturity, forgot that, as someone once said, politics is a marathon and they attempted to sprint themselves into power and got caught in their own manmade cobweb.
If we as Zimbabweans had spoken against sanctions then, as we do now, I can guarantee you now that these sanctions would have been too hard to justify. This can only be a lesson to those willing to observe and learn. Let’s keep the momentum, as recently demonstrated in the agreement regarding the draft constitution as reported, and show the world that greater issues unite us than those that divide us.
After all we are Zimbabweans. If Zimbabwe goes down it is your children and mine that will suffer as we saw in 2008.
I mentioned agents of division. There are those who seek to nurture their political careers by invoking the Gukurahundi issue to the people of Matabeleland on every turn. This is an emotional area which demands that we tread carefully.
That is why the wisdom of selfless nationalists like the late Vice Presidents, Joshua Nkomo, Joseph Msika and John Nkomo distinguishes itself and exposes others as political charlatans. It appears their deaths robbed Zimbabwe and the people of Matabeleland in particular of capable unifiers.
We can only hope those who remain have learnt from these departed statesmen and can and will be willing to defend the unity and peace that attended Zimbabwe the post 1987 period.
The 1987 Unity Accord has come under fire from every opposition party that ever descended on our land who have sought to diminish the intelligence and wisdom of the great leaders of Zimbabwe. But, what they forget to mention is the demonstrable stability that this unity brought to Zimbabwe.
These people who often claim to be the face and mouthpiece of the marginalised do not see the hurt they inflict on the people they claim to help to heal. How does opening a long forgotten wound heal the wound?
Many times, I am at pains when I see some in the church fanning the flames of division. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJP) and other groups have for the past decades been at the forefront of what they craftily term “the seeking closure” to the disturbances in Matabeleland.
The question becomes: What closure bishops? Did our fathers not deal adequately with these issues when they eventually penned the 1987 accord? What about the peace we enjoyed after that, does it not matter anymore? Opening up wounds from our nefarious past does not usher any solutions.
It only will achieve the opposite. The church should be engaging in endeavors of changing the mindset of particularly the youths so that past stereotypes about Ndebeles and Shonas are not perpetuated. We should preach unity more than any other group within the social world. Our work should be anchored not on perceived historical injustices but on how we can contribute meaningfully to the present dispensation.
There are then those career politicians who perpetuate untested theories of some regions being marginalised by the current government thereby sowing seeds of disunity among Zimbabweans. Matabeleland has been bombarded with these theories by cunning politicians who see it as a tool for their political ascendancy.
For these politicians, if the Chitungwiza Railway project does not get funding it is okay but if the Zambezi Water project does not get finished it is because Matabeleland is being marginalised. If a big company closes in Bulawayo it is marginalisation but if a similar company closes in Harare it is pure business viability issues. This type of hypocrisy is what divides Zimbabweans on tribal lines. We are feeding wrong things to our children’s minds.
We can only have an inescapable harvest of a corrupted fruit of hatred and revenge. Even if it was true that Matabeleland is truly being marginalised there are forums to correct it. Budget planning meetings have been held in all provinces for the time I can remember. The same politicians have not raised the issues they hype our minds with at their rallies.
That there are harmonised elections in 2013 has become a clearer reality now than any other time since the unity government was formed. Elections by their nature means that there will be conflicting views. That is perfectly normal.
Let’s make it a battle of ideas. President Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have been some of the most vociferous campaigners for a violence-free election. We will do well to heed their clarion call. This can begin by shunning engagements in wild and inflammatory slogans and other provocative language and gestures.
What Zimbabwe desperately needs is to find what unites us. Being Zimbabwean is what unites us. Let’s explore what that means and devise ways of achieving this unity even in the diversities that exist. This is what the fathers of Zimbabwe like the late Vice Presidents and President Mugabe and others believed in when they were faced with unprecedented difficulties both during the struggle and after independence. The Zimbabwe we want is not far from us. It is hidden in an ideology that promotes unity, peace, equality and stability among other things.
We can all be the woman or man whom Solomon says he/she applies his or her hands to build her house not the one who uses the same hands to pull it down.
l Mbango Sithole is a Zimbabwean Consultant currently based in South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity. Email: [email protected]
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