Chronicle Editor
By Tedious Ncube
Ideological consistency can be a source of strength in our own lives. It has been so to Hon Cain Mathema since he joined the armed liberation struggle in 1968 under ZIPRA, to fight the legacy of Cecil John Rhodes and his fellow racist compatriots who had misled each other into thinking that colonialism was an irreplaceable political system for Africa.
Little did Rhodes and his cabal know that Africa like every other continent is a product of a knowledge system, little did they know that Africa also has its own political philosophers that are capable of framing and reframing a political doctrine for Africa and the world at large. One such philosopher is Hon Mathema who is by no mistake a veteran of the liberation struggle. To expand on this view, this article will review a poem by Hon. Mathema called, ‘When I die eventually’.
This emotional but yet philosophically charged poem was written by Hon. Mathema on 16 October 2010 and was first published in 2011. I find it necessary to explain the environment around the author at the time he was writing this poem. Because the environment around the author will help us understand some of the serious philosophical implications of the poem. The author wrote the poem after a long day at work as he was relaxing in his house in Tsholotsho writing his other book called ‘Zimbabwe is diverse but one’.
In his words, the poem came as a flash from the blue as he was busy working on his new book, and missing his children or rather the children of Zimbabwe. It is on that context that I will give a philosophical meaning to this poem, pointing out how the author intelligently explains the politics of state continuity. Importantly, the poem is a projection of Zimbabwe in this life and beyond.
Let us start by explaining the tittle of the poem which somehow reflects the author’s ideological consistency. ‘When I die eventually’ is a declaratory statement which shows how the author wants us to remember him when he eventually dies. The tittle of the book is a bold move by Hon. Mathema, showing that he is ready to be judged for what he stands for. Interestingly, some of the values that the author stands for, are aptly captured in the poem. Key amongst these principles is the need for every Zimbabwean to be brave and to soldier on for the continuity of Zimbabwe.
Importantly, the poem visits both the past and the future, to refute some of the problematic narratives propagated by Zimbabwe’s sworn enemies.
Firstly, Hon Mathema engages this widely held view that societies in Africa were weak before colonialism. He argues that this narrative was developed by colonial scholars who wanted to convince unsuspecting Africans that colonialism was to their favor and that without colonialism, they would be stuck in some aboriginal past with no prospects for civilisation and development. Hon. Mathema also argues that, the other objective of negatively depicting Africa’s past, was to justify the necessity of colonialism.
“For if Rhodes and his cabal are to be right about our history, then it was necessary for colonialism to take place. In fact, if the African was indeed barbaric and uncivilised then Rhodes was right to colonise him and civilise him.”
Hon. Mathema offers a different and refreshing view, he presents scientific arguments suggesting the existence of functional political systems in Zimbabwe. In fact, he traces the trajectory of civilisation in Zimbabwe to as far back as 200 000 years ago before the birth of these much hyped civilisations.
Many are therefore not comfortable reading Hon. Mathema’s works because if he is to be right that Zimbabwe was civilised and there were functional systems in Zimbabwe way before colonialism, then colonialism and those that support it, will be left in the open as genocidal lunatics and international criminals.
Hon. Mathema’s poem also speaks to one of the most mentioned but poorly analysed subject. Throughout the poem, the author thoroughly responds to the question of, ‘what does Zimbabwe look like’. In the poem, the author paints a very positive depiction of Zimbabwe. He talks about how strong Zimbabwe is and how resilient Zimbabwe is. Hon. Mathema concludes by showing that Zimbabwe is a ‘stable and strong country’.
Like every other country Zimbabwe has its challenges but those challenges do not define Zimbabwe. Many may not see the philosophical implications of this position, but today I am here to explain to them. One may want to remember that Zimbabwe has been under attack mainly by the West. One strategy that the West has deployed to attack Zimbabwe has been the extensive use of negative literature to depict Zimbabwe as a rogue state.
This strategy to firstly demonise your target is not new, actually when the colonisers came they used this very same strategy by way of depicting Africa as an uncivilised continent and painting our leaders as bloodthirsty war mongers who were obsessed with raiding each other.
What is even more interesting is that, whenever the West wants to victimise another state, they send liberals who come as sympathisers yet in actual fact their objective is to reinforce views that negatively depict ‘targets’. At one point it was the missionaries and priests who claimed Africa was at the verge of extinction and desperately needed western intervention. Today it is the liberals who in their pseudo concern for Zimbabwe, paint a horrific image of Zimbabwe. These are the people who have used narratives like ‘crisis in Zimbabwe’, ‘Zimbabwe is a fragile state’ and the reform agenda.
Usually, these liberals are hailed as friends but very little is said about how their reports negatively project Zimbabwe. In fact, it is this group of people, deployed by the West to depict Africa as a weak continent that can never be treated as an equal in any negotiation table. These are the same people who write reports that call for the maintenance of illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe mainly based on fabricated assumptions that are closely linked to the regime change agenda.
But who are the liberals in Zimbabwe?
It is that curious bunch of non-conformists who explain their participation in negative terms; that bunch of do-gooders that goes under all sorts of names-liberals, leftists etc. These are the people who argue that they are not responsible for the West’s inhumanity towards Zimbabwe; these are the people who claim that they too feel the oppression just as acutely as the Zimbabweans and therefore should be jointly involved in Zimbabwe’s struggle for emancipation.
However, you will never hear them condemning the real violence against Zimbabwe for example illegal sanctions.
You will never hear them question Zimbabwe’s enemies that continue to victimise Zimbabwe in more ways than one.
Actually, these liberals or whatever they call themselves are funded by Zimbabwe’s enemies to come here and pretend to be concerned yet in reality they are funded to sustain the negative image about Zimbabwe.
But well, the contribution by Hon. Mathema goes a long way in exposing these pretenders. The poem goes a long way in showing that Zimbabwe is a strong country. Zimbabwe does not need empathisers, it needs equal partners who will respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty. We shall therefore watch as time destroys these paper castles and know that all these little pranks were but frantic attempts of frightened little people trying to convince each other that they can control the minds and bodies of indigenous people of Zimbabwe indefinitely. Zimbabwe will never be colony again!
Tedious Ncube is a political scientist and public policy analyst
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