By Mutsa Murenje
I have been engaging in that mental process that involves discovering, analysing and solving problems. The ultimate goal of this process is to overcome obstacles and find a solution that best resolves the issue.
It is, however, incandescently clear that the best strategy for solving a problem depends largely on the unique situation. In some cases, people are better off learning everything they can about the issue and then using factual knowledge to come up with a solution.
In other instances, creativity and insight are the best options. We are dealing with the Zimbabwean crisis. It’s political but has serious negative ramifications on the social and economic fabric. We need a lasting solution to this. I won’t proffer any political theories to deal with this for I am overly optimistic that creativity and insight are all we need.
I hold two university degrees: a Bachelor of Social Work Honours Degree from the School of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe and a Master of Science in Humanitarian and Refugee Studies from the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan.
And yet, I should tell you that we don’t need these qualifications to solve the Zimbabwean crisis. In other words, I am not doing what I am doing because I believe I am more knowledgeable than the others. On the contrary, I am aware that social work developed as activities of the church, philanthropists and humanitarians.
In England, for instance, religion emphasised the need to give service to the poor. Of worth to note, however, is the fact that this was not necessarily humanitarian but an attempt to ensure salvation of one’s own soul. Many Christians helped the poor as a way of preparing their own way to heaven.
My social and political activism is anchored on the firm belief that I should behave in a manner that benefits society as a whole. These actions are motivated by empathy and by concern about the welfare and rights of others as well as practical concerns.
It is my considered view, therefore, that the resolution of the political crisis in Zimbabwe has considerable benefits not only to her citizens but even to the country’s neighbours and others further afield. I admire the non-violent activism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I especially like his successful protest against racial discrimination. Dr. King began his career as a leader in his community and went on to become one of America’s and the world’s most influential figures of the 20th Century. His life is inspirational and encourages me to do all that I can to help my community, my country and our world.
I am putting my physical and intellectual abilities at my nation’s service for the benefit of both present and future generations. There is, as it were, an incumbent and imperative need to put the highest standards of academic excellence in the service of humanity. It doesn’t really help going through copious, elegant and eloquent manuscripts and then be of no service to one’s country.
The late former Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Douglas Smith, writes, of Nelson Mandela in his book entitled The Great Betrayal (1997:412), that:
“It is clear that as things stand at present, history will record Nelson Mandela as the first black statesman, as opposed to politician, to be produced by Africa”.
In a somewhat succinct definition of statesman and politician, Smith says: “A statesman thinks of the next generation and a politician thinks of the next election”.
I feel it incumbent upon me, obviously as a bonafide citizen of the Republic of Zimbabwe, in this my humble contribution, to bring to the fore that it’s high time President Robert Mugabe started thinking about the next generation i.e. nation first as opposed to his selfish interests.
Mugabe has since abused his office of president by letting his wife Grace receive a doctorate from the University of Zimbabwe on a silver platter. She never worked for it but because her husband is the Chancellor of all universities in the country, Grace has emerged a holder of a PhD without any registration as a university student.
To make matters worse, Mugabe’s wife and failure are synonymous. She hardly meets the requirements for registration as a doctoral candidate. How on earth could we stoop so low as a country? Something is terribly wrong with the manner in which our country is being run. We ought to reverse this tragic mishap.
Our main mistake has been to allow Mugabe to stay in office for a very long time. Staying in office until you are an old, old man is morally wrong and not in the best interest of the country. His overstaying in office has resultantly made him blind to what is right and this in turn has ruined the cause of many of us (the younger generation) who are innocent.
Overstaying in power is a dictatorial approach to governance. Overstaying in power in today’s circumstance is an inappropriate tool, particularly in the era of democratic governance. We have a forgetful ruling class that appears to have also forgotten that we are made in the image of God and that we are souls of infinite metaphysical value, the heirs of a legacy of dignity and worth.
For this reason, we cannot be content to see men hungry, to see men victimised with oppression, suppression, starvation and ill-health. Millions of Zimbabweans at home and abroad live under a struggle to obtain the basic necessities of life and several others live in a state of chronic want.
It is our collective responsibility to return normalcy to this abnormal situation brought about by evil rule. We are many of us who share this feeling.
In a nutshell, I would want to conclude with a very long quote from Dr. King. The quote comes from the sermon he delivered at Ebenezer on November 5, 1967.
“I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live. You may be thirty-eight years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause.
“And you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticised or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.
“Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at thirty-eight as you would be at ninety. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. You died when you refused to stand up for right. You died when you refused to stand up for truth. You died when you refused to stand up for justice….”
Don’t ever think that you’re by yourself. Go on to jail if necessary, but you never go alone. Take a stand for that which is right, and the world may misunderstand you, and criticise you. But you never go alone, for somewhere I read that one with God is a majority. And God has a way of transforming a minority into a majority.
Walk with him this morning and believe in him and do what is right, and He’ll be with you even until the consummation of the ages.
Yes, I’ve seen the lightning flash. I’ve heard the thunder roll. I’ve felt sin breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul, but I heard the voice of Jesus saying, still to fight on. He promised never to leave me alone, never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone”.
May God bless Zimbabwe.
The struggle continues unabated!
