If Mbuya Nehanda was to rise again
By Tasara Runesu
Many times I ask myself what would happen if Mbuya Nehanda was to rise again, what sort of Zimbabwe she will be confronted with.
Many times I wonder what would happen if Sekuru Kaguvi, Josiah Tongogara, Herbert Chitepo were to rise again, what will they be confronted with.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe which is unsettled; they will be confronted with a Zimbabwe where towns and cities are characterized by non-functioning street lights, pot-holed roads, uncollected garbage in the streets, and erratic water supplies in a country with a vast wealth of minerals.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe where its people are at war against themselves, there is war in our roads between motorists and police officers, there is war in the Central Business Districts of cities and towns between Council police in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Republic Police versus the so called ‘vendors’, but we talk of it only mutedly.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe where there are high levels of unemployment and contracts of employment are being terminated without any package given to the employee, a Zimbabwe where 9000 people are eviscerated from their jobs within a week and not being given reasons for the contract terminations, that’s the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with, a Zimbabwe where every youth is turning into a musician as it has proved to be the only way to earn a living (of cause irregardless of ‘talent’).
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe which gets nervous and overzealous whenever a billionaire jets in the country (Aliko Dangote in particular) as they are desperately looking for a ‘Moses’ to deliver them from the land of poverty into the land of honey and milk.
A Zimbabwe where its economy is said to be growing while in the actual truth it is stagnated, that is the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe which does not know herself and its young women and men are crowded at the embassies of European countries as they seek the ‘almighty’ green card and seeking to be enslaved in Europe and America.
That is the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe where people have lost their self pride. A Zimbabwe with people who are not proud of their things as when they are enjoying themselves they sing praises of European teams, its either Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid or Barcelona and not our own Dynamos, Caps United, Highlanders, Chicken Inn And Chapungu to mention just a few.
The Zimbabwe which sings praises for Denzel Washington, John Cena, Jim Iyke, Ramsey Nouah and not our own Vharazipi and Gringo. A Zimbabwe which can sacrifice $150 for a Toni Braxton and Baby Face show but if it’s one of our own killer T or Jah Prayzah they are not even willing to part away with a $5. That is the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with.
It is the battle of the mind; we have to begin to think and begin to utilize what we have as Zimbabwe. We have universities in Harare (UZ and HIT), in Gweru (MSU), in Bulawayo (NUST) etc, we have engineers but it is the Chinese who are making our roads so we have engineers who cannot even make roads.
I begin to wonder, we have doctors that we have trained in our universities but when we are sick, particularly the political elite, we rush to Europe or other countries we may deem necessary not regarding that we have our own doctors and hospitals such as Parirenyatwa Hospital but it remains to be seen that we have no faith in our doctors.
That is the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with.
They will be confronted with a Zimbabwe which has no faith in its education system as people are desperate to study abroad. Our political class has introduced free education in our schools but it is free indeed, it’s free of knowledge.
The political class in our country is even suspicious that the education system they have created is not well up as their children are being educated in the British system or American system. That’s the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with.
Will the Zimbabwe they will be confronted with be worth their death in liberating it or they would surely demand back their lives for they never died to make this country poorer nor for their children to be beggars in other countries.
Under such conditions it can be denoted that we are co-authors of our misfortunes because we don’t want to think and we let hyenas take care of goats and when goats are consumed we wonder why.
