Hopewell Chin’ono: Time to show real leadership and unite the country

By Hopewell Chin’ono

Today in court there wasn’t a winner or a loser after the Chief Justice read out his bench’s ruling.

There is only a nation that is supposed to move ahead and be rebuilt by its citizens after years of economic decay and growth stagnancy.

We are all Zimbabweans regardless of party political affiliation and as such, it is petty to mock one side and sound triumphant over an issue that should be national.

This election has been Zimbabwe’s worst and most toxic with citizens insulting each other, but those who suffered the brunt of that negativity should forgive and move on.

There is NO value to be gained dwelling on someone’s weaknesses and their broken moral compass that resulted in insults instead of respectable and dignified debates.

The greatest and better challenge is to provide a superior response and mature sense of understanding in pursuit of uniting our people.

What is more important is to look ahead and see how as citizens we can help rebuild this beautiful and yet broken country.

President Elect Emmerson Mnangagwa now has the biggest job of his life ahead of him, uniting a divided nation and providing leadership by selecting the best cabinet to power us through this much needed economic renaissance.

The political divisions were really river deep and at times tragic, but the sign of maturity is not focusing on our mistakes, but actually learning something from them in order not to repeat them in the future.

President Elect Mnangagwa is 75, he is a bridge to our future and as such he must be held to account for the political and economic decisions his administration makes going forward.

That will require a strong opposition, so those who are celebrating the MDC demise should think twice, we must actually push for a vibrant and healthy democracy.

Any healthy and successful nation needs a strong and well-organized opposition and any successful ruling party needs a good and solid opposition party to keep it in check.

We must carry on having honest and productive conversations in order to refine our thinking and come up with better ideas.

We should avoid echo chambers where we tell each other lies, Nelson Chamisa and the MDCA were a tragic victim of this weakness.

Contrary to what many think, productive criticism is healthy as it provides us with a third eye that helps people to see our weak links and enhance where there are deficiencies.

There are many people who will find it hard to get off their toxic electoral ships, the best course to take is to simply avoid them and not give their toxicity any relevance by responding to unproductive discourse.

This is a time for us to work towards a better Zimbabwe for all who live in it and all who have a heritage or ancestral stake to it.

This can only be achieved by working towards a successful goal that can only be attained if we walk together.
We are brothers in sisters who have been victims of a long running political stalemate.

Unity of purpose is a must and without a sense of purpose, we will remain doomed and a pariah State.

There is nothing to be gained by attacking countries that we feel have wronged us or treated us unfairly.

That is an old Robert Mugabe tactic that has no place in a modern world, as it will yield nothing at all but more economic misery and social ridicule for our people internationally.

We must sit down with our friends and perceived foes and iron out our differences.

When people talk to each, they invariably find a way to resolve their points of contention.

Zimbabwe needs the world and it also needs as many friends as it can get.

There is strength and success in numbers through establishing bilateral and multilateral relationships with other countries both on the continent and beyond.

The world doesn’t need Zimbabwe, they merely want us if we can provide a reasonable gateway for them to invest in our country.
There is nothing we have here that the rest of the world can’t get elsewhere if need be.

So the sometimes-inflated sense of self-importance must be tempered with some reality checks.

Our biggest problems have been gross incompetence and industrial corruption.
Without attending to these two evils, we will be wasting our time hoping for a New Zimbabwe.

There won’t be anything new in a corrupt Zimbabwe run by an incompetent bureaucracy.

The ruling political class must always bear that all-important realization in mind when making decisions that will have a bearing on the livelihoods of ordinary folk.

We simply must throw the best amongst us into service in order to provide a better life and future for our people.

Zimbabwe has a huge skills deficit due to decades of a massive brain drain to South Africa and beyond.

This requires Zimbabweans in the diaspora who have had decades of training and experience to be allowed space to contribute towards the success of their homeland.

We cannot continue to criticize from the terraces and yet refusing to pull up our sleeves and get dirty.

Each time a qualified person refuses to serve, a mediocre talent will be hired.

Let us do what is best for our country. Emmerson Mnangagwa’s successes or failures will not only affect ZANUPF’s future prospects, it will define our future too as individual citizens.

This is a time for Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa to show real leadership and unite the country.

We have NO other home but Zimbabwe. Let us unite and start the work now!

Hopewell Chin’ono is an award winning Zimbabwean international Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker. He is a Harvard University Nieman Fellow and a CNN African Journalist of the year.

He is also a Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Africa leadership Institute. Hopewell has a new documentary film coming out which is looking at mental illness in Zimbabwe called State of Mind.

Hopewell can be contacted at [email protected] or on twitter @daddyhope