By Professor Blessing Kasiyamhuru
In the annals of our epic history, there are two sanguinary struggles we have had against enemies of our existence as a sovereign nation.
The first being the 1st Chimurenga of 1896-1897 when we fought to unleash ourselves from suffering at the hands of the white settlers. A war we lost of course, but the audacity to fight and repossess our land from the British colonial masters never died.
Instead, the dreams and visions of a free Zimbabwe continued to stir the sons and daughters of this land from generation to generation until we wedged an armed struggle (2nd Chimurenga) against the enemy in 1966.
A protracted struggle in which we fought in tears, sweat and blood and attained our independence as a sovereign state in 1980.
Today, we bask in the full ambiance of freedom in our sovereign state – something which began as a common dream by our fore-bearers.
- A dream to see a free Zimbabwean nation with its own system of governance.
- A dream to see Zimbabweans driving the wheels of the economy in their wondrously beautiful land endowed with vast mineral wealth and rich arable lands.
- A dream to see the emancipation of Zimbabweans from marginalization and poverty.
- A dream to see Zimbabwe romping on the trajectory path of economic development in the frail of other fast growing economies on the continent.
Moreover, the nostalgia of an independent Zimbabwe free from servitude in white settler establishments and the penchant to hear the echoes of freedom songs in the streets of our towns and cities. Freedom songs in the fields of our rural communities instilled in us the resilience to fight for a common cause for which we are proud beneficiaries today – independence!
Now we have 43 years of independence, being masters of our own destiny. The question is:
“DO OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO DATE MATCH THE PROFILE & STOCK OF A NATION WITH FERVENT DREAMS TO BUILD ITS COUNTRY?”
Fellow Zimbabweans, an honest answer to this spine-chilling question can be our starting point to address the substantive matters in the Zimbabwean saga – the melodramatic irony of a land with vast mineral wealth without a stable currency.
The appalling irony of a country now on the receiving end of food aids having been at one point in time the ‘BREAD BASKET’ of the SADC region. A country with a political fabric marred by partisan vendettas, politics of patronage, politics of cynicism, and politics of expedience despite the fact that we are one people.
Fellow Zimbabweans, it goes without saying that a divided kingdom will never stand. In present day, we are a highly polarized nation on partisan grounds and the sooner we exorcize this spirit of disunity amongst us as a nation, the better we address the question of our future and posterity.
The differences we have amongst us therefore; in race, creed, dialects, skin colour and differences in various affiliations should not matter as we are all Zimbabweans today, pledging allegiance to the colours of the same flag and facing a colossal task of building our country as a united people.
It therefore calls for introspection on each one of us, checking our conscience to see to it that in all of our deeds and actions we serve in the best interest of all especially those who wield influential positions in the systems of governance of our land.
National polls are not stages to spark vendettas but are a transparent process in which the general populace exercises their civic duty and rights to elect leaders of their choice to represent them in the systems of governance.
On the contrary, our polls are characterized by sordid democratic malpractices to include but not limited to allegations of rigging, political violence, abductions, patronage, vote-buying etc.
All of these malpractices indicate gross aberration from the path of servant leadership as this type of leadership entails being elected in a scrupulous manner and putting your service over personal ambitions, integrity over expedience in service to one’s country. A virtue technically known as patriotism.
| Professor Blessing Kasiyamhuru, aged 45, is President of Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity (ZIPP) and running for the second time as a Presidential Candidate.
©ZIPP|2023
