This is what to expect from the new government.

Time to face the facts now. Elections being imminent, a new government just is a ballot count away, we all have some homework to do. Leveling up to it, the D-Day of course will have to take a deep breath and a flexing of muscles before we know who is taking the most important job in the land. We may fight for now, burn each other and hate on each other forgetting that we are doing it but for the benefit of one or several men, as is the case with the brood of ministers currently. Now is the time to get a little serious than we were yesterday, because its not a game, anybody who thinks or acts as if Zimbabwe's livelihood is a game might as well relocate to another country, not under our watch! (Mine actually).After the July elections, it will be testing time for the promises by people who vied for the positions of president, MPs and the rest. As we all know, with politics, they are not going to be 100% deliver what they promised us. 

This has been proven already, with the pre-1980 promises, and promises made everywhere else in the world and then politicians renegading once they get into power. This is also a probable outcome with our elections and I am afraid, people around me have banked some much on the words only of the politicians on the scene currently, mainly Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Cde Mugabe and the rest of them. Having to coerce the winner(s) into taking action is going to be a bit of a struggle as once elected, the looting begins, abuse of power and privilege  and then they turn around against their former supporters. To them, everyone of the people who propped them up become suspect and taking them out is the only option to stay in power. After July's elections, we will have to have a new government, elected by the people or otherwise, and we will as we have prayed and hoped see a turn around in our economy. Let us not pin that hope on the Western countries, they only are interested in controlling others, like big brothers, and they give with strings attached. So whatever it is going to be, Bootstrapping is the way to go. We have way too many resources to finance our economy and the industrial infrastructure that is not currently in use shall have to be used and the workforce mobilized once again, that way, we will begin to do better. 

Efforts such as the Diaspora Engagement that saw us hosting a delegation in May 2013, in Washington DC of government officials and business people from Zimbabwe representing pretty much the vital elements of the economy are very good moves that have to be perpetuated in order to turn the fortunes of our well endowed country around. But I am not saying also that we have to refuse help of any well meaning nations, but am saying we are not a cabbage of a country, but a country that shall produce and sell cabbages if it has to, to make money. Trade is as vital in our economy as it is in any other country and it is exchange in trade that invigorate any economy, hence the need to focus efforts to rejuvenate Zimbabwe's trade. On the same token, how shall we measure success in Mr Tsvangirai's or Cde Mugabe or whoever wins the election's administration?It is simple and a bit hard to accomplish, but I know, with proper administration, time and patience as well as participation of every well meaning Zimbabwean and Zimbabwean partner, the true measure of accomplishment in the new Zimbabwe shall be when today's rich man's luxuries become tomorrow's poor man's basic necessity. Is Mr Tsvangirai able to pull this feat? Is Cde Mugabe, given his track record able to? Well among his failures and accomplishments, he has done what he has and I believe the agrarian land reform was a very good policy that was implemented terribly but we can rectify that, as a nation. Pinning blame on him, whining and killing g each other shall do us no good. Whatever promises those vying for the number one job in our country are, we need to hold them accountable to it and I believe they can pull it off, of course with my participation in my own capacity, so is anybody and everybody else. 

Zimbabwe has been conditioned if I may say to having one leader wrestle power from another. That must end. We all want a true democracy, even if democracy, today's democracy is defined in terms alien  to our nature, we all need to have people that do not grab power from another and then having it to themselves, becoming tyrants themselves as Julius Caesar did, Idi Amin did and of course Cde Mugabe to Ian Smith. Smith and his predecessors disposed of our traditional chiefs to rule with decree over our forefathers. So, this election must mark the end of such a cursed line and we begin a new era where changing leaders is as easy and comes with merit, not blood. In as much as we also have known, that most revolutions come with bloodshed, we need to put an end to such a system and begin a new way of doing things. That comes from the realization that we are all fighting to sort the affairs of our country, no-matter which camp we belong to. Given that, we must be very wary of Mr Tsvangirai, he could turn out to be worse than he who we are trying to dispose of. I am not saying he is going to as I subscribe to his ideaology, I harbor a few questions of my own and I still am a supporter of the land redistribution programme, the empowerment programme initiated by the Mugabe administration, I still fear that Mr Tsvangirai's head may swell too and he in turn turns out to be worse than his predecessor. However, I believe that this may not happen, in fact, only God knows with the constitution that was passed giving the president some power that may be detrimental to us lot. Out of all people, Nelson Mandela has actually managed to languish in prison for the freedom of his people and then get out, rule and leave. It takes a man and a half to do this and this is what most leaders go wrong. They think that leading, one has to lord over his people. It reminds me of a quote I read in his biography, Long Walk to Freedom, a saying coined by Nelson Mandela, that goes, 'It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory, when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger, then people will appreciate your leadership'.

Mass action, if nobody knew is the single most effective way of implementing change in any given situation. If  people, all people of all ages and race or tribe come out and stand against a law, a ruler or anything, they will achieve resounding success. The February Revolution of March 8 to 12 1917 saw the notorious Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicate. The Egyptian Revolution of January 2011 saw Hosni Mubarak leave his office. In fact, every instance in history that has had people, all people stand up against anyone, they have succeeded. There is no difference between Zimbabweans and those people, so power lies in the people, not in the president, ministers or the police as we have been conditioned to believe, they are a minority, while we are the majority, and hence wield more effective power. Many people have been selfish especially at the onset of the acute woes of Zimbabwe. Most of those who decided to take a stance against Mugabe's regime and landed aid from foreign nations soon lost the purpose. They began to be more interested in making money, rather than having to help the entire nation as per constitutions of their establishments. Most have gone around the world and over again just to fatten the bellies of their wallets. Many have fled to foreign countries where even granted stay, they are treated as nothing but second class citizens. Their rights are not recognized and never prioritized, funny how people still believe that their host countries do so much to care for them, when they are just equally doing so much for them in terms of paying taxes and providing brain and physical power to their economies. Living in foreign land is never fun, especially when the legally accepted term of identification is 'alien' which we all know is something strange and extra-terrestrial a being. 

That aside, Zimbabwe's fate lies in our own hands, in every citizen's hands. Now is not the time to be blaming each other, sitting back and watching the vocal ones take action. It is time to be heard and taking action, from the remotest parts of the country to the metropolitan areas. We are as strong as our weakest link. Sincerity benevolence and accountability are needed, so is forgiveness and hope. I was quite happy when freed MDC Youth Leader spoke so much in favor of forgiveness of his political rivals. There is certainly hope if leaders take initiatives to instill such good values in our hearts, but again, there is a difference between speaking and doing, time will come for him to prove that he indeed meant it when he said those words, but I believe he is a man of his words. This is a call to action for all and every Zimbabwean and friend of Zimbabwe everywhere in the world.                                                               VIVA REVOLUTION!

My Development Plan for Us.

Image courtesy of www.brazza.culture.fr

Africa is beautiful, home to a billion and some wonderful people. Most of my people are somewhat blissful and yet live under some of the hardest conditions on earth. Daily survival is our main concern, and so just as it is, daily, the survival of the world, mostly the capitalist states of this earth depends on the resources above and buried deep under the belly of this wondrous continent. To this, the world has been conditioned, sadly to  believe that our home continent is so poor, and can't do without the assistance of the western world whose agenda in Africa has been to kill, destroy and exploit since the days of colonialism. Sadder, is the fact that many are children born in the different parts of the region who believe that their fate lies in the goodwill of a nation other than theirs, they can just sit there and wait if not, for help from the west to arrive. With all that is going on, do we ever stop to question ourselves, the reason why western countries are so keen to be involved in African affairs?

Having said that then, I have come to identify some of our shortfalls, areas where we need to look into and address for our journey to a better future to begin. As long as we continue to ignore the very fact that we are being subjected to a system that has no value for our lives, a system that was carefully designed that even in our independence, we are still entirely dependent on it. The money system of the world was designed to serve but a few human beings on the face of the earth and they are evidently not our people mostly. The issue here is not about money, it is the least of concerns, the issue is our identity. As a people, we have been sucked into a system of beliefs alien to us, and most of us are content that way. This has created an ideological complex that has seen many of us being absorbed into any dogma that wafts across the sea to us, and we seem to be so ever grateful about such, even if its a poisonous lie about us. There is nothing wrong with knowing God and Jesus, but there is everything wrong with those who came to us under the guise of God and Christ so that they colonize our lands and make us subservient to them. Colonial masters they became until nationalist movements wave swept across the continent and what emerged when these Europeans were overthrown by Africans was a system that still served them and yet African rulers were in position. Now, how would such a development occur?

The African spirit of Ubuntu, meaning, embracing life, loving yourself and those around you, even when strangers appear among us, we embrace them and make them feel at home at our expense. The good nature of African people is what the visitors took advantage of. They set a snare and we all fell into it. The lives we have today, are determine by forces living the facade of dreams. These are the same elements controlling the elements that spell woes upon our people namely war and artificial shortages of basic resources. I believe we can do much better and combat them, rather than continue to live and being gullible. It is very easy to see that many multi-national corporate giants found operational in most African countries are exploitative of native peoples and the resources. On top of that, they are hateful and very greedy. They cheat on taxes and pay the worst salaries to their workers while their chief-whips make off with bucketfuls of cash to spend overseas. When workers demand proper remuneration, they are threatened to be and are killed, as has been the norm the world over. Consider the events in Colombia Coca-Cola plants and in South Africa, Marikana recently. These things are glaring issues that need to be addressed by the current governments. The major reason they are not is because governments in Africa are run by the rich elite who have tasted what they long since coverted to obtain from their white masters, power and wealth and are in no position to turn the tables around because they are in the middle of the fiesta. They are sharing the spoils of the exploitation of their people while they have yelled all that is bad against their former white colonial masters. Few have attempted to redress the scene, in Zimbabwe for example, Robert Mugabe threw into motion the land programme that actually spilled out to all other facets of the economy. However, his plan was not so well implemented before too long, his ministers and friends were having a party with the country's resources. Ordinary people shut out of this, their concerns were met with murderous lash-back.

We have revolutionary struggles, having happened in the past, during the colonial period, led by western educated individuals whose ideals of democracy or any other form of government have been originated in either the west or the oriental lands. Russia and China's economic ideologies were transferred to the revolutionaries from Africa and that gave the capitalist world quite a scare. But it was soon to be over, once the once revolutionaries turned profit seekers. Africa had a perfect educational system and an organized way of life that saw the people live fulfilled lives. Whatever happened to perfecting those ways and using them to match the current developments in the world. Neither has that been experimented with or given a second glance. Our people have just fallen for the ways of the west in all faculties, from education, religion to manner of dress and speech. The shameful part of it is, we have been trained by the system to look down upon the core elements that make us who we are. Many will not agree with these sentiments and probably I will be labelled as anti-western but I shall put it right here that I was compelled to write these words because of the love I have for my people. Hatred is the last thing I am willing to entertain at this point. The lack of proper policies that see the utilization of the available resources in the continent have made the countries rely on hand-outs from clever rich countries who then goad them on to give them their resources and put them in debt. Most of these governments can not even make their own decisions without getting the approval of their sponsor countries. I think that as we might suffer for a little while, if we severe ourselves from the global vein of finances, we will be able to bootstrap among ourselves as a continent and reinvent our ways, create a bloc that will completely or not so completely shut the world from us and then we can welcome them back. Are our people not tired of our resources being hijacked from our very own eyes? The people whom we trust to be stewards of these are selling out, selling mines and timber to Indian, Chinese and Western investors whose interest is to make themselves rich. Many whenever they speak, do so not on their accord  but they speak for their masters and that is wrong. They have been paid so well to not care about everybody else but their pockets to look out for.

As long as we shall remain under the political divides put up by the Berlin Conference? Until when shall we continue to live under the dictates of the laws passed in other countries across the seas most of which are about how to govern our own? And definitely we can not put up with rude people who got into power under the guise of being our revolutionaries and then refusing to let go and let people choose other leaders. Until then, we will live in complete adoration of what is not ours and belongs to the west, whose ideologies mainly are alien to our Africaness. Let he who hears listen.