Systems that we create make us, and influence how the world responds to us and how, in turn, we respond to it. We must take our role in politics serious. Political apathy is engagement in politics in other ways – it is normalising the abnormal and the exact definition of societal failure. Citizens do not gain power by giving it away to politicians; we have long made it easy for the political class in Zimbabwe and Matabeleland to exploit our vote and abuse given mandate; now is the right time for change, it is time we made our presence felt at all levels as we push against the ZANU PF minions and their surrogates; it is time we changed the configuration of our society and the politics at play.
Generations before us did not fight for freedom and liberties only for us to give that away to the political class and the elite. Every community must have a stake in how it is governed; communities in Matabeleland are no different; we cannot be expected to be mere consumers of political decisions; we want to be co-creators of laws and their enforcement.
Change begins from within, efforts to empower Matabeleland and ensure sustained growth of our socioeconomic and political ecosystem require self-introspection and objective data to inform us of suitable actions that would trigger necessary changes. We need to reimagine the type of social structure we want to produce hence the need to reorient our political system and its institutions.
We have been consistent in the view that Zimbabwe state institutions are designed to manage, instead of empowering Matabeleland. Contemporary Zimbabwe, as we experience it in Matabeleland, is a grossly unequal, and tribalist state that consolidates power in the majority ethnic Shona population groups and their allies and deliberately extends favour to this coalition while withdrawing the same from minority population groups and all perceived enemies.
This is a country whose corrupt political ideals feed on othering certain population groups; a country of institutions that perpetuate division in society, escalates a ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ divide, a ‘heads I win; tails you lose’ environment.
We argue that governance institutions must be connected to local communities; in that respect, we need to ensure that Matabeleland’s political space does not accommodate those disconnected from our unique experiences in Zimbabwe. And that does mean not accommodating those who mock and minimise the suffering of Gukurahundi survivors and insult the memories of thousands of people who perished.
Furthermore, a review of our lived experience under Western-typical systems adopted postcolonialism is important for progress. Blindly adopting foreign ideals has denied us real independence by alienating us from ourselves – we turned away from fundamental traditions, norms and values that defined us when the well-calibrated Western systems and manoeuvres disconnected us from healthy relationships with ourselves, our communities, and nature by systematically eroding our way of life, including our belief systems.
Feeling sorry for ourselves is tempting and may give comfort, but it is not the answer; we must take full responsibility for blindly adopting foreign ideas – religions and political systems; we must be intentional in moving away from the status where we have become automatons and ceased growing as a society.
It is a fact that a lifetime of trying to fit ourselves into foreign designs has seen us struggling to find solutions to our unique challenges; the systems in use are contextually dislocated. Each time we find ourselves looking further away from ourselves for solutions and taking just about any spent idea presented by the West and the USA, China, Russia, etc.
We accept our growth needs the world; we recognise that Africa is lacking in technology and that the impact of this deficiency is reason the continent blessed with vast natural resources remains home to poverty, the largest recipient of foreign aid, and unable to flex its muscle on the global stage.
Real progress will be made when we stop trying to be versions of other nations and being intentional in building coalitions. We can learn from everyone and remain ourselves; we can adopt and adapt systems from other nations without defiling our being. For instance, we acknowledge that our education systems are failing to fully capture and optimise the innate abilities of our young people. It is worth looking at how those successful societies known for their great innovation have shaped their education systems, and how they link with society.
There is no better time to reconstruct our political system so that its base is Matabeleland people’s aspirations. Let everyone know that we will not take a backseat in all things about us; and out of the rubble of Matabeleland shall rise heaven on earth – a society defined by equality of its people before the law and a socioeconomic and political space that rewards ability and optimises capability, not gender nor tribe nor race.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 