Forgetting the past will not empower Mthwakazi but not being held hostage by it will serve the region from potential demise. The psychosocial growth of the region must place emphasis on releasing the emotional burden of previous experiences rather than seeking to erase them from memory.  This requires fostering a collective resilience, embracing technological innovation (AI/digital), improving access to complete, open information, and creating sustainable, adaptable systems through collaboration between government, business, and communities.

Our enemy is not our past, but not learning from it is. The past is a teacher not a jailer, and those who seek to shut the door on it risk not learning from it, and worse still, repeating its worst forms. The colonial system and later, the systemic tribalism in Zimbabwe taught us that our opinion did not matter, and we had no power to change that.

The illusion of powerlessness must be unmasked and eliminated. We have the power, and the future of Matabeleland heavily depends on its people getting involved in the decision-making process. We hold true that, as local communities, we have exclusive and unique knowledge of the environmental and socioeconomic risks in our areas; all that is needed is the drive to change to create a positive future for the next generation.

Central to re-energising Matabeleland’s ecosystem and the future is taking ownership of our problems; it is this sense of accountability that will move mountains of political burden, motivate the creation of a self-critical politics founded on a nonpartisan and critical media ecosystem, enhance a diverse economic and social ecosystem.

Mistrust of the local political ecosystem is a massive factor in our disengagement with the present which unwittingly plays a significant role in shaping the political space and focus, including how we perceive the future; there is public resignation in Matabeleland regarding the public role in creating the future.

A disturbing pattern has developed since independence, the civic organisations have been weakened; the weak civic infrastructure means people cannot perceive and play their role in creating the future; individuals lack the conviction that they can change the political ecosystem in Zimbabwe to be representative of their communities; and they do not believe in their capacity to influence change, so they sit and wait for the future to happen to them.

We must not allow the past to create artificial limits to our dreams, amplify our deficiencies while suppressing our abilities; in other words, the past must only serve as reference for historical purposes and more important, communities must realise that the future is best shaped by creating it today, focusing on action, belief in dreams, and learning from the past without being restricted by it.

Communities must stop relying on systems whose design remains a mystery to them; these are systems and institutions conceptualised by the wealthy elite and have proven to be guardrails of their interests and have been essential to public marginalisation from power. Let us revisit and rebuild local capacity to empower local ecosystems and ensure increased civic participation in development programmes. This can only be achieved by shifting power, resources, and trust from central authorities to communities to foster ownership, improve service delivery, and build resilience.

Decentralising decision-making processes will be pivotal in promoting civic participation which will enhance the legitimacy of decisions, foster civic pride, and allow for tailored solutions to local challenges. We believe access to decision-making tools should be extended to traditionally under-represented groups for genuine influence in local activities to be realised.

A cultural shift whereby citizens are viewed as partners rather than passive recipients in public service provision is required. That will require a deliberate civic infrastructure strengthening in line with shared interests – training community members, educating local leaders and setting shared goals is fundamental. We will need to shift education towards higher-order cognitive skills such as emotional intelligence, innovation and adaptability, ensuring the communities can thrive in a rapidly digitalising world.

Reducing polarisation in governance processes would be a fundamental culture shift toward non-partisanship in decision-making. Leaders must represent the interests of their constituencies not their parties’. The power structures and supporting institutions must aim at improving efficiency and increasing transparency by promoting direct accountability of representatives to their constituencies.

Naturally, this will mean an individual representative, not their allied political party, must be accountable to their constituency. We need to change how our representatives are selected; candidates must contest as individuals and voting needs to focus on personal merit rather than party ideology. This obviously raises expectations for public bodies to enable public access to complete, open and high-quality information about candidates for public office to make decisions at the time they need to make them.

Grassroots organising with particular interest in the creation or reactivation of institutions such as neighbourhood committees, traditional power structures, vital conflict resolution bodies, and community cooperatives to ensure residents directly influence policies and services affecting their lives is fundamental to local empowerment.

We recognise that the past has been a significant factor in the disconnection of the average person from local decision-making processes, but the past must not determine our destiny, that is the exclusive role of our dreams and their actualisation. Matabeleland-specific conflict resolution bodies are required to promote safe ways of dealing with disagreement.