Witnessing the impeachment process and the subsequent acquittal of the USA president, it confirmed what I have always thought, “There’s nothing special about US or Western democracy for it to be sold as a model for global use.” I was left with no doubt that the only political template relevant to us will be one whose chapter only we have written and only we understand.
Author: RESEARCH HUB
a political and policy research hub with interest in Mthwakazi human rights, safety and security.
Diversity of political views in Mthwakazi comes as no surprise, we are a tolerant, culturally diverse, multinational state. What is surprising rather is the extent to which individuals and groups (political and civic) holding different views have, for years now, been willing to surrender their responsibilities and allow for that diversity to maintain Mthwakazi’s political prisoner status in Zimbabwe.
Injustices of the colonial era merger of Matabeleland and Mashonaland continue to stare Mthwakazi (Matabeleland and parts of Midlands) right in the eye. The forced changes of that period undermined internal socioeconomics and weakened local politics.
If Mthwakazi public surrender their political responsibilities and stop occupying their legitimate position, then it will be occupied by a coalition of interest groups who will only protect their self-interests. Certainly if citizens do not exercise the powers conferred by their legitimacy, others will do so and the repercussions will be too ghastly to bear.
No organisation holds all the keys to solutions to all of the challenges Mthwakazi faces as a direct result of modern-day Zimbabwe politics. The highest form of political maturity therefore, would be achieved when the sons and daughters of Mthwakazi put aside party interests for national interests to collectively fight parliamentary institutions that are persistently complicit in the system of oppression afflicting our great nation.
One of the greatest tragedies of Mthwakazi in the last 4 decades has been the steady erosion of our own sense of self while accepting the version of us that is expected by Mashonaland. We have become strangers in our own space. Over a century ago Mzilikazi and his subjects moved north from South Africa; the space we occupied then and now became our home, and so it shall be.
