“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” ― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Read MoreOur identity must be our political centre of gravity. Political reality is that our strength will be drawn from our identity not from mimicking others’ cultures and ideas drawn from those foreign cultures. If we do not define ourselves, we stand to be defined and shaped by everybody we come to contact with.
Read MoreThere is little doubt about the dysfunction that continues to polarise our political discussion; gender disparity is disabling Mthwakazi systems; we are still a male dominated society with less women in politics and positions of influence; we remain a part of a less inclusive world in which women made up an estimated 49.6% of the population in 2016, but only occupied 23.6% (23.9% in Sub-Saharan region) of parliamentary positions globally.
Read MoreOur problems today are broadly similar to those that undermine most modern African states and that many other past societies also struggled to solve. Zimbabwe’s rocky past offers us a rich database from which we can learn in order that we may build a better political system with equally strong supporting institutions.
Read MoreTolerance is a poor substitute for embrace. It is more than political incompetence that Zimbabwean government has progressed to be a narrow sect with shallow goals that protect interests of a particular tribe over all other citizens. Mthwakazi (and all citizens identified as Ndebele or their sympathisers) has been deliberately targeted for discrimination and abuse based solely on their identity.
Read MoreThe greatest challenge for Mthwakazi political groups is to raise the standards of political capital in the region. Political capital will be required to get things done. But that will require a comprehensive investment in building a solid foundation of social capital. Building a large following is important, but it will take greater care to identify the right company or allies – local and international – who share our interests, motivation and commitment to build political capital.
Read MoreSuccess comes from the inside out. It shall take an intensive re-education programme to transform Mthwakazi; we will need to be once again comfortable with difference as did successive Kings of Mthwakazi, Mzilikazi and Lobengula. We will need to sever ties with the Zimbabwean politics of patronage – a vindictive system which has given birth to a soulless political framework that motivates individuals to participate in barbaric acts to support their ideological identification.
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