Zimbabwe Independence Day

Independence Day 18 April 1980 to 18 April 2023

This is the day we adult as Zimbabweans. We were a young nation and remember our definition of youth is into our 40s. Well we’re 43 years old today and we’ve done it all.

Let’s take a spot check of the nation today

1. Drug and alcohol abuse

2. Politicians and citizens doing things with impunity - Gold Mafia

3. Polarized political parties

4. Economy in free fall

5. No local currency

6. Despair, hopelessness and inertia

8. Mass migration

9. No national strategy

10. A nation held captive by Stockholm syndrome

It’s not looking great. Now we have to put our big girl and boy panties on and adult. First question for me

Who are we? My late father fought for freedom and independence. He fought to overcome a racist regime based on providing for a select few and on the colour of the skin of that select few. Well we gained independence but we have not freed ourselves.

We are still looking for mana from heaven or a savior to ride in on a white stallion and grant us Freedom! And yet each and every one of us can choose freedom. We act as if we’re held to ransom but we’re not. Every single one of us that chooses to overcharge another without following the rules of commerce is a slave. By choosing one time gratification instead of building a business over time and gaining small profits over time, building a loyal clientele who will stay with us forever and instead capitulazing on an opportunity is choosing enslavement.

I’ve talked about nation building before. It’s about job creation. It’s about community action. Above all it’s about each and everyone one of us refusing to take the popular route because it’s easier. The irony of the popular or populist route is that one still ends up having to go back to the drawing board because at some point or other one finds oneself bereft of finance, time, networks or whatever. So one bribes the person at the passport office, who by the way is being paid to do their job and then what. Everything is finite. That person takes the bribe but still has a backlog of passport applications from those who cannot afford bribes so eventually the passport of the person who did not bribe will come out. It may not have taken the 1 day guaranteed by the bribe but that person still gets a passport and it just takes longer.

So as we reflect on today I’m still happy that I am not part of a racist regime which offered me limited opportunities. I’m mad disappointed that corruption and kleptocracy are the order of the day, but I, as an individual and then a collective, can do something about saying no to corruption in my own individual life. I can refuse to put my money towards a corrupt enterprise. I can support that small business teetering and holding on by a string but I can become that customer that they can rely on knowing I will be back and thus they can include me in their inventory.

Let’s make the hard decisions as a nation. Let’s regain our freedom and refuse to be held to ransom by a few greedy individuals. Vakuru vakataura - Hapana Chisinga Pere (the elders have spoken - nothing lasts forever) Even the greatest drug dealer of all time is incarcerated. We have time on our side. Your nemesis will come and you will he disrobed and treated accordingly. What goes around comes around. Those who are feigning to be prophets they will be unclothed because the Creator/Musikavanhu is nobody’s fool. Yup you might have a few decades of running with the big boys but we have seen many inglorious ends that we would never ever have thought possible. And if not an inglorious end - we all die. Death comes to every single one of us because it’s the circle of life. No one is immortal and once you’re gone it’s over. Bob is now someone in the history books. And yet he presided for 3 decades.

Zimbabweans let’s choose Hunhu/Ubuntu humanity. I refuse to have poor maternal child health because a woman is unable to afford pre and post natal care. Let’s get back to basics and support our local clinics to ensure that they can support us. Let’s use community action to ensure that teachers, nurses, civil servants and everyone is paid a living wage so each Zimbabwean gets access to the basics. There is no reason why we cannot do it. Our heros - Edmund Garwe being one aka my father, did not die in vain. I have hope because the beauty of adulting is one faces oneself and thinks ok this is what I have to show for 43 years I need to do better.

Let’s do better for ourselves. Let’s choose to love ourselves. Let’s stop looking to an external source to save us. And we can do this without violence. Just choose not to bribe. Choose to support a local business that is charging a fair price. Choose to support the young farming enterprise down your road. Buy your vegetables from the market and tell your lady who is sitting in front of a store that you cannot support her until she goes to her designated market place because the person in the storefront she’s blocking also has someone to feed and employ and take care of.

Doing the right thing is the hardest thing we will ever have to do. But it’s the only thing to do.