The truth is, Zimbabwe needs no politician, no prophet but it needs a radical transformation in our mindset. Simply put we are a divided nation and its known that:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. - Mathew 12:25; Mark 3:25.
In Zimbabwe, we have started following leaders more than the ideas behind them. These leaders have blinded us from the truth and made us lose our ability to love one another and use reasoning. Instead, we have been used as tools to fight power battles between power elites. The trend is common both in the church and political institutions. We are made to believe lies and justify them ourselves because we either hate the incumbent or we are just too loyal.
We follow churches and political organizations because of the individuals leading them more than the ideas and systems. The leader’s opinions become the law that governs how we behave and think, because we believe that our leaders are the alpha and omega. Anything that comes from the leader you follow is the truth, and anything that comes from the leader you oppose is false.
We haven’t understood why leaders pre and post-independence have turned out to behave in a similar manner. The simple reason is that changing an individual without changing the systems and ideas is a waste of time. By allowing their self-centered opinions to govern us as law, there has been more division and hate among Zimbabweans than ever before.
Since we have adopted their personal opinions as the law, surrendered our reasoning capacity and followed individuals than ideas, the power to demand accountability from our leaders has been lost. Our leaders now get away with anything because we view them as mini gods. They have used us to settle personal scores and/or to remain or get into power whilst neglecting the interests of the country.
Leaders use the history and weaknesses of the other leader to wedge conflict within the population and use unrest and division to further their own agenda. We have made a mistake of thinking that their battles are the same with ours, yet we are just a tool. But where is Zimbabwe (us) and her interests? The truth is they have noticed we are so gullible that we don’t even bother to scrutinize them.
Some leaders have gone to foreign governments to seek economic restrictions on their country so that as the economy worsens, and people starve, people will protest and vote the incumbent out thereby allowing them to taste power. At the same time the incumbent has used these restrictions as an excuse to justify failure, corruption and looting of Zimbabwe’s limited resources. In such a dilemma, the people of Zimbabwe are the ones suffering and their economy collapsing. But her (Zimbabwe) people will believe that the one who is calling for change cares about them, not knowing that the trouble they are in was also contributed to by the one who claims to have the solutions.
When people lose lives protesting for their leader, they will later be called stupid because they protested in a way that exposed their leader to legal punishments. The violent protests of his party members led to the loss of non-protesting innocent lives hence the leader tries to distance himself and his party from that disturbance, instead he declares the protests were spontaneous and focus should be made on who made the shootings. On the other hand, the other leader will also try to distance his members from the mistake which resulted in the loss of innocent lives by blaming the opposition leader for violently protesting. The game keeps on being played until people lose interest.
The truth is, both leaders don’t really have the country at heart. They are only interested in the perks that comes by being at the apex of government. At the end of the day, it’s the ordinary Zimbabwean people who defend these leaders that collectively suffer. If only they knew that their collective efforts (corruption and sanctions) will have a lasting impact on our economy which will take years to reverse.
Churches split more in Zimbabwe than any other country. At a continental scale, they split more in Africa than any other continent. The gospel they preach and the doctrine that governs them is the same but what causes the divisions ? People follow individuals more than the ideas. The individuals they follow are power hungry hence they will try to cause divisions. People get so lost that they forget the ideas that drives the church which are humility, servant leadership, transparency and most importantly love and tolerance towards one another.
You see leaders in huge churches fighting over the constitution and positions. Its understandable because to them, a church is a business and a job first which surprisingly the Bible rebuts (1 Timothy 6, Hosea 4 etc.), before it is a place of comfort, healing and character building. They would rather preach about tithe, seeding and thanksgiving than love, tolerance, purity and empathy.
In all developed and catch-up economies in Africa and beyond, when the nation needs to unite they will do so wholeheartedly. That proud feeling of what defines who they are and where they come from is what is common among all successful countries. People can disagree on all sorts of stuff but still come to an agreement on things that don’t ruin their country.
I have seen how Rwandans have developed their country despite their leader being called dictator. I have seen how the British people value their history and monarchy despite its ugly past and mistakes. I have met a lot of Chinese people in different countries, and saw how they eat, drink and sleep Chinese. They would rather eat at a Chinese restaurant in the UK than go to McDonald’s. Americans can blast Trump from all angles, but they will never ever sabotage their economy to get back at him.
All these countries have acknowledged that despite the shortfalls in their leaders, differences in ideologies, religions, sexual orientation and ethnicity, their country’s image and development matters more than those differences. They have found a way to work together with those differences to build a better Rwanda, Britain, China etc.
Rarely do you see them inviting external influence in their struggles and challenges. They always make things work because they are united when it comes to the development for their country. In all these countries, corruption and human rights abuses might be there but they always find a way to solve their issues among themselves because no matter what people do or get away with, one thing that people agree to is that, when it comes to issues that destroy our country they won’t compromise. You can get away with anything but not on issues that kill the development of a nation.
In Zimbabwe we have failed to do that. Our leaders are willing to do anything just to push their own agendas. Calling on sanctions and even shooting people just get into or stay in power.
It’s sad !
I pray for one day, that despite all our differences we will all unite for one cause, which is to build a better Zimbabwe. One cause which will allow Zimbabweans to work together despite our differences, in order to build a better Zimbabwe.
When that mindset is in place, we will be able to criticize and focus on things that matter despite who and what you follow and believe in. We will be able to hold all our leaders accountable, from all political institutions because we will be putting Zimbabwe first before parties and individuals.
Individuals (politicians, prophets and religious leaders) will come and go but their ideas and systems we will always be there. Let’s start focusing on Zimbabwe first and evaluate and support the ideas, values and systems that propel Zimbabwe forward before individuals and political parties.
Until that happens, Zimbabwe will never be prosperous.
Remember:
A house divided against itself cannot stand. - Abraham Lincoln
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside can do us no harm — African Proverb
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