"A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step."
Those who know me and have been on this journey with me, working with me, encouraging me, standing by me, following me or even those who have been waiting for me to fall all know that each and every person in life has a purpose. Not all of us know what that purpose is for the greater part of our lives as we are made to believe that opportunity favours the brave and those who believe in what they aspire to achieve.
The greater part of my journey has been a life full of different levels of struggle partly to try be a person of purpose, a person of example, a person of principle, a person of integrity, an approachable being, a caring being and most of all a person who can fit into any group of people irrespective of their race, status in society, beliefs or any other social construct used to describe human beings.
I never imagined during the last couple of years that I would one day be interested in playing a significant role in serving society in particular as an aspiring politician. Even though I have worked in government institutions in the past it never really crossed my mind that one day I would feel the urge to be involved in social justice issues.
Well here I am now, I have somehow been drawn to be involved in Zimbabwe's socio-economic and political crisis. I say it's a 'crisis' because the country is in a very bad state socially, economically and politically after years of entrusting it's management to those everyone believed had made sacrifices to free the majority black people from colonialism. Little did we know that one day some of our liberators will embrace the same strategies our colonisers adopted of using state apparatus to suppress freedom of expression and association. Little did we know that our own 'black liberators' will personalise our independence and justify the abuse of power and position to accumulate personal wealth through corruption.
There now exists a culture of 'entitlement' that uses the liberation struggle to justify the unfair distribution of national resources based also on partisan line's. Much as we appreciate the efforts of war veteran's of our struggle, it is wrong for government and the President to give them special preference and special audience whilst ignoring the voices of millions of citizens of Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are very humble peace loving people and their silence all these years is not because they are cowards and stupid but because they are educated people who believe our problems can be resolved through good communication rather than the use of violence, fear and intimidation to dictate a way forward.
My recent trip to Zimbabwe was my first after I announced my intentions to serve Luveve community as a MP candidate for 2018 Elections. It was therefore imperative that I take steps to visit my target constituency and speak to residents and other key stakeholders in the community to hear straight from them what challenges they were facing and what they felt should be done to resolve some of those problematic issues.
I started off in South Africa, Cape Town where I met members of Freedom Justice Coalition Zimbabwe resident there. The biggest challenge for Zimbabwean migrants was getting legal papers to live and work in South Africa, most were now vendors though they had good academic qualifications that could help them get better jobs with the right paperwork. They also faced local challenges of having their accommodation broken into by locals and their small possession stolen whilst they were away in the city centre trying to sell their goods to raise money to send to their families back in Zimbabwe. Most said if there were opportunities in Zimbabwe they would be willing to go back but were now tired of going back to vote only to get the same result where Zanu PF is always the winner. I asked them if they could just go back to register as there is a new biometric voting system and they said they could not afford to travel all the way back and there is also no guarantee the elections won't be rigged again as it's the same people managing ZEC who are appointed by government and not an independent body.
From Cape Town I drove from Johannesburg through Beitbridge border into Zimbabwe on my way to Bulawayo. This gave me an opportunity to compare the road network and services on both sides. There have been improvements on the South African roads since I last used them in 2007 and work in progress in Messina, the border officials were very efficient even though not so polite as is the case with most such offices across the world, officials seem angry to be doing their jobs not sure if it's a culture or just a lack in customer service skills. On the Zimbabwe side there were no posters or signs to show visitors and migrants where to go and what to do, the facilities have deteriorated and people are spoken to like they are prisoners with no rights. I spent over 3 hours just to have my passport stamped and my vehicle given a 'TIP' to go through, I was then invaded by street vendors selling me reflectors and a fire extinguisher, I bought the reflectors but ignored the fire extinguisher as according to my knowledge from Police training this was not required for a private small passenger vehicle unaware that the rules have been changed.
Beitbridge has some development as a border town but still has the usual dusty look and now crowded by vendors all trying to sell their products and various currencies, not far from there was Police road blocks, I came across three of them before got onto the Gwanda road, luckily I was not stopped for any searches and demands all the way to Bulawayo. The toll gates on the Zimbabwe side seemed a bit too steep considering the quality of roads vehicles had to drive on, especially them being just two way rather than dual networks, personally I think fees need adjusting until there are dual carriage ways. Above photo was taken at the first Toll gate where that young boy came to sell us those wild fruits, a clear sign that life was now a struggle as it was clear the boy was not attending any school.
There was not much change in the city centre in Bulawayo in terms of improvements in the areas I drove through besides the expensive take aways where two pieces of chicken and chips was $3 (R45) in South Africa the same is R29, I heard some of the new ones belonged to former VP Mujuru. My thoughts Zimbabwe has gradually been transformed to belong to a few powerful families with political links, so the distribution of resources is limited only to those with political power and influence. Perhaps part reason when people complain their calls lend on deaf ears because we are now infested with self entitled individuals who believe they are the only ones with a right to benefit from our independence. So are we truly independent or be sold a false story that only serves a priveledged click in society? As I continued to look for inspiration I was shown the many new shops called 'Choppies' which I was told belonged to the new VP Mphoko. These shops were well stocked but also over-priced compared to South African supermarkets, so is this reason why people have lost confidence in political solutions? Is this the reason why citizen activism is taking over from political activism?
I then had the privilege of meeting for the first time youthful members of Freedom Justice Coalition Zimbabwe Party based in Bulawayo. What struck me was the sacrifices they made to come meet me and the requests that followed, all they wanted was to get help identifying funding to help them start income generating projects in the agricultural sector. They said they were asked to attend the 1 million march and promised that they would be given stands and land after that but ever since nothing that had been promised had been actioned and they were now very reluctant to help any political platforms as they felt they are just being used and never get to see any tangible outcomes. It's clear that our youth have been systematically used and abused by political parties for their own selfish goals, the youth are our future leaders and they need to be given fair opportunities to develop and become responsible adults, we can not afford to continue treating them like pons in a chess game, I call upon all youth to reject being used and stand up together against such false promises.
I then took some time to talk to some senior citizen's and business owners in the city about the political and economic situation in the country and also shared my plans and intentions to offer myself as a servant leader bringing new ideas, some which I have taken on board from living in different socio-economic and political environments. The elders welcomed the prospect of young people stepping up to leadership challenges, saying they had played their role in the liberation of this country and that it was now time for them to step back and help guide those with the courage to lead the country to prosperity a chance to do so, but also warned that not all of them are willing to let go of such great responsibility out of fear of entrusting it to a generation that may be disconnected from the history of the this country. They told me power is something that needs to be shared not hoarded as hoarding it breeds evil thoughts that make men think they are better than others. They also said I must never underestimate the power of my words, as they can either build or destroy my aspirations. Most business owners said they were not comfortable supporting new political actors and party's out of fear of being victimised by government and warned me about falling victim to CIO traps designed to discredit my image as a potential contender should I be asked to stand for President of the country. I actually thought fear was only amongst ordinary citizens at grass-roots levels, but it looks like fear has certainly been instilled across all levels of our social fabric by the Zanu PF government. I believe rising above our fears is the first step towards attaining a higher level of freedom.
I then travelled to my rural home and along the way had conversations with ordinary citizens at our local growth point [Mawabeni], I was a bit surprised that most shops were now run by individuals who came from outside the region. This got me questioning how that happened, were locals not getting opportunities to empower themselves, get the necessary knowledge and skills to manage local business? Much as I advocate for diversity and unity of purpose I also feel it's equally important to identify ways to uplift the lives of people who grew up in those communities. We removed colonialism because it was a system that allowed a minority to rule a majority with impunity so why then do we now allow the same domination by one group to manifest it's self in such a manner? I think this is something that should be debated so we all find an agreeable balance on the best way forward. The issue seemed to show signs of disgruntlement by locals based on tribal and language justifications, perhaps a sign that we still have some very deep routed issues that need to be tackled at some point.
My final trip in Bulawayo was my visit to my target constituency Luveve. First stop was the local library to assess the current status in terms of books and availability of technology for research purposes. The library had enough books, though we all know books can never be sufficient in high density suburbs like we have in Zimbabwe, however the biggest challenge was the lack of computers and internet. The only computers there were for the staff which they said were useless as they were also not connected to the internet, apparently the current MP Cde Ntandoyenkosi Mlilo had also been there asking about how he could donate or assist the library have wireless internet services. Apparently previously the Library equipment was donated by Old Mutual but they have not had any further assistance for some years now, so if there are any good samaritan's out there please email me on luvevematters@gmail.com.
I then travelled across the Luveve neighbourhoods with my final destination being one of the new neighbourhoods called Cowdry Park. Much as I admire the initiative of building housing for our people, it's the manner that it's been done that makes cause for concern. Water and Electricity services took some time to be put in place and because of that the area has become a high crime zone with residents calling for more police officers to be posted to carry our regular patrols in the area. What hit me most was the glaring gap between rich and poor which was evident in the disparities prevalent between vendors and businesses in the community. Amongst vendors there were dilapidated Council stalls that were being rented out which most vendors could no longer afford, so most had set-up temporal illegal structures along the pathway to try earn a living. When I asked them how much they earned a day most said on a good day $5 and if they were caught by council officials that would all go towards paying their fines. A few metres from the vendors was a well stocked Choppies Supermarket selling products at twice the price they are worth in South Africa. I was informed the chain belonged to our Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko. So our leaders had also become our business community, controlling government and controlling what we eat and probably where we live.
Nearby drinking were a group of youth gathered near this famous supermarket and their responses were "hapana mabasa mdara", "akula msebenzi manje senzeni?"..meaning there are no jobs what are we supposed to do. I was unable to respond to them as it suddenly hit me how big the challenge of building communities was. My first thoughts was 'so politics is now an activity for the wealthiest in society'. Many told me if you one to win you will need a lot of money as Zanu PF gives them free t-shirts and occasionally buys them food and drinks in exchange for mobilising support. So how does one start influencing change of such a mindset? I guess for starters one would need to come up with alternatives that give the youth tools that can make them self-sustaining and that all requires capital plus mentorship so they can be guided/mentored into running an project or small business successfully. I was reminded of the broken windows theory where if a social environment looks broken down, chances of criminal activity and dissent are likely to be common occurances.
to be continued...
