I am an ORDINARY CITIZEN with an EXTRAORDINARY PURPOSE.

My name does not tell who I am as a being. I was born in Fort Victoria during the Rhodesian era. I have travelled across the world, lived as far as the United States of  America in the 70’s in family exile from the Rhodesian government. I have seen and experienced what colonialism was, not according to what is written in history books. I have been a child of a Father and Mother , a Refugee, a freedom fighter, a revolutionary, a cleric, a Statesman, a Professor, a Teacher, Reverend, Referee, Friend, Farmer, Writer, Academic and President. 

These roles were all part of my primary socialisation as I grew up adjusting to the different socio-economic and political environments. In 1980 when Zimbabwe became an independent country we moved from the dusty streets of Luveve’s High Density suburb to live in Harare the capital city of Zimbabwe. It was a defining moment for the black majority and for us as a family moving to State House for the next 8 years. I had to learn how to speak the common language. It was a privilege that would see me meeting some of the worlds greatest icons from Bob Marley and the Wailers, to Captain Thomas Sankara, Indira Ghandi, Kenneth Kaunda, Samora Machel, Price Charles and many others. Those the life introduced some very high standards in terms of dress and mannerism it was also an executive prison where movement was limited and being a teenager having a girlfriend was a big challenge as expected every girl who knew you were the son of the most important person in the country could not help exposing their wish to be the chosen one.

I lived with workers at Statehouse, they probably are the ones who know all the secrets of such closed families, I also lived with Policeman, Soldiers from the Presidential Guard and various other government officials. I lived but was also learning from the experiences and exposure. I have worked as a Police Constable, the lowest ranked officer in the Police, I have worked as an Intelligence Officer under the President’s Office in Counter Insurgency operations along the border and into Mozambique working with members of the JOC to try safe guard the Beira corridor and protect our people along the border. This was not child’s play, I lost a lot of working colleagues during that time, I was in a war zone. Due to the Official Secrets Act I can not disclose any details of the work we did in Mozambique but it was a different ‘experience’.

I have lived in the streets of Hilbrow in South Africa before and after South African Independence, life was not cheap there, it was just like another war zone the difference being the danger was from drug lords and armed robbers. I have ‘experienced’ what most would never imagine. I have risen from nothing to running my own company and owning my own properties in South Africa right up to living in Eldorado Park where the notorious ‘majimbo’s’ dominated. My wife is from that very rough suburb, they could not believe me when after some years they found out who I was and where I came from..that is because who I am.

I have lived again in the United Kingdom following the aggressive negative campaigns on my family after my fathers controversial case. I have risen above all that negativity, I have had to sometimes start a new home with nothing from scratch because of complex personal issues, but still I rise. 

I am just an ordinary citizen with an extraordinary goal.

join me in seeking to bring new ideas to Zimbabwe 

To donate to my campaign please click the following link: 

https://www.paypal.me/LUVEVE2018

"Zimbabwe Politics Dilemma"

I have met many passionate individuals who are willing to play their part in defining Zimbabwe's future, however the biggest obstacle for most of us willing to be genuine servants of the people is the lack of resources to transform our ideas to visible outcomes.

So the reality is people though they may admire those ideas tend to opt for the few mostly 'recylced' options that actually have the resources and networks to utilise to accomplish their political objectives.

Even though there may be wealthy and powerful individuals in Zimbabwe who can sponsor credible ideas, most of them accumulated their wealth through manipulating the corrupt and ineffective system of governance. So for them it's important to keep feeding the system that ensures they continue to be dominant actors in our socio-economic and political environments.

It is also indisputable fact that building the largest opposition party in Zimbabwe was only possible because of the funding assistance that also came from beyond our borders and that that was also influenced by the violent land invasions that saw white farmers seeking justice through diverting their financial resources to help the opposition remove what to them had become a monstrous system uncaring about the rights of citizens.

So going forwards Zimbabweans realistically do not have fair options, for even if better alternatives exists, they do not have the same level of resources to be able to challenge the current failing system of government, and even influence change in the fragmented opposition leadership.

I am however not sure if can agree that Zimbabweans deserve the leadership on offer.

"Every country has the government it deserves" and "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." ~ Joseph de Maistre

Career Choice Cross Roads

First President of Zimbabwe Canaan Banana & First President SA Nelson Mandela

Before I turned 40 I never imagined I would ever be passionate about Zimbabwean politics the way I am now until I started engaging Zimbabwe from diverse backgrounds in 2008.

My life before that was centred around spending my free time socialising with South African middle class and grass-roots families. I was basically just one of those working professionals who was inspired by American Black celebs like 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Dre Dre and the Luther Vandros, TP, Monica & MJB's with a touch of Kwaito and South African Jazz artist.

Zimbabwe politics is like a drug addiction, it's hard to pull out once you have immersed yourself and understand the deep challenges faced by Zimbabweans. 

Though in the back of my mind I have been building up enough courage to enter active politics before the end of 2016, my experience working with a small group of Zimbabweans is making me have doubts about my intentions to commit my time and resources in a more aggressive and visible manner on the ground.

I have no doubts that the individuals I have been working with all want whats best for Zimbabwe but it is discipline in terms of time management and ability to effectively accomplish our agreed objectives that has been the greatest concern and nightmare. I appreciate that some of the challenges that we have all faced are influenced largely by resource availability and at times the lack of basic services in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa in general.

As for my engagement with technocrats and professionals in the business sector, many have beautiful sounding ideas but are reluctant to bee seen in a position that may be viewed as going against the status quo, as it is viewed as biting the hand that feeds you..so the popular question has been 'what is in it for me?' or a straight forward request like 'I want the Mines portfolio'. That for me means most go into politics for the wrong reasons and if that is the kind of mentality one will come across in all political entities then we have a very serious problem in our hands.

Shamiso Children's Home Marondera

I was starting to believe I can hack it like my late father and Madiba did but on a smaller scale but maybe I should just return to philanthropy and focus on building my small business empire to ensure I can retire with peace of mind or just to to work for International Organisations like UN and AU focussed on a much broader global community...my father's generation were a very rare fearless breed, perhaps the reason they were able to accomplish so much in their lives.

Our generation focusses a lot on 'self' than the 'collective' and we are failing to transform some of their great ideas and our own to practical visible outcomes. I do not have all the answers but are playing my part when ever the opportunity presents its self to do so. 

There many others in a far better position than I am trying to play their part I have great respect form them, whilst there are some abusing their position and influence to pursue the 'self' interests that I highlighted earlier thats reducing opportunities for a much broader sections of society. 

Are we doing enough as individuals and a collective to challenge what can be described as a corrupted norm in our socio-economic and political environments?

The African Diaspora Professional

The struggle working in the Diaspora.

"Institutionalised discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions as a whole, through unequal selection or bias, intentional or unintentional; as opposed to individuals making a conscious choice to discriminate.”

I know someone that I shall refer to as a 'second class citizen' who previously worked in management role in Africa, but migrated to the U.K because of family, desperate for a job they sacrificed their career progression and took a pay cut and accepted a much lower role in company A.

Company A recruited new employees which 'second class citizen' had to train to understand their roles. Second class citizen suffered personal abuse from some of the new employees but remained strong as they appreciated the value their job added to their life.

Eventually one of managers resigned and later one of the abusive employees was dismissed and 'second class citizen' was forced to work from home. The same cycle of recruitment and training of new staff continued, second class citizen thought after all the years of hard work and commitment perhaps their opportunity to move back to their management role was now possible.

Second class citizen was shocked when one of the new employees they trained called them an advised they were now the new manager. Second class citizen was not even invited to apply for the role or advised by the senior management that they were going to be looking for a new manager. Second class citizen was very upset by this and if life was as simple as leaving one job for another, I'm sure second class citizen would have already left the company.

But the reality is job hunting as a second class citizen has become more and more of a lottery, so second class citizen has to just adjust to their new environment and just try make the best of it, because where second class citizen comes from, people can not even have a meal all day.

This story is some of the realities of the Diaspora, the African Migrant worker, these are the sacrifices some have to make just for the sake of being able to access good public services they struggle to get in their home country.