via Op-Ed: Zimbabwe at the crossroads – NewZimbabwe 11 April 2015 by Obert Gutu
A LAND of shattered dreams; an island of tyranny in a fast-democratising sub-region; an extremely poor country that is otherwise very rich. A pariah state; a failed state. Is this the Zimbabwe that thousands of gallant men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to liberate us from colonial bondage and racist exploitation? My heart bleeds.
This is an appeal to all patriotic Zimbabweans across the political, ethnic, racial and religious divide. As a human being made of flesh and blood, I will be the first one to admit that I have several weaknesses and shortcomings. I am not perfect. Indeed, I cannot be perfect. But comrades and friends, kindly lend me your ears. I write this piece as a concerned Zimbabwean; a husband, a father and also as someone who deeply loves his country.
I make absolutely no apology for my political and religious beliefs and, in similar measure; I strive to respect other peoples’ political and religious beliefs. This is the time for us as Zimbabweans to genuinely reach out to another and to appreciate that there is unity in diversity. I claim no monopoly of wisdom and as such, please kindly forgive me if I come across as conceited and arrogant. I am just an ordinary Zimbabwean; born and bred in rural Gutu. I am one with you; comrades.
The time has come for all concerned and patriotic Zimbabweans to accept the cold, hard fact that our country is facing a serious crisis; a crisis of political illegitimacy, a crisis of socio-economic trepidation, a looming crisis of hunger that will ravage no less than seven million of our people in the next few months. Comrades and friends; it cannot continue to be business as usual. Something has to give.
With the abundant natural and human resources at our disposal, surely, Zimbabwe doesn’t deserve to be in this hellhole. We deserve to be up there with the movers and shakers in this fast globalising world. We deserve to be the Singapore or Hong Kong of Southern Africa. Oh yes; we have no business being relegated to the miserable group of struggling and failed nation states. We deserve better.
If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today I plead that you should take me as your brother and comrade. We don’t have to be close friends in order for us to push Zimbabwe in the right direction. All we have to do is to share the same vision and love for our country. There seems to be no love, tolerance and empathy amongst us as Zimbabweans.
There is so much hatred, malice, bitterness, anger and intolerance. We seem to have mutated into a nation of haters and back-biters. We find it extremely difficult to celebrate a fellow Zimbabwean’s success. Brother is rising up against brother; sister against sister and husband against wife. Marriages are breaking up and families are fast becoming theatres of hatred and primitive competition. Where has the spirit of ‘’ubuntu’’ gone? Why are we at each other’s throat, all the time?
Surely, all the political and economic challenges that Zimbabwe is facing can be promptly resolved if we start reaching out to one another. We don’t need any foreigners to teach us how to rebuild our shattered homeland. All we have to do is to start by acknowledging the sad fact that we are now at the deep end. There is no need for us to adopt an ostrich mentality and bury our heads in the sand; in the forlorn hope that when we remove our heads from the sand everything is gonna be alright! We have to take the bull by the horns.
If the beautiful and world class modern city of Dubai could be built in the middle of a blisteringly hot desert in the Middle East; what is there to stop us from building the city of Bulawayo into becoming Africa’s industrial hub? Comrades and friends, we have to dream big. This can be done. Indeed, this should be done.
This is time for us as Zimbabweans to join our hands together and chart a new trajectory going forward. The people of Zimbabwe have suffered for too long. It is now time for real action to be taken.
Obert Gutu is the MDC national spokesperson. He writes this opinion piece in his personal capacity.
COMMENTS
Well written article . Yes we have very dangerous hyenas posing as leaders as they ruthlessly tear Zimbabwe into a tattered torn country. Change is overdue
@Gutu, I don’t like all political partys in Zimbabwe right now. Never the less your message is the best that I ever read online.Thank you , but do something about all these Zanu PF ,Real Zanu Pf, MDC, True MDC……and so on .We are tired of all that nonsence.
Brother we are with you on this one. We need to join as one now. The rot must end. PAMBERI NE ZIMBABWE.
We have heard all this before from MDC-T Mr Obert Gutu. The more we hear it, the less meaning it carries and meanwhile MDC will continue to lose the trust of the people. What people are waiting for are the strategies, the dates and battle-cry. There is no other way. The way of elections is blocked and it is foolish for the opposition to keep trying this avenue when reforms are not carried out. Zanu Pf and Mugabe are in control of the election settings control knobs and they always tune these for their victory. MDC have the habit of keeping on sharpening knives long enough until the meat is rotten.
A bit rich coming from someone who ardently defended throwing the MDC-T Renewal guys out of parliament, for no reason other than to shaft his rivals…
Being older, I can remember back quite a long way, back indeed to the old Federation days.
In those days tolerance of others and a non-racial attitude was encouraged, with regular adverts on TV and radio (FBC). Come UDI and things got worse. My letters to The Herald often got censored (they left a white space) The Rhodesian government was more paternalistic than anything else and few of the people were outright evil. I cannot remember any rants against “blacks”, at any time.
But after 1980 the tone became more and more openly racist and in the last fifteen years the rants against “whites” have become unceasing. It is embarrassing to see the country’s supposed president leading the pack. Parallel to this racism has been the economic and judicial collapse of the nation. It is hard to believe the two are not connected.
I also come from the old days and old school and my personal experience is that we will go through another civil war pitting former allies, brother against brother, sister against sister, tribe against tribe, clan against clan….. It has become a norm in Africa and some sort of transformation that we Africans have to go through. Sounds a bit pessimistic but that is the reality. Just get prepared for another brutal war. I hate war, I hate war mongers, I hate those who hate others, I hate hatred itself but we are human beings and Africans. Remember Nigeria, remember Mozambique, remember Angola, remember DRC, remember, Sudan, remember Algeria the list goes on