Renaming Victoria Falls won’t put food on the table

Aren’t the Victoria Falls actually in Zambia?

Wander round the streets of London and you have to give credit to the British. The city is littered with statues to celebrate and remember their heroes of yester-year. But the British do not celebrate second best, only those who achieve gold. A large number of these heroes went on adventures to all four corners of the globe. They killed, maimed and plundered the resources of the empire and brought the loot home. Medals were duly awarded and statues erected. Very few statues exist of those who left the British shores for faraway lands and helped the indigenous populace and thus did not bring some loot back home. Failure was and is never rewarded. Winner takes all. Maybe Eddie the Eagle, ski jumper, is an exception! In recent history former prime minister Tony Blair seems to fall into this failure group but on closer examination he actually achieved a lot although the British public do not seem to realise it. He and former US president Bush ordered the invasion and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, ‘shock and awe’, until a new friendly government was installed. Prior to and during the war itself Americans in their droves boycotted French wine and other goods because the French had opposed the war and carnage in Iraq. But to this day all contracts signed by the Iraq government go to American and British companies. Billions and billions of dollars and is that not a result? Black gold! Can one imagine a gallon of petrol in the UK costing £30 or £40 and avoid an imminent revolution in the leafy suburbs of London and the home counties? Blair, like the heroes of yester-year, had a vision for the nation and we cannot say we hold the high moral ground because our very survival depends on exploiting the weak round the globe. We cannot claim we are monogamous in a cut throat adulterous relationship. Both George W Bush and Tony Blair said, ‘It is our way of life at stake’. They were right and the tanker drivers’ blockade of fuel depots, England, in 2000 proves the point that the west’s economies will grind to a halt without oil or cheap labour. Now, as the Iraq oil freely flows supplies are guaranteed for another 30 years and we all can sleep well. Besides, some where in the world kids are locked up in factories to keep us supplied with cheap goods. Will Tony Blair get a statue erected in Parliament Square or even a plaque with his name on it? Very doubtful but history will be the judge. The oddity and absurd fact of it all is, he is made by someone, the Middle East Peace Envoy! Really? Ta–xi! Who are these Arabs who dare sit down with him to discuss peace? Or is it possible Mugabe can work in a kindergarten in Matabeleland and leave the parents pretty elated. This proves one thing though. At this point in human history, might is right and right is white. Our leaders pretend to sympathise with families of dead service men as their bodies are repatriated from the war zone but to them it is just part of collateral damage in the bigger picture. David Cameron is already thinking ahead when he suggested Afghanis should play football against England at Wembley in the near future, (16/12/13). Very very sensitive! As well as being brutal to their colonial subjects the British or all the colonial powers tended to be economical with the truth. For example, David Livingstone after being led by the locals who were eager to show him the spectacle and magnificent falls on the Zambezi river became the first man to ‘discover’ the Victoria Falls. The Nepalese Sherpa Tensing, standing on top of the world pulled up Sir Edmund Hillary onto the last cliff and was unaware that he was making history. Edmund Hillary had in an instant become the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest. And what of Tensing? History blew him away although the Nepalese people had been reaching the summit of the mountain for centuries. And who was that chap who ‘discovered’ Australia when those silly buggers, the Aborigines, had gone on a walk about, again? Oh yeah, Captain James Cook! But this one is a cracker. A white man decides to move from Europe to Africa, Australia, New Zealand or Canada and decides to stay to improve his lot and instantly he becomes a ‘settler’. On the other hand a person of colour decides to move into Europe for the same reasons from Africa, the Indian sub-continent or the Caribbean and he and his generations to follow will remain ‘immigrants’ no matter what nationality they are granted. What’s that about? Thousands are drowning in the Mediterranean each year trying to cross into Europe and it’s no longer news. It is the slave trade all over again. Knowing very well that blacks could not walk on water like you know who, the ‘settlers’ in apartheid South Africa went further and declared that when they arrived late in the fifteenth century there were no blacks in that part of the world. Weird!
Stroll down town central Harare and you won’t see many statues of the liberation struggle heroes. What strikes a visitor to the once beautiful city is the names of the roads and avenues named after heroes of the war. There is something strange, obscene and a bit embarrassing when places are named after the living. Somehow it is not as bad if the living are not residents of that particular country. For example, Nelson Mandela Way, he will never die, Kenneth Kaunda Way or Sam Munjoma Way, named after former presidents of South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia respectively. The trouble is the local heroes have been in power for over 30 years and, whatever they have touched has turned to dust and nobody could seriously leave them in a shop at tea break. They can easily sell the shop in fifteen minutes while you are out. They became a joke in the eyes of Joe Public a long time ago and they don’t even realise it. They start selling coffins and probably people will stop dying. That is how much people have faith in them. The tragedy of it all is, these same names from the same ruling party since independence appear all over the country from Harare to the smallest town. The irony of all this is, because of lack of highway maintenance most of the road signs are pointing in the wrong direction. Very good omen for the nation as a whole! The names of the roads and avenues also give a clue as to who has benefited since independence especially after the farm invasions. Before the farm invasions in 2000/1, five thousand white farmers occupied sixty per cent of Zimbabwe’s arable land. Today, most of the land is in the hands of less than 800 big wigs and most of them are represented by a signature on a lamp post giving directions. For example, before his death in 1999 Joshua Nkomo had so many farms whose combined area is rumoured to be the size of Wales. As the rural poor have become match sticks our rulers have developed double chins and their trousers are held up by braces because wearing waist belts makes them look comical. The masses are nowhere in sight although the liberation war was fought on two main premises, land, mwana wevhu, child of the soil, and the right to choose who governs you, one man one vote! It makes sense to agree with the latter more because with a right to choose who governs you the former becomes a no brainer. A nation becomes strong and formidable when they are behind their leaders. In terms of how quickly these muppets have hit the big time jackpot it has been both miraculous and tragic because no prisoners have been taken along the way. And the majority of them never lifted a gun to fight but sent somebody’s father, mother, son or daughter to do the dirty work at the front. Many heroes and heroines never saw independence and lie in unmarked graves. While the British will maim, plunder and kill for the nation when someone in far way places blinks or sleeps our lot will send our sons and daughters to die for the same reasons but they then siphon the loot to London and Europe. Check the Congo! London and Europe are in a win win situation all the time. A clue to ponder over, ‘frozen assets’. Indeed to rename Victoria falls as Mugabe Falls will be fitting and would serve to remind the nation how not run a state.
Simon M Tozvireva.