Opinion / Columnist
37 Years of Black Rule: Betrayal of the Socialist Struggle!
18 Apr 2017 at 07:43hrs | Views
Today we celebrate the heroic works by the gallant sons and daughters of the soil who took up arms against the white minority rule, to fight for our freedom. Ordinarily, we should be reflecting on the progress we have made as a nation in advancing the ideals of the liberation struggle.
Unfortunately, the nationalists who led the struggle against colonialism and white minority rule have betrayed the masses.
What was meant to be a black majority rule has become a black minority rule. During the struggle, we understood our struggle as the struggle for socialism. I remember the socialist songs we sang in political meetings such as, "yini isocialism, umhlaba wonke ezandlen' zabantu!"
We clearly understood the struggle as the struggle for the transfer of the decisive means of production to be in hands of the majority.
The struggle was not about replacing white capitalist class with a black capitalist class. Neither was the struggle about accumulation of wealth by the political connected. Our struggle was and remains the struggle against imperialist forces and the parasitic bourgeoisie.
The struggle was never about a one man/ woman vote, the issue of one man /woman vote was used as a political tactic to achieve majority rule. The majority rule was then meant to transfer the decisive means of production to society as a whole. When we shouted "Amandla! Ngawethu!" , we meant that , the people had the power to change their material conditions. We never went to war so that a few would accumulate wealth and condemn the majority of the people into poverty.
Today we have nothing revolutionary to show for our independence, only misery ,hunger , poverty ,etc. We are now scattered in foreign lands as migrants. Those that remained home have been driven to the streets as vendors who are constantly harassed by municipality police, while the privileged few live in mansions, with millions of dollars in their wardrobes.
As we mark 37 years of independence, we need to ask ourselves this critical question; What is the nature of our struggle?
Some in the opposition believe that, our struggle is for the establishment of a democratic Zimbabwe - Believing that, once state institutions are democratic, Zimbabwe will be a land of milk and honey. Far from it. While its critical that we democratise the Zimbabwean State, the issue is on the ownership of the means of production. Who owns the mines, the banks, the land? Is it the few parasites or the masses? Unless the wealth of our country is in the hands of society as a whole, we have nothing to celebrate.
As long as we struggle for electoral reforms which will give us political freedom without economic freedom, we are just misleading the masses. We can not seek a fair playing political field through electoral reforms to oust ZANU (PF) and replace it with stooges of imperialist forces, who will continue to loot our natural resources in the name of foreign direct investment. Zimbabwe is ours and everything that is in it. Our struggle is about the ownership of the decisive means of production. The people must own the Land, the Mines, the Factories, the Timber and all resources in our country.
The people can only own the means of production when we transit to a socialist Zimbabwe.
As we mark 37 years of our hard won independence, we must begin to build socialist blocks. The first step is to establish the vanguard of the working class, which will become the political representatives of the working class and the poor.
Lenin was correct in his analysis when he said, "workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains".
Our failure to unite as the workers in Zimbabwe has seen us pushed into the diaspora where our daily struggle is on the renewal of special permits for those working in South Africa. Those in Botswana stand accused by that government of running the risk of spreading cholera in that country as reported by Studio 7 radio on the 17th April 2017. Those in Zimbabwe have been retrenched, thrown into the streets where they now survive on vending.
The hopes of our people is now placed in the new prosperity gospel preaching churches that thrive on exploiting the poor. Workers are told everyday that their hope lies in some " holy water" or "holy oil", spending their hard earned cash in buying this and that in belief that their economic problems will evaporate the moment one uses this "holy water" or that "holy oil". Some psuedo prophetic pastors are now selling maize crop from their fields claiming that, the maize cop has healing powers.
I venture to say that our hope does not lie in some miracle or magic. Our hope is in building people's power in our communities and the work place. With this power, we will drive the national bourgeoisie as led by ZANU (PF) out of power and restore our pride as a nation, when we are in charge of our natural resources as a people.
As we mark 37 years of independence, let us unite our communities by building people's power in their communities and the work place.
As expected, President Mugabe will today not talk about massive human rights violations that his regime has committed over the years, when he celebrates 37 years of his misrule. He will stear clear of the Gukurahundi genocide that his regime presided over.
Mugabe and his cohorts must be tried for these crimes even in their graves. When Grace says "Mugabe will rule from the grave", equally, he must even be tried from that very grave.
The faux nationalists in our country have failed to resolve ethnic divisions that exist in our society. Some ersatz opposition figures who are as equally counter-revolutionary as the incumbent government seek to benefit from their tribal backgrounds, demanding to be Presidential candidates, simply because they are from a particular tribe. Non offer the people any plausible or viable solution out of this parasitic bourgeoisie induced predicament.
Our politics today is tribal driven to an extent that, those from minority tribes are treated as second class citizens in the land of their birth.
The vanguard of the working class seeks to unite the working class and the poor, irrespective of their tribal origins. As workers we know no tribe nor border, ours is a class struggle against the bourgeoisie, who continue to exploit the workers and the poor.
Cde Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena
Student of Marxist - Leninist!
Contact - +27 83 340 1000
Email : ngqabuthomabhena@gmail.com
Unfortunately, the nationalists who led the struggle against colonialism and white minority rule have betrayed the masses.
What was meant to be a black majority rule has become a black minority rule. During the struggle, we understood our struggle as the struggle for socialism. I remember the socialist songs we sang in political meetings such as, "yini isocialism, umhlaba wonke ezandlen' zabantu!"
We clearly understood the struggle as the struggle for the transfer of the decisive means of production to be in hands of the majority.
The struggle was not about replacing white capitalist class with a black capitalist class. Neither was the struggle about accumulation of wealth by the political connected. Our struggle was and remains the struggle against imperialist forces and the parasitic bourgeoisie.
The struggle was never about a one man/ woman vote, the issue of one man /woman vote was used as a political tactic to achieve majority rule. The majority rule was then meant to transfer the decisive means of production to society as a whole. When we shouted "Amandla! Ngawethu!" , we meant that , the people had the power to change their material conditions. We never went to war so that a few would accumulate wealth and condemn the majority of the people into poverty.
Today we have nothing revolutionary to show for our independence, only misery ,hunger , poverty ,etc. We are now scattered in foreign lands as migrants. Those that remained home have been driven to the streets as vendors who are constantly harassed by municipality police, while the privileged few live in mansions, with millions of dollars in their wardrobes.
As we mark 37 years of independence, we need to ask ourselves this critical question; What is the nature of our struggle?
Some in the opposition believe that, our struggle is for the establishment of a democratic Zimbabwe - Believing that, once state institutions are democratic, Zimbabwe will be a land of milk and honey. Far from it. While its critical that we democratise the Zimbabwean State, the issue is on the ownership of the means of production. Who owns the mines, the banks, the land? Is it the few parasites or the masses? Unless the wealth of our country is in the hands of society as a whole, we have nothing to celebrate.
As long as we struggle for electoral reforms which will give us political freedom without economic freedom, we are just misleading the masses. We can not seek a fair playing political field through electoral reforms to oust ZANU (PF) and replace it with stooges of imperialist forces, who will continue to loot our natural resources in the name of foreign direct investment. Zimbabwe is ours and everything that is in it. Our struggle is about the ownership of the decisive means of production. The people must own the Land, the Mines, the Factories, the Timber and all resources in our country.
The people can only own the means of production when we transit to a socialist Zimbabwe.
As we mark 37 years of our hard won independence, we must begin to build socialist blocks. The first step is to establish the vanguard of the working class, which will become the political representatives of the working class and the poor.
Lenin was correct in his analysis when he said, "workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains".
The hopes of our people is now placed in the new prosperity gospel preaching churches that thrive on exploiting the poor. Workers are told everyday that their hope lies in some " holy water" or "holy oil", spending their hard earned cash in buying this and that in belief that their economic problems will evaporate the moment one uses this "holy water" or that "holy oil". Some psuedo prophetic pastors are now selling maize crop from their fields claiming that, the maize cop has healing powers.
I venture to say that our hope does not lie in some miracle or magic. Our hope is in building people's power in our communities and the work place. With this power, we will drive the national bourgeoisie as led by ZANU (PF) out of power and restore our pride as a nation, when we are in charge of our natural resources as a people.
As we mark 37 years of independence, let us unite our communities by building people's power in their communities and the work place.
As expected, President Mugabe will today not talk about massive human rights violations that his regime has committed over the years, when he celebrates 37 years of his misrule. He will stear clear of the Gukurahundi genocide that his regime presided over.
Mugabe and his cohorts must be tried for these crimes even in their graves. When Grace says "Mugabe will rule from the grave", equally, he must even be tried from that very grave.
The faux nationalists in our country have failed to resolve ethnic divisions that exist in our society. Some ersatz opposition figures who are as equally counter-revolutionary as the incumbent government seek to benefit from their tribal backgrounds, demanding to be Presidential candidates, simply because they are from a particular tribe. Non offer the people any plausible or viable solution out of this parasitic bourgeoisie induced predicament.
Our politics today is tribal driven to an extent that, those from minority tribes are treated as second class citizens in the land of their birth.
The vanguard of the working class seeks to unite the working class and the poor, irrespective of their tribal origins. As workers we know no tribe nor border, ours is a class struggle against the bourgeoisie, who continue to exploit the workers and the poor.
Cde Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena
Student of Marxist - Leninist!
Contact - +27 83 340 1000
Email : ngqabuthomabhena@gmail.com
Source - Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena
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