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Fake patriotism is what is killing Zimbabwe
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Many things can destroy a country, but few are as dangerous as pretending to love it.
On Sundays, I usually switch onto the state-controlled ZTV so that my mother, who loves watching the religious programs, may watch.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Just now, I came across a song played on the broadcaster - one in many usually glorying President Emmerson Mnangagwa - in which the singer was declaring his supposed "love for Zimbabwe," even at one point referring to the nation as his "darling," or something to that effect.
In what I can only describe as one of the most disorganized and disorderly songs I have listened to in ages, the music video showed infrastructure such as the newly built Trabablas Interchange, a farm filled with tobacco, and other clips I could not continue watching as I was already too nauseated and busy writing this article.
What pushed me to the keyboard was the deliberate distortion of the meaning of patriotism by a section of Zimbabwe, something which I find both insulting and dangerous.
These music videos, as with so many others repeatedly played on state television, are not about the musician's supposed "undying love for Zimbabwe."
Rather, they are pathetic and disgraceful pieces of hero-worshipping of President Mnangagwa.
There is nothing at all in them that displays genuine love for Zimbabwe.
Instead, what we are subjected to is a love for one man, falsely equated with a love for the nation.
It is nothing but a desperate attempt to paint a leader who has dismally failed to govern the country, and who is now facing the anger and disappointment of millions of citizens, as someone who has achieved phenomenal feats in developing the nation.
This is what they call "love for Zimbabwe."
And it is sickening.
The first and most obvious fallacy in this charade is that the president, or any one individual for that matter, no matter their office or position, can never be equated to Zimbabwe itself.
A single man is not Zimbabwe.
One's love for Mnangagwa can never be synonymous with patriotism.
If anything, true patriotism means fearlessly defending the country against any and all threats - and that includes threats posed by those in power whose actions are destroying the very fabric of the nation.
To defend the president in the face of his failures is not patriotism; it is sycophancy.
And yet, I stand to be corrected, but I seriously doubt these sycophants even genuinely love the president.
What is there to love in presiding over a country where over 80 percent of the population is living below the poverty datum line?
These are not my figures, but those from reputable institutions such as the World Bank.
Where is the development that they are supposedly praising in their songs?
Why do these self-proclaimed patriots not sing on behalf of the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who are struggling every day to send their children to school, who cannot afford more than one meal a day, whose monthly incomes are so meagre that they do not even cover a week's basic needs, or those pensioners surviving on a paltry US$50 a month?
Is it not for these people that a true patriot should raise their voice?
Why do these supposedly patriotic singers not sing for the patients in public hospitals, who lie helpless as the institutions lack the most basic medications, equipment, or facilities to assist them?
Why do they not sing for those who cannot afford the fees and prescriptions for even the simplest things like bandages, paracetamol, antibiotics, antiseptics, or for life-saving surgeries that should be freely available in any decent healthcare facility?
These are Zimbabweans too - citizens who are left to die needlessly because the system has abandoned them.
Is that not what true love for Zimbabwe should compel one to highlight and fight against?
Who, then, will sing for the rural woman who still has to fetch water from the river because clean water remains a luxury decades after independence?
Who will sing for the mother who must walk 20 kilometers to the nearest clinic, only to find it without medicine or a nurse on duty?
Who will sing for the child whose future hangs by a thread as he treks over 15 kilometers each day to attend a school that lacks even the most basic necessities such as books or desks?
Who will sing for the girl child who misses school for several days each month because she cannot afford sanitary wear, and whose dignity and education are sacrificed in silence?
Why do they not sing for our young people whose education, once a treasured gateway to opportunity, now counts for nothing in a country without any viable prospects?
Why do they not sing for the graduates who are forced to become "mahwindi" touting at bus ranks, or informal street vendors, or risk their lives in dangerous artisanal gold mining, or worse still, drift into crime just to survive?
Are these not the realities that define the lived experience of Zimbabweans today?
Shouldn't patriotism mean amplifying these voices rather than drowning them in empty praise-songs for one man?
In their version of "patriotism," do they ever stop to wonder why millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are fleeing the country in droves, even if it means working in degrading menial jobs far below their qualifications in foreign lands?
And yet, they choose to endure such indignity because what they earn abroad is still far better than what they could ever hope to earn back home.
Does that not tell us something about the failure of leadership in Zimbabwe?
Should true patriots not be disturbed by this hemorrhaging of human capital?
So, I ask again: what is this "love for Zimbabwe" that these musicians sing about?
When one looks closely, it becomes obvious that most of them are also suffering under the weight of poverty and economic collapse.
Which raises the question: why sing in praise of the very people directly responsible for their own misery?
Could it be that this is not patriotism at all, but merely a survival strategy?
In a country driven to the brink of destruction by those in power, where genuine opportunities are scarce, perhaps the only way to earn a living for some is to ingratiate themselves with the political elite.
A song of praise for the president might earn a few dollars, or an invitation to a rally, or a chance at patronage.
But that is not patriotism.
That is desperation.
And this is the tragedy of Zimbabwe.
We have been reduced to a country where the lines between patriotism and sycophancy have been deliberately blurred.
What is paraded as "love for Zimbabwe" is, in truth, love for a political patron, love for survival scraps thrown from the high table, love for personal gain at the expense of national truth.
Real patriots are vilified as sellouts, while pretenders are celebrated as heroes.
True patriotism is not afraid to confront power.
True patriotism defends the country even against its rulers, when those rulers engage in rampant corruption, unrepentant looting of national resources, and gross incompetence.
True patriotism refuses to be silenced in the face of injustice, poverty, and hopelessness.
It is about putting Zimbabwe first, not one man.
It is about defending the ordinary citizen, not defending the ruler's image.
Fake patriotism, therefore, is what is killing Zimbabwe.
It has become the opium used to pacify the masses, to lull them into believing that singing for the president is the same as serving the nation.
But a song of lies, no matter how loudly it is played on state television, cannot mask the truth.
And the truth is that Zimbabwe is suffering - not because people do not love their country, but because those in power have confused loyalty to themselves with loyalty to the nation.
Until that deception is exposed, our country will continue to bleed.
● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
On Sundays, I usually switch onto the state-controlled ZTV so that my mother, who loves watching the religious programs, may watch.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Just now, I came across a song played on the broadcaster - one in many usually glorying President Emmerson Mnangagwa - in which the singer was declaring his supposed "love for Zimbabwe," even at one point referring to the nation as his "darling," or something to that effect.
In what I can only describe as one of the most disorganized and disorderly songs I have listened to in ages, the music video showed infrastructure such as the newly built Trabablas Interchange, a farm filled with tobacco, and other clips I could not continue watching as I was already too nauseated and busy writing this article.
What pushed me to the keyboard was the deliberate distortion of the meaning of patriotism by a section of Zimbabwe, something which I find both insulting and dangerous.
These music videos, as with so many others repeatedly played on state television, are not about the musician's supposed "undying love for Zimbabwe."
Rather, they are pathetic and disgraceful pieces of hero-worshipping of President Mnangagwa.
There is nothing at all in them that displays genuine love for Zimbabwe.
Instead, what we are subjected to is a love for one man, falsely equated with a love for the nation.
It is nothing but a desperate attempt to paint a leader who has dismally failed to govern the country, and who is now facing the anger and disappointment of millions of citizens, as someone who has achieved phenomenal feats in developing the nation.
This is what they call "love for Zimbabwe."
And it is sickening.
The first and most obvious fallacy in this charade is that the president, or any one individual for that matter, no matter their office or position, can never be equated to Zimbabwe itself.
A single man is not Zimbabwe.
One's love for Mnangagwa can never be synonymous with patriotism.
If anything, true patriotism means fearlessly defending the country against any and all threats - and that includes threats posed by those in power whose actions are destroying the very fabric of the nation.
To defend the president in the face of his failures is not patriotism; it is sycophancy.
And yet, I stand to be corrected, but I seriously doubt these sycophants even genuinely love the president.
What is there to love in presiding over a country where over 80 percent of the population is living below the poverty datum line?
These are not my figures, but those from reputable institutions such as the World Bank.
Where is the development that they are supposedly praising in their songs?
Why do these self-proclaimed patriots not sing on behalf of the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who are struggling every day to send their children to school, who cannot afford more than one meal a day, whose monthly incomes are so meagre that they do not even cover a week's basic needs, or those pensioners surviving on a paltry US$50 a month?
Is it not for these people that a true patriot should raise their voice?
Why do these supposedly patriotic singers not sing for the patients in public hospitals, who lie helpless as the institutions lack the most basic medications, equipment, or facilities to assist them?
Why do they not sing for those who cannot afford the fees and prescriptions for even the simplest things like bandages, paracetamol, antibiotics, antiseptics, or for life-saving surgeries that should be freely available in any decent healthcare facility?
These are Zimbabweans too - citizens who are left to die needlessly because the system has abandoned them.
Is that not what true love for Zimbabwe should compel one to highlight and fight against?
Who, then, will sing for the rural woman who still has to fetch water from the river because clean water remains a luxury decades after independence?
Who will sing for the mother who must walk 20 kilometers to the nearest clinic, only to find it without medicine or a nurse on duty?
Who will sing for the child whose future hangs by a thread as he treks over 15 kilometers each day to attend a school that lacks even the most basic necessities such as books or desks?
Why do they not sing for our young people whose education, once a treasured gateway to opportunity, now counts for nothing in a country without any viable prospects?
Why do they not sing for the graduates who are forced to become "mahwindi" touting at bus ranks, or informal street vendors, or risk their lives in dangerous artisanal gold mining, or worse still, drift into crime just to survive?
Are these not the realities that define the lived experience of Zimbabweans today?
Shouldn't patriotism mean amplifying these voices rather than drowning them in empty praise-songs for one man?
In their version of "patriotism," do they ever stop to wonder why millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are fleeing the country in droves, even if it means working in degrading menial jobs far below their qualifications in foreign lands?
And yet, they choose to endure such indignity because what they earn abroad is still far better than what they could ever hope to earn back home.
Does that not tell us something about the failure of leadership in Zimbabwe?
Should true patriots not be disturbed by this hemorrhaging of human capital?
So, I ask again: what is this "love for Zimbabwe" that these musicians sing about?
When one looks closely, it becomes obvious that most of them are also suffering under the weight of poverty and economic collapse.
Which raises the question: why sing in praise of the very people directly responsible for their own misery?
Could it be that this is not patriotism at all, but merely a survival strategy?
In a country driven to the brink of destruction by those in power, where genuine opportunities are scarce, perhaps the only way to earn a living for some is to ingratiate themselves with the political elite.
A song of praise for the president might earn a few dollars, or an invitation to a rally, or a chance at patronage.
But that is not patriotism.
That is desperation.
And this is the tragedy of Zimbabwe.
We have been reduced to a country where the lines between patriotism and sycophancy have been deliberately blurred.
What is paraded as "love for Zimbabwe" is, in truth, love for a political patron, love for survival scraps thrown from the high table, love for personal gain at the expense of national truth.
Real patriots are vilified as sellouts, while pretenders are celebrated as heroes.
True patriotism is not afraid to confront power.
True patriotism defends the country even against its rulers, when those rulers engage in rampant corruption, unrepentant looting of national resources, and gross incompetence.
True patriotism refuses to be silenced in the face of injustice, poverty, and hopelessness.
It is about putting Zimbabwe first, not one man.
It is about defending the ordinary citizen, not defending the ruler's image.
Fake patriotism, therefore, is what is killing Zimbabwe.
It has become the opium used to pacify the masses, to lull them into believing that singing for the president is the same as serving the nation.
But a song of lies, no matter how loudly it is played on state television, cannot mask the truth.
And the truth is that Zimbabwe is suffering - not because people do not love their country, but because those in power have confused loyalty to themselves with loyalty to the nation.
Until that deception is exposed, our country will continue to bleed.
● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
