Poverty, Mugabe's evil*tionary trick of subjugating 'educated' Zimbabweans

I cannot recall. Napoleon, Machiavelli, Stalin or Mao - it must be one of these ancient eccentrics who coined a phrase - or more appropriately - whose philosophical predisposition was that if one wants to exert total control over someone, it is advisable to impoverish them. If none of these political manipulators is credited with this school of thought, then from today, the metaphorical accolade belongs to me. I should know better. When ZANU.PF took over from the Rhodesia Front in 1980, millions of we Zimbabweans were basking in the middle class zone. Apart from racial segregation and related discrimination, we were a happy lot going about our daily lives without much financial strain. In fact, even people like Matsika, Zwambila, Trainos, A.D. Mpepu, P. Hall, Mabobodoko in Bulawayo and the Midlands where I grew up, were actually beacons of entrepreneurial success. We knew them as hard-working, honest, reliable and humble. There was another motley crew of such iconic families in Harare - Matambanadzo, Chiweshe, Ruredzo, Mushandirapamwe, Mucheche, Tawengwa - who had made good life out of the scraps of colonial repression yet remained role models of ingenious African resourcefulness.

By year 2000, Mugabe and his A-K47 gauchos - who by the way came from Mozambique as anointed servant leaders - had completely decimated the middle class and enriched only themselves. Before we knew it, Zimbabwe was a country of thirteen million desperados. This was a reverse economic miracle, a symphony of misery conducted by the devil himself concluding on the tenth octave with a wailing nation groping in the dark for own currency, real commercial farmers, property rights and reliable infrastructure. All the while, Mugabe stuck to power - an oxymoron really because in civilised countries, presidents who deliberately drive their country to the gallows tend to be one term wonders. They are either voted out or some frustrated looney pushes them out of the presidential jet without a parachute. But more often than not such presidents have accumulated so much wealth in office they systematically apply this influence to keep their people on the extreme scale of poverty, in which case the people become unwilling objects of benevolent dictatorship. Otherwise how else can such a bad leader who has run his country to the rocks, remain in power for 37 uninterrupted years?

And that is my point today. It is our poverty keeping Mugabe in power - mainly because of unemployment, low disposable incomes, defective opposition strategy, failure to apply our education and also limited analysis of sustainable political alternatives. In the 1980s, Mugabe and his cronies gloated about exponential school enrolment. Even up today, the deluded few go about claiming that we are some of the most educated Africans on the continent. Thanks to Mugabe, they say, he inundated the countryside with schools, universities and teachers. And so, on the balance of probabilities, we should by now be citizens of the most advanced country in Africa with access to unlimited, abundant human capital and a citizenry capable of bringing the government to account, ultimately able to change it at will. However, the opposite is true. We are educated but unable to tilt the political dynamics in our favour. Mugabe managed to make our so-called education devoid of enlightenment.

He is smart, so the MDC Alliance leader will need to be smarter. You can only beat competition if you exceed their competitive advantage. That is where our problem begins. Mugabe likes books, so in the cities, he kept us busy at colleges, accumulating diplomas, degrees and of late, doctorates. For two decades we totally despised politics as a game 'for the uneducated rural peasants'. Up until 2000, 'educated' Zimbabweans - whatever 'class' we were - had nothing but contempt for politics - educated but unenlightened on matters of national governance. So, knowing fully well 70% of Zimbabweans are rural, Mugabe took advantage to condition them around 'presidential schemes' - dishing out cheap title less land, fertiliser, seed, packs of rice, cooking oil and T shirts. The collapse in national infrastructure and public service delivery meant that it was only ZANU.PF with access to the national treasure to 'solve' rural problems through rural electrification, boreholes, irrigation schemes, share ownership schemes and food aid. This was far from a strategy of empowering citizens. It was meant merely to keep their proverbial feeding mouths open and begging arms outstretched. Even if MDC wanted to be a worthy political competitor, they would find this benevolent strategy hard to beat. The rural peasants became incrementally poor, surviving only - as Ivan Pavlov once proved - by responding to the routine bell of benevolence rung only by Mugabe and ZANU.PF. To further poison their minds, Mugabe's ZBC and ZTV exploited broadcast monopoly, systematically repeating to the now hapless villagers that any problems to do with money, fuel, electricity, roads, clinics, medicine shortages were caused by "illegal western-imposed sanctions invited on Zimbabwe on the instigation of Morgan Tsvangirai and other western puppets in MDC'. Even though our rural people are highly literate - like everyone else - their poor enlightenment makes them victims of Mugabe's toxic propaganda. This 'cognitive poverty' entrenches the cycle of dependency, cult worship and ultimately limits strategic political analysis.

Thus, when it comes to even the 2018 version elections - 90% of Zimbabwe's population - still educated and literate - remains unenlightened. Our 'cognitive poverty' is an autobahn where chiefs, headmen and the ZANU.PF institutional juggernaut can exercise unlimited speed of deceit, intimidation and harassment. From the vintage point of theoretical political analysis, it is difficult to appreciate why Zimbabwean villagers - armed with four full years of secondary school education - can accept to be assisted voters or even believe that BVR is good only because it helps ZANU.PF operatives determine who will have voted for the opposition. Our critics - as opposition - have to appreciate that after 37 years of unenlightened education and the spiral of poverty imposed on us by Mugabe and ZANU.PF, it is now extremely easy to oppress us. Whereas education must be a tool for self-empowerment, we have used it only for personal prestige. ZANU.PF's self-enriching policies have destroyed all prospects for job creation, hence the conveyor belt of thousands of college graduates is merely pouring them into this vast abyss of dependency - more poor victims of Mugabe's evil*tional political chicanery. I rest my case.#SundaySoulFood - Poverty, Mugabe's Evil*tionary Trick of Subjugating 'Educated' Zimbabweans - #JaivaSbone. Rejoice Ngwenya. Sunday, 29 October 2017. Harare.

I cannot recall. Napoleon, Machiavelli, Stalin or Mao - it must be one of these ancient eccentrics who coined a phrase - or more appropriately - whose philosophical predisposition was that if one wants to exert total control over someone, it is advisable to impoverish them. If none of these political manipulators is credited with this school of thought, then from today, the metaphorical accolade belongs to me. I should know better. When ZANU.PF took over from the Rhodesia Front in 1980, millions of we Zimbabweans were basking in the middle class zone. Apart from racial segregation and related discrimination, we were a happy lot going about our daily lives without much financial strain. In fact, even people like Matsika, Zwambila, Trainos, A.D. Mpepu, P. Hall, Mabobodoko in Bulawayo and the Midlands where I grew up, were actually beacons of entrepreneurial success. We knew them as hard-working, honest, reliable and humble. There was another motley crew of such iconic families in Harare - Matambanadzo, Chiweshe, Ruredzo, Mushandirapamwe, Mucheche, Tawengwa - who had made good life out of the scraps of colonial repression yet remained role models of ingenious African resourcefulness.

By year 2000, Mugabe and his A-K47 gauchos - who by the way came from Mozambique as anointed servant leaders - had completely decimated the middle class and enriched only themselves. Before we knew it, Zimbabwe was a country of thirteen million desperados. This was a reverse economic miracle, a symphony of misery conducted by the devil himself concluding on the tenth octave with a wailing nation groping in the dark for own currency, real commercial farmers, property rights and reliable infrastructure. All the while, Mugabe stuck to power - an oxymoron really because in civilised countries, presidents who deliberately drive their country to the gallows tend to be one term wonders. They are either voted out or some frustrated looney pushes them out of the presidential jet without a parachute. But more often than not such presidents have accumulated so much wealth in office they systematically apply this influence to keep their people on the extreme scale of poverty, in which case the people become unwilling objects of benevolent dictatorship. Otherwise how else can such a bad leader who has run his country to the rocks, remain in power for 37 uninterrupted years?

And that is my point today. It is our poverty keeping Mugabe in power - mainly because of unemployment, low disposable incomes, defective opposition strategy, failure to apply our education and also limited analysis of sustainable political alternatives. In the 1980s, Mugabe and his cronies gloated about exponential school enrolment. Even up today, the deluded few go about claiming that we are some of the most educated Africans on the continent. Thanks to Mugabe, they say, he inundated the countryside with schools, universities and teachers. And so, on the balance of probabilities, we should by now be citizens of the most advanced country in Africa with access to unlimited, abundant human capital and a citizenry capable of bringing the government to account, ultimately able to change it at will. However, the opposite is true. We are educated but unable to tilt the political dynamics in our favour. Mugabe managed to make our so-called education devoid of enlightenment.

He is smart, so the MDC Alliance leader will need to be smarter. You can only beat competition if you exceed their competitive advantage. That is where our problem begins. Mugabe likes books, so in the cities, he kept us busy at colleges, accumulating diplomas, degrees and of late, doctorates. For two decades we totally despised politics as a game 'for the uneducated rural peasants'. Up until 2000, 'educated' Zimbabweans - whatever 'class' we were - had nothing but contempt for politics - educated but unenlightened on matters of national governance. So, knowing fully well 70% of Zimbabweans are rural, Mugabe took advantage to condition them around 'presidential schemes' - dishing out cheap title less land, fertiliser, seed, packs of rice, cooking oil and T shirts. The collapse in national infrastructure and public service delivery meant that it was only ZANU.PF with access to the national treasure to 'solve' rural problems through rural electrification, boreholes, irrigation schemes, share ownership schemes and food aid. This was far from a strategy of empowering citizens. It was meant merely to keep their proverbial feeding mouths open and begging arms outstretched. Even if MDC wanted to be a worthy political competitor, they would find this benevolent strategy hard to beat. The rural peasants became incrementally poor, surviving only - as Ivan Pavlov once proved - by responding to the routine bell of benevolence rung only by Mugabe and ZANU.PF. To further poison their minds, Mugabe's ZBC and ZTV exploited broadcast monopoly, systematically repeating to the now hapless villagers that any problems to do with money, fuel, electricity, roads, clinics, medicine shortages were caused by "illegal western-imposed sanctions invited on Zimbabwe on the instigation of Morgan Tsvangirai and other western puppets in MDC'. Even though our rural people are highly literate - like everyone else - their poor enlightenment makes them victims of Mugabe's toxic propaganda. This 'cognitive poverty' entrenches the cycle of dependency, cult worship and ultimately limits strategic political analysis.

Thus, when it comes to even the 2018 version elections - 90% of Zimbabwe's population - still educated and literate - remains unenlightened. Our 'cognitive poverty' is an autobahn where chiefs, headmen and the ZANU.PF institutional juggernaut can exercise unlimited speed of deceit, intimidation and harassment. From the vintage point of theoretical political analysis, it is difficult to appreciate why Zimbabwean villagers - armed with four full years of secondary school education - can accept to be assisted voters or even believe that BVR is good only because it helps ZANU.PF operatives determine who will have voted for the opposition. Our critics - as opposition - have to appreciate that after 37 years of unenlightened education and the spiral of poverty imposed on us by Mugabe and ZANU.PF, it is now extremely easy to oppress us. Whereas education must be a tool for self-empowerment, we have used it only for personal prestige. ZANU.PF's self-enriching policies have destroyed all prospects for job creation, hence the conveyor belt of thousands of college graduates is merely pouring them into this vast abyss of dependency - more poor victims of Mugabe's evil*tional political chicanery.

I rest my case.