Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe needs 'young and vibrant leaders' - great minds discuss ideas idiots are obsessed with age
01 May 2021 at 04:26hrs | Views
There are many, many reasons one can give why Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and tyrannical thugs and in a serious economic mess. And, most despairing of all, at complete loss why the country is in such a mess much less how to climb out of the economic and political hell-on-earth the nation finds itself stuck in.
Number one on the list of reason why Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic and stuck there is the nation's shocking inability to grasp detail. There is a mountain of evidence from which one can easily identify why the country is in this political and economic mess but when one's reading and grasp of the evidence is so shockingly shallow, almost childish, it is no surprise that the nation again and again gone off at a tangent.
"After almost two decades of a de facto one-party State in Zimbabwe's post-colony, the new millennium's arrival of the MDC coincided with citizens' desperation for a new generation of leadership that is young and vibrant, which could meet their needs of a thriving economy," argued Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, International Relations students at Africa University.
"Opposition parties give alternative policies that aggregate and respect minority interest; they are part and parcel of the nation-building exercise.
"Despite a challenging political environment in Africa, in general, and Zimbabwe in particular, the opposition parties' critical role cannot be undermined."
It is obvious that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were themselves "young and vibrant" when they took over from the whites in 1980. Emmerson Mnangagwa and many of the Zanu PF leaders were in their 30s and 40s in 1980, the same age as their MDC challengers.
And yet the reason why the nation was so desperate to see the back of Zanu PF is because the country's economic and political decline was already self-evident regardless of the party having "young and vibrant" leaders. Of course, having young and vibrant leaders is no panacea of political success and it is foolish to suggest so.
Indeed, there is a mountain of evidence proving that MDC "young and vibrant" leaders were completely outwitted by Zanu PF's old geezers. It was Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were given the task of implementing the democratic reforms and thus dismantle the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship. The had the golden opportunity to do this during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and yet failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and the rest is history!
Our scholars, Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, and many others out there of the same persuasion, are ignoring the historic fact that MDC leaders have already proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. All these serious faults are trumped by the MDC leaders' supreme virtue, "young and vibrant" the virtue of all virtues.
Of course, we are just arguing in circles since the MDC leaders had the virtue of virtue, youth and vigour during the GNU but it failed to stop them being outwitted. In other words our intellectuals are so shallow, thick and slow they are failing to see they are arguing in circles a fallacious argument.
By the same token Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF old geezers have failed to revive the country's comatose economy. He cocksure his "Zimbabwe is open for business"! clarion call would open the flood gate of investors and kick start the comatose economy. The 41 years has seen the Zanu PF leaders move from young and vibrant to the old geezers and the country's economic trajectory has a steady decline throughout – proof age Zanu PF leaders were corrupt and incompetent in their youth and have so remained to old age!
If someone can be corrupt and incompetent in their youth, middle age and old age just as others can be competent and visionary in the youth, middle age and old age; it is self-evident age has nothing to do one's competence or otherwise. Why something that has become self-evident since the dawn of human civilisation, notably with the Greeks 2 500 years ago, is still an unfathomable mystery to Zimbabwean scholars like Mawunganidze and Rinemhota and a measure of just how shallow, thick and slow they are.
I must say Zimbabwe's institutions of higher learning are notorious for chaining out Degree and PhD graduates and Professors who are very shallow, thick and slow. A consequence of Zanu PF's obsession with quantity and disdain for quality.
"Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people." Said the Greek Philosopher Socrates, 2 500 years ago.
2 500 years latter, we in Zimbabwe have not even reached the level of "weak minds" discussing people. We have a fixation with age; "young and vibrant" is a virtue to be valued above people, events and ideas! It is no wonder we are not only in a political and economic mess but are stuck.
As long as we have an electorate that lacks the common sense to see being young and vibrant is not a virtue and guarantee for competent and quality leaders; there is no hope of Zimbabwe getting out of the mess we are in. None!
If great minds discuss ideas and weak minds discuss people then one has to say idiots have a fixation with the trivial and irrelevant issues such as age, gender, tribe, race, etc. The idiots are so obsessed with the trivial matters not even the benefit of thousands of years of human civilization has managed to open their eyes.
Number one on the list of reason why Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic and stuck there is the nation's shocking inability to grasp detail. There is a mountain of evidence from which one can easily identify why the country is in this political and economic mess but when one's reading and grasp of the evidence is so shockingly shallow, almost childish, it is no surprise that the nation again and again gone off at a tangent.
"After almost two decades of a de facto one-party State in Zimbabwe's post-colony, the new millennium's arrival of the MDC coincided with citizens' desperation for a new generation of leadership that is young and vibrant, which could meet their needs of a thriving economy," argued Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, International Relations students at Africa University.
"Opposition parties give alternative policies that aggregate and respect minority interest; they are part and parcel of the nation-building exercise.
"Despite a challenging political environment in Africa, in general, and Zimbabwe in particular, the opposition parties' critical role cannot be undermined."
It is obvious that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were themselves "young and vibrant" when they took over from the whites in 1980. Emmerson Mnangagwa and many of the Zanu PF leaders were in their 30s and 40s in 1980, the same age as their MDC challengers.
And yet the reason why the nation was so desperate to see the back of Zanu PF is because the country's economic and political decline was already self-evident regardless of the party having "young and vibrant" leaders. Of course, having young and vibrant leaders is no panacea of political success and it is foolish to suggest so.
Indeed, there is a mountain of evidence proving that MDC "young and vibrant" leaders were completely outwitted by Zanu PF's old geezers. It was Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were given the task of implementing the democratic reforms and thus dismantle the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship. The had the golden opportunity to do this during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and yet failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and the rest is history!
Our scholars, Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, and many others out there of the same persuasion, are ignoring the historic fact that MDC leaders have already proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. All these serious faults are trumped by the MDC leaders' supreme virtue, "young and vibrant" the virtue of all virtues.
Of course, we are just arguing in circles since the MDC leaders had the virtue of virtue, youth and vigour during the GNU but it failed to stop them being outwitted. In other words our intellectuals are so shallow, thick and slow they are failing to see they are arguing in circles a fallacious argument.
By the same token Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF old geezers have failed to revive the country's comatose economy. He cocksure his "Zimbabwe is open for business"! clarion call would open the flood gate of investors and kick start the comatose economy. The 41 years has seen the Zanu PF leaders move from young and vibrant to the old geezers and the country's economic trajectory has a steady decline throughout – proof age Zanu PF leaders were corrupt and incompetent in their youth and have so remained to old age!
If someone can be corrupt and incompetent in their youth, middle age and old age just as others can be competent and visionary in the youth, middle age and old age; it is self-evident age has nothing to do one's competence or otherwise. Why something that has become self-evident since the dawn of human civilisation, notably with the Greeks 2 500 years ago, is still an unfathomable mystery to Zimbabwean scholars like Mawunganidze and Rinemhota and a measure of just how shallow, thick and slow they are.
I must say Zimbabwe's institutions of higher learning are notorious for chaining out Degree and PhD graduates and Professors who are very shallow, thick and slow. A consequence of Zanu PF's obsession with quantity and disdain for quality.
"Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people." Said the Greek Philosopher Socrates, 2 500 years ago.
2 500 years latter, we in Zimbabwe have not even reached the level of "weak minds" discussing people. We have a fixation with age; "young and vibrant" is a virtue to be valued above people, events and ideas! It is no wonder we are not only in a political and economic mess but are stuck.
As long as we have an electorate that lacks the common sense to see being young and vibrant is not a virtue and guarantee for competent and quality leaders; there is no hope of Zimbabwe getting out of the mess we are in. None!
If great minds discuss ideas and weak minds discuss people then one has to say idiots have a fixation with the trivial and irrelevant issues such as age, gender, tribe, race, etc. The idiots are so obsessed with the trivial matters not even the benefit of thousands of years of human civilization has managed to open their eyes.
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
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