Opinion / Columnist
Are we cursed as Zimbabweans?
29 Jul 2024 at 08:13hrs | Views
Let us not pretend and lie to each other.
We need to be brutally honest.
Have we not, at some point, asked ourselves or one another this question?
Are we cursed as Zimbabweans?
Maybe we even ponder on this terribly painful issue nearly on a daily basis.
Why wouldn't we?
This morning, I could not help asking myself the same question - maybe for the umpteenth time - as I was watching the morning news on the state-controlled broadcaster ZBC .
I, as thousands of other Zimbabweans, also watch other countries' public broadcasters, particularly in the southern African region.
In fact, as soon as the ZBC morning news comes to an end, I immediately switch over to South Africa's SABC.
That is the most traumatizing experience in my daily routine - as the differences between the two countries are laid bare literally within a matter of a few seconds!
One ZBC, nearly every news report and supposed 'current affairs' program is on glorifying and praising President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia.
It appears as though there is some unwritten rule that everyone, specifically government officials, who speaks to the media or at public gatherings, should extol the virtues of these two individuals.
At the same time, those attending these gatherings - possibly against their will, especially in rural areas - are obliged to sing, dance, and ululate for the president or first lady as if they were in the presence of deity.
Even some within the Christian Church have not been left behind.
As a devout Christian myself, there is nothing I find more appalling and an act of utter disrespect to our Jehovah God and Lord Jesus Christ as the abuse of His Name and Word.
Pulpits have been turned into ZANU PF rallies with church leaders de facto political commissars.
The level of hero-worshipping in Zimbabwe is nauseating and a total embarrassment to the country.
Is this who we have become as a nation?
Yet, one rarely comes across these degrading and humiliating scenes across the border.
When watching SABC, one is driven to the point of envy.
It can not be denied that, regardless of the numerous challenges faced by our southern neighbor, the country is quite normal.
The people hold their leaders to account and demand that those in authority fulfil their obligations without excuses.
Even supporters of the governing (as opposed to 'ruling') ANC party have absolutely no fear questioning those in authority.
To cap it all, at no point have I ever come across instances where ordinary South Africans sing, dance, and ululate for President Cyril Ramaphosa or his wife Tshepo Motsepe.
They are never placed on a pedestal as some form of god and goddess.
Furthermore, South African cabinet ministers and other government officials are never made to feel compelled - each time they open their mouths or at every juncture - to glorify these two.
In a similar fashion, the public broadcaster - which is genuinely independent and impartial - actually fulfills its journalist 'fourth estate' watchdog role of holding those in power answerable to the nation.
Hardly have I ever come across jingles on SABC singing the praises of Ramaphosa.
However, a few minutes watching ZBC can easily leave one dumbfounded and in a state of shock!
In contrast, it is always a huge pleasure watching those in authority being fearlessly grilled and interrogated on national television.
As a journalist myself, I fully understand the fact that we are supposed to be the voice of the voiceless and certainly not the voice of the powerful.
Yet, the latter is that we tragically witness, in utter shock and shame, taking place in our own Zimbabwe.
The state-controlled media has become nothing more than a desk in the ruling ZANU PF party information and publicity department.
In actual fact, it is worse than that.
In our neighboring South Africa, the governing ANC party has never been turned into a Ramaphosa praise-singer.
I follow social media posts by the party's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, and nowhere does he expend his time licking Ramaphosa's boots.
As much as I do not always agree with Mbalula's sentiments, I have profound respect for how he focuses on genuinely national issues.
Now, just visit the social media pages of our own George Charamba or Nick Mangwana, and one is left with a bitter taste in the mouth!
In South Africa, there is never any confusion as to the differences and separation between the president, government, governing party, and country.
Ramaphosa is fair-game even for the ANC, should he be seen as taking the wrong direction.
We witnessed this after the May 2024 general elections, when the ANC failed to garner the required 50 percent plus one parliamentary seats to govern on their own.
When Ramaphosa began talks for a coalition government with the white-dominated opposition DA, some within the ANC, such as Lindiwe Sisulu, were quite candid with their opposition to such an arrangement.
Not only were they never regarded as 'unpatriotic' but were not expelled from the governing party.
Any ZANU PF member, nevertheless, who dares criticize Mnangagwa would have effectively signed his expulsion letter.
In Zimbabwe, the president, government, ruling party, and country are treated as one entity!
If you criticize the president and his government, this is ultimately interpreted as attacking one's own country and an act of 'unpatriotism'.
That is why we now have such outrageous an law such as the so-called 'Patriotic Act' - which has very little, if anything, to do with Zimbabwe - but purely targeted at those who castigate and expose Mnangagwa and his administration.
This is made more ridiculous by the fact that those making such accusations of 'unpatriotism' actually rebelled against their own president, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, whom they forced to step down at the barrel of a gun!
Who, then, is truly 'unpatriotic', if we are to use this definition?
There is a reason as to my choice of South Africa for comparison with Zimbabwe.
There are those, particularly in Zimbabwe, who have sought to disingenuously attribute our warped political system to the close ties, especially during the liberation struggle, between ZANU PF and Communist China.
There may be a speck of truth to that, but opting to blame this link would not be entirely truthful.
Did the ANC not have an equally strong relationship with Communist Soviet Union during their fight against apartheid - a far more reviled country, especially at that time?
So, why is South Africa not a little replica of the then USSR?
It shows that there was a deliberate move by the post-apartheid South African government to transform the nation into a true democracy, regardless of ANC's close ties with Russia.
However, in Zimbabwe, the new post-independence leaders, due to their insatiable greed for power, were quite comfortable with adopting the Chinese authoritarian model.
Is it any wonder the ZANU PF regime wanted, and clearly still want, to introduce a one-party state?
Just as in China, we are all expected to regard the state president as a god of sorts - who should be worshipped and never questioned.
Any dissenters in Zimbabwe are viewed as deserving arrest and thrown behind bars - if they are fortune enough not to be killed.
Yet, in genuine democracies, the head of state is answerable to the people - from where his authority to govern is derived - and is freely criticized by the citizenry, including his own party.
Is that not why US President Joe Biden was forced, through democratic means, by his own Democratic Party, to step aside and withdraw from the November 2024 presidential elections due to his advanced age?
Interestingly, Biden is the same age as Mnangagwa - 81 years old - yet our own appears intent on extending his tenure past the current final term ending 2028!
Instead of ZANU PF ensuring that he steps down at the end of his constitutional term, they are actually busy pushing him to remain in office till 2030!
This is just how shameful and despicable we have become as a nation.
On a parting note, such a flawed system of governance is exactly why we are in this mess as Zimbabweans.
As long as we fear and worship the president, how then can we hold him accountable for any mismanagement and bad governance?
He can run the country down - as is currently the case - and we will simply watch, whilst actually defending and praising his 'visionary leadership'!
His family and close allies can loot our national resources with reckless abandon - as we sing, dance, and ululate to his greatness and infallibility!
More than anything else, our hero-worshipping of the president is why we are suffering and languishing in poverty in Zimbabwe.
We are our own enemies.
That is why I, as many others, ask: Are we cursed as Zimbabweans?
Surely, why do we seem determined to author our own misery?
In truth, we ourselves are the curse upon Zimbabwe!
© 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/
We need to be brutally honest.
Have we not, at some point, asked ourselves or one another this question?
Are we cursed as Zimbabweans?
Maybe we even ponder on this terribly painful issue nearly on a daily basis.
Why wouldn't we?
This morning, I could not help asking myself the same question - maybe for the umpteenth time - as I was watching the morning news on the state-controlled broadcaster ZBC .
I, as thousands of other Zimbabweans, also watch other countries' public broadcasters, particularly in the southern African region.
In fact, as soon as the ZBC morning news comes to an end, I immediately switch over to South Africa's SABC.
That is the most traumatizing experience in my daily routine - as the differences between the two countries are laid bare literally within a matter of a few seconds!
One ZBC, nearly every news report and supposed 'current affairs' program is on glorifying and praising President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia.
It appears as though there is some unwritten rule that everyone, specifically government officials, who speaks to the media or at public gatherings, should extol the virtues of these two individuals.
At the same time, those attending these gatherings - possibly against their will, especially in rural areas - are obliged to sing, dance, and ululate for the president or first lady as if they were in the presence of deity.
Even some within the Christian Church have not been left behind.
As a devout Christian myself, there is nothing I find more appalling and an act of utter disrespect to our Jehovah God and Lord Jesus Christ as the abuse of His Name and Word.
Pulpits have been turned into ZANU PF rallies with church leaders de facto political commissars.
The level of hero-worshipping in Zimbabwe is nauseating and a total embarrassment to the country.
Is this who we have become as a nation?
Yet, one rarely comes across these degrading and humiliating scenes across the border.
When watching SABC, one is driven to the point of envy.
It can not be denied that, regardless of the numerous challenges faced by our southern neighbor, the country is quite normal.
The people hold their leaders to account and demand that those in authority fulfil their obligations without excuses.
Even supporters of the governing (as opposed to 'ruling') ANC party have absolutely no fear questioning those in authority.
To cap it all, at no point have I ever come across instances where ordinary South Africans sing, dance, and ululate for President Cyril Ramaphosa or his wife Tshepo Motsepe.
They are never placed on a pedestal as some form of god and goddess.
Furthermore, South African cabinet ministers and other government officials are never made to feel compelled - each time they open their mouths or at every juncture - to glorify these two.
In a similar fashion, the public broadcaster - which is genuinely independent and impartial - actually fulfills its journalist 'fourth estate' watchdog role of holding those in power answerable to the nation.
Hardly have I ever come across jingles on SABC singing the praises of Ramaphosa.
However, a few minutes watching ZBC can easily leave one dumbfounded and in a state of shock!
In contrast, it is always a huge pleasure watching those in authority being fearlessly grilled and interrogated on national television.
As a journalist myself, I fully understand the fact that we are supposed to be the voice of the voiceless and certainly not the voice of the powerful.
Yet, the latter is that we tragically witness, in utter shock and shame, taking place in our own Zimbabwe.
The state-controlled media has become nothing more than a desk in the ruling ZANU PF party information and publicity department.
In actual fact, it is worse than that.
In our neighboring South Africa, the governing ANC party has never been turned into a Ramaphosa praise-singer.
I follow social media posts by the party's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, and nowhere does he expend his time licking Ramaphosa's boots.
As much as I do not always agree with Mbalula's sentiments, I have profound respect for how he focuses on genuinely national issues.
In South Africa, there is never any confusion as to the differences and separation between the president, government, governing party, and country.
Ramaphosa is fair-game even for the ANC, should he be seen as taking the wrong direction.
We witnessed this after the May 2024 general elections, when the ANC failed to garner the required 50 percent plus one parliamentary seats to govern on their own.
When Ramaphosa began talks for a coalition government with the white-dominated opposition DA, some within the ANC, such as Lindiwe Sisulu, were quite candid with their opposition to such an arrangement.
Not only were they never regarded as 'unpatriotic' but were not expelled from the governing party.
Any ZANU PF member, nevertheless, who dares criticize Mnangagwa would have effectively signed his expulsion letter.
In Zimbabwe, the president, government, ruling party, and country are treated as one entity!
If you criticize the president and his government, this is ultimately interpreted as attacking one's own country and an act of 'unpatriotism'.
That is why we now have such outrageous an law such as the so-called 'Patriotic Act' - which has very little, if anything, to do with Zimbabwe - but purely targeted at those who castigate and expose Mnangagwa and his administration.
This is made more ridiculous by the fact that those making such accusations of 'unpatriotism' actually rebelled against their own president, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, whom they forced to step down at the barrel of a gun!
Who, then, is truly 'unpatriotic', if we are to use this definition?
There is a reason as to my choice of South Africa for comparison with Zimbabwe.
There are those, particularly in Zimbabwe, who have sought to disingenuously attribute our warped political system to the close ties, especially during the liberation struggle, between ZANU PF and Communist China.
There may be a speck of truth to that, but opting to blame this link would not be entirely truthful.
Did the ANC not have an equally strong relationship with Communist Soviet Union during their fight against apartheid - a far more reviled country, especially at that time?
So, why is South Africa not a little replica of the then USSR?
It shows that there was a deliberate move by the post-apartheid South African government to transform the nation into a true democracy, regardless of ANC's close ties with Russia.
However, in Zimbabwe, the new post-independence leaders, due to their insatiable greed for power, were quite comfortable with adopting the Chinese authoritarian model.
Is it any wonder the ZANU PF regime wanted, and clearly still want, to introduce a one-party state?
Just as in China, we are all expected to regard the state president as a god of sorts - who should be worshipped and never questioned.
Any dissenters in Zimbabwe are viewed as deserving arrest and thrown behind bars - if they are fortune enough not to be killed.
Yet, in genuine democracies, the head of state is answerable to the people - from where his authority to govern is derived - and is freely criticized by the citizenry, including his own party.
Is that not why US President Joe Biden was forced, through democratic means, by his own Democratic Party, to step aside and withdraw from the November 2024 presidential elections due to his advanced age?
Interestingly, Biden is the same age as Mnangagwa - 81 years old - yet our own appears intent on extending his tenure past the current final term ending 2028!
Instead of ZANU PF ensuring that he steps down at the end of his constitutional term, they are actually busy pushing him to remain in office till 2030!
This is just how shameful and despicable we have become as a nation.
On a parting note, such a flawed system of governance is exactly why we are in this mess as Zimbabweans.
As long as we fear and worship the president, how then can we hold him accountable for any mismanagement and bad governance?
He can run the country down - as is currently the case - and we will simply watch, whilst actually defending and praising his 'visionary leadership'!
His family and close allies can loot our national resources with reckless abandon - as we sing, dance, and ululate to his greatness and infallibility!
More than anything else, our hero-worshipping of the president is why we are suffering and languishing in poverty in Zimbabwe.
We are our own enemies.
That is why I, as many others, ask: Are we cursed as Zimbabweans?
Surely, why do we seem determined to author our own misery?
In truth, we ourselves are the curse upon Zimbabwe!
© 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
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