The Sunday News
Micheal Mhlanga
CONTRARY to Nkrumah’s 20th century belief of seeking first the political kingdom, the 21st century has suggested otherwise for the Zimbabwean, “seek ye first the economic kingdom and the political demands shall be added unto thee”. The dynamics of status quo politics need not to be confronted in an unquestioning perspective; it needs a critical questioning approach which interrogates the correspondence of speech politics and the transitional demands in economic spaces for young people.
The 2019 challenges to Zimbabwe’s political economy are presenting numerous pedagogues to the diverse constituencies in Zimbabwe. The citizen, both young and old, self-sustaining and dependent, elite and the mass have so far, for the better of 2018 compromised its own identity in the quest to realise the benefits of much sacrifices made in 2018, whose results are expected much sooner than economic craftsmen expect.
In the unfolding of the deeply embedded Zimbabwean challenges such as long winding fuel queues, extortive three-tier pricing of basic commodities, a growing and de facto normalising parallel market, the effects of El Nino, and a blackmailing political environment where the main opposition party is constantly threatening worsening an already struggling livelihood, life is becoming unbearable for young people.
While Zimbabwe is struggling to realise itself in the broader economic definition, the young citizen is also struggling to locate him/ herself in the economy of Zimbabwe. The youth is not only subject to the nation’s global economic isolation but also subject to the systemic rejection from the national fortunes. Usually when a nation’s economy is dismantling, political decisions are at the helm of exploring the possible alternatives. In Zimbabwe where the youth constitute the majority of the direct economic citizenship, the quest for economic solutions seems to be selective in endowing dividends of access to state means of production.
As I have argued in this space before, the economic disenfranchisement of a critical and majority demographic in Zimbabwe propelled many to flock into the political spaces to feed neo-patrimonial structures and benefit from systems of patronage hence their presence in politics, for now, has little to do with serving Zimbabwe, but more to do with escaping poverty and inspired by an easy yet unorthodox avenue of wealth creation.
When the youth choose to think political for their problems they subconsciously neglect the critical vessels of their empowerment which happen to be the economy. In the unhygienic political landscape of Africa as Professor PLO Lumumba would suggest, the economic misfortune of the youth has become a fortune for the other generation’s patronage structures, a system that is not worth celebration.
Rethinking themselves is the only solution to the economic political ills confronting them today, the major problem facing the youth now is no longer the fractured politics of who has the power, it has translated into who is producing what and where.
Production has become a major challenge to Zimbabwe’s youth.
Apart from their political misgivings in South Africa (which I do not share with their adversaries) Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) stand out as the only institution manned by young patriots whose religiosity to the Republic and Pan Africanism should be a reference to every young politician.
As I penned this article, I am in a trance induced by the EFF Jazz Hour’s melody titled “Azania”. You may ask of the relevance of EFF’s Jazz Hour and its linkage to outposts in Zimbabwe, let me hasten to say that 2019 is a passage of rite to youth political definition, out rightly and coincidentally, the year is a spiritual passage to the redefinition of Zimbabwe’s politics and the manifestation of youth-bred contesting discourses.
It is again a year of the long awaited manifestation of Second Republic. This year should be used as a reminder for the long term questions of economic development and should be viewed as another re-alignment programme for Zimbabwe and its long term ideological commitments.
A tune from the EFF Jazz hour again is the melody of Izwe lami led by the ever energetic Dr Mbuyiseni Q. Ndlozi. The melody cedes the fundamentals of dying for our land. It is the inspirational young voices that foster a remembrance that it is the young and restless who will save and serve this land, likewise, the struggle should continue and the present fruits should be jealously guarded.
The young citizen is today faced with the challenge of shifting his/ her perspectives from the reductionist attitude, to a more cooperative conception of state affairs. Beyond the youth being a recipient of national thought, this year’s political environment should push the youth to become the bearer of the ideology and become the ideology itself. The liberation struggle is an elastic phenomenon, every national aspiration can be accommodated, regardless of the nature of the ambition.
The Umvukela/ Chimurenga thought in its democratic origins can tolerate and house everyone, nonetheless in its nationalistic formation it will always oppose any contradictions to the long term commitments of the Republic. Not much is missing to achieve this, it is only a deficit of a national positive attitude towards protection and development of our country; we are not far from being where we should be. An inspiring melody for this thought is the Jazz Hour’s Sekusele Kancane.
Coincidentally 2019 comes at an epoch when the nation is gearing up for yet another definitive phase of Zimbabwe’s history; this year conveniently complements the nation’s outstanding call for economic reconstruction, patriotism and national unity; in this regard, the nation should mirror the Chimurenga/ Umvukela memory as a platform to reboot national commitments, as such projecting the moment as an excuse for creating a conducive policy environment founded on patriotic policy acceptance attitudes.
The definitive moment should get rid of public complacency within which public service should be a patriotic duty manned by the best minds on the land, ready to make Zimbabwe great again — these were the aspirations of the Unknown Soldier. We are entering an epoch whose prophecy is enveloped in Mzwakhe Mbuli’s The day shall dawn where no violence, both systemic and systematic should find residence amongst us.
From here on, prescribed social organisations used to identify ourselves aggressively different should be reduced obsolete. Hereon, the Presidium, in upholding the gallant sons and daughters’ aspirations should unite the nation, that should be the first and fundamental step. For the rest of us, let us garment ourselves with positivity, national proprietorship and responsible patriotism.
You will not doubt that from the Third Chimurenga, our principal aim was effective state ownership, the empowerment of the citizen and most importantly the beginning of an end to the systemic economic retrogression which was confronting the nation in a very sophisticated format. The inconsistency between the majority and national development which is tantamount to policy inconsistency had to be abolished.
Through the recollection of patriotic memories made by the gallant sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives to give an ideological meaning to the phenomenon of nativity in Zimbabwe, the 2000 policy commitments were achieved.
In this regard, the liberation struggle has proved to be an unwavering tower for national salvation, as such, amidst the many questions Zimbabwe finds itself in today such as national continuity, equitable income redistribution and veneration of Nzira Dzemasoja (The melo-philosophical rendition of national behavior expected of all students and loyalists of the Republic), the Republic must not hesitate to retrospect into the legacy of the liberation struggle for answers. This is the part I refer you to the song Nzira Dzemasoja let us ask ourselves today: Have we trodden on the “Nzira”?
Phambili ngeZimbabwe!
