Dr Obert Moses Mpofu
COULD it be that we are witnessing a new tide in the global architecture of politics? For what it’s worth, I am more inclined towards the thinking that the true colours of those who seek to forever keep us under subjugation are finally coming out.
There are several senseless and utter careless acts and sentiments that have been echoed by the West, particularly from the new United States administration on the situation in Gaza and the recent developments in South Africa. Such sentiments and positions are both frightening and sickening at the same time.
There is a seemingly fresh attempt to wipe out the Palestinian state from the face of the earth altogether. Similarly, there are attempts to gag and disarm South Africa before they go full throttle on their position to take back their land. Both positions taken by Washington are egregious and spell doom for any hope of having equality and sovereignty for any country in the world.
Such positions set a bad and dangerous precedence in global geo-politics. Be that as it may, it is important to remember that the delays of a unipolar world order are gone and there has risen in its stead a multi-polar world order that seeks to counterbalance any madness that may lead to anarchy across the globe. Fear, and threats of coercion should never be tools used in international relations whatsoever.
The US has often resorted to one form of punishment or another in attempts to enforce conformity to their warped idea of democracy.
If I may refresh your memory, Zimbabwe was punished by a barrage of sanctions several decades ago, simply because we said enough was enough and took back our land. Our economy screamed under the weight of these illegal sanctions, but all the same we managed to find our way towards prosperity and carved a new path with like-minded nations such as China who were more than willing to support our right to self-determination as well as see us prosper.
South Africa is equally under the same act because they have also realised that without access to land, our people will never truly achieve any meaningful development. The recent move by the Trump regime to seemingly make attempts to sanction South Africa over an illusory crisis and a non-existent ill-treatment of the white community in that country is egregious.
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I have never seen a more ill-informed decision in recent times than this. The whites are not the victims in this case, they never have been, even in Zimbabwe’s case, the white commercial farmers were never victims. This is why in spite of the UK backtracking on the initial compensation agreement, the Government of Zimbabwe under President Mnangagwa chose to be the bigger person and source funds for compensating improvements that had been made by the former commercial white farmers on the pieces of land that were reclaimed by our people during the land reform programme.
Whatever amount we have and will finally arrive at for this compensation which has aroused debate, I say, let us settle it and be done with it. No amount is too high to pay for our birthright. That way we get people off our backs and channel all our efforts towards the upliftment of our people through that land which is pregnant with value and is a major wealth creation tool.
As I have mentioned many times before, we will farm and mine our land to prosperity and better to do it without any noise from those who feel a superiority complex over other humans on this planet. The good Lord made this earth so vast that no one needs to invade the other’s land and take it for their profit. I dare say, amid all these ridiculous efforts to subdue other nations by the world’s bully, there are very limited chances of success in that respect. The world is not afraid of their propaganda anymore and we have had time to learn and adapt to their tactics. Great lessons can be learned from Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Venezuela, perhaps the biggest victims of America’s weaponised sanctions. Zimbabwe found ways of busting these sanctions and so can any other nation that finds itself as a victim of the Americans.
The current state of affairs offers the perfect opportunity for the global south to band together and be united towards a common end. It is time to make useful alliances aimed towards ending our plight. From where I stand, the only way is up. We must find ways of building resilience and strengthening our efforts aimed at total emancipation.
The world has after all never been kind to the people of the global south, so it is up to us to uplift ourselves and chart a meaningful path.
n Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is an academic and the Secretary-General of Zanu-PF. He writes in his own capacity.
