Redefining Patriotism

I grew up hearing a lot of stories about Makokoba; a high density suburb in the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The place is within walking distance of the city centre and the main bus terminus. From what I heard, my image of Makokoba was of people being stabbed to death in broad daylight on the street.

                About five years ago, I started working with Amakhosi Cultural Centre which is in Makokoba township. I had to walk through Makokoba on a daily basis and interact with people from Makokoba on a daily basis. It is then that I realised that the image I had of Makokoba was very wrong: Makokoba is safe enough and you will not be stabbed to death if you dare walk the streets of Makokoba. Of course there are some muggings and some people have been stabbed to death in Makokoba, but these are isolated incidents that also happen in other parts of town.

                I have used the illustration of Makokoba to present the case of Zimbabwe. Based on what is said about Zimbabwe the world over, the image of Zimbabwe that is in a lot of people’s heads the world over is the wrong one. The image of Zimbabwe that a lot of Zimbabweans have in their heads is wrong: Whilst a lot of Zimbabweans are full time ‘activists’ regarding issues of freedom of expression, human rights...Not many can honestly say they have personally witnessed the lack of freedom of expression and abuse of human rights. I am not saying there is no abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. But I don’t think shouting it to the whole world helps us in any way.  A lot of Zimbabweans have been mugged at gun point in South Africa; something that never happens to them in Zimbabwe. Fresh from that ordeal they will shout to the whole world how their life was in danger in Zimbabwe. How they would have been killed if they hadn’t run away. Really?

When people get off the plane at Harare international airport when visiting Zimbabwe for the first time, they are taken aback: What they see of Zimbabwe is not what they will be expecting. They will be expecting to see dead bodies on the streets. What they have heard of Zimbabwe is not pretty. Based on what is said about Zimbabwe internationally, even the people of Somalia feel sorry for us. The unfortunate part about the Zimbabwean situation is that it is Zimbabweans who have helped trash their own country.

                There is a shona proverb that says hapana imba isina mapfihwa anogumana and another one that says chakafukidza dzimba matenga. Both proverbs basically say that there is no household that does not have problems. The English equivalent of those proverbs would be ‘don’t wash your dirty linen in public’. There is no country that does not have problems and a lot of countries are worse off compared to us. The difference between Zimbabwe and other countries is that Zimbabweans stand on the highest possible mountain and shout their problems to the entire world instead of focusing energies on finding solutions to our problems. The situation is made worse by the fact that most of what we say about our country is not true or exaggerated.

                On a daily basis we take millions of dollars from people whose agendas we know nothing about and with that money we trash our country. I am not saying we should not protest. We should protest a lot, because it is necessary to hold our leaders accountable. But the protests should be about our issues; issues that matter to us, issues that make a difference to our lives. We should not be given money and be told what to say about our country. The moment activism becomes a career. The moment protests require funding proposals and a permanent staff on a payroll, then the said activism has lost relevance to the people.