KEEP THE LAND ZIMBABWE

I had accepted that it would never happen in my lifetime. That former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, would ever be referred to as former. A large part of that was because for as long as I have been alive he had been ruling that country.

This week he tendered his resignation and celebrations from Zimbabweans all over the world erupted. The reactions of those who had fled from the country at the height of Mugabe’s rule were captured and shared all over TVs and social media. It truly was a sight to behold.

I had a small bone to pick with people though, particularly South Africans, for their crass questions about when Zimbabweans were planning to leave South Africa to return to Zimbabwe because they had taken quite enough of their jobs. Whether or not it was meant as a joke doesn’t change the fact that it was vile and an uninspiring attempt at humour.

It really speaks to how quickly South Africans are to default to xenophobia and then gaslight anyone who calls them to order by brushing it off as ‘just a joke’.

It’s really quite disgusting but sadly unsurprising. I then saw elements of this filter through to Swazi social media users and I was confused mostly because we simply don’t have the historical context that would make our xenophobia make any sort of sense. Not that it ever does.

The other thing I realised was the people who didn’t actually ask ‘when are you going home’ but the ones who demand to know what is next for the people of Zimbabwe.
And they demand with a fair amount of urgency. It’s interesting to see people be that forceful about something that has plagued the people of that country for decades.

I kept coming across stories online shared by people who personally felt euphoric at the resignation of Mugabe. One young woman shared how she had never lived with her mother because she (mother) fled to the United Kingdom and left her to continue school in South Africa. So she had had to sustain a relationship with a mother who could not be there physically by accepting Western Union transactions and long phone calls as a substitute.

  It is unfathomable. When her grandfather died both her and her mother could not be there to bury him. Another young man wrote of how his father had worked to the bone to provide for him. He walked unbelievable distances to get to and from work each day just so he could be able to support his son. 

When he passed away he was still a man who had never known comfort. Another lady shared about how her mother could not leave anything behind for her – because although she had tried to do so the collapse of the currency devalued everything she had managed to leave.  I understand these stories and am even angered by them because at some point perhaps the rest of us Africans need to admit how we let the people of Zimbabwe down by exalting a man who boldly and relentlessly oppressed them.
For years we waved his academic prowess around as though to excuse him from falling short of what he had promised the Zimbabwean people.
Having said all this I too have concerns about the country, mostly because I don’t think this was done with the people in mind. I believe it was simply party politics, which played out on a national stage. It is the most unfortunate thing in the world to see how ZANU PF has been trying to play this off as the people’s voices finally being heard. No one can be deaf for 37 years.
No one can live right through the total destruction of their currency and continue to blindly and loudly support a man they all now denounce. This was not for the people.
The stories then of Grace Mugabe being the one thing these war veterans fear – as someone who could potentially take over the ruling of the country is just sad to me.
But then again all politics sadden me.  Anyway so I found myself urging and pleading with people to allow the people of Zambia to celebrate this win.
It may seem inconsequential to the rest of the world but for them it is a win and they should be allowed to do that without being forced to satisfy our curiosity about their future.






 

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