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common vision so that they become proud of what they are as a people. They must have a sense of belonging and be real patriots. They must be people who are able to sacrifice everything for the good of their country and the welfare of their citizens.

We strongly opine that it is the duty of the electorate to call the house to order rather than wait for politicians who are interested in only repairing the house after the rains have fallen. It calls for an electorate that is visionary, an electorate that want Zimbabwe to go forward and progress.

Arguably it is the electorate that must come up with solutions to the “Zimbabwean problem.” All progressive Zimbabweans must therefore unite in a persistent and relentless struggle to resist any treachery from those whom we elect to represent us.

It is a fact that Zanu-PF ideologies present a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life to the majority of the Zimbabwean general populace. Zanu-PF revolutionary ethos is a standard by which to judge events and our own actions. Such a guide to indigenisation and empowerment ends imply a plan for economic salvation to Zimbabweans.

This is a salvation which if Zimbabweans are bold enough to embrace will salvage them from the neo-imperialist evil which a certain section of Zimbabweans blindly wants to uphold. President Mugabe, Chairman Chitepo, Samuel Parirenyatwa, Leopold Takawira and others are purveyors of the fight for liberation and development.

The only anomaly is that some Zimbabweans are not grateful for that kind of service and tend to forget quickly. They are not able to visualise the only ray of light, the new meaning of life that the fallen sons and daughters of the soil left for them. Those against indigenisation and empowerment are wittingly or unwittingly not able to realise the beginning of a new day and are not only in error, but in sin.

They are sinning against their own Zimbabwean ancestors, sinning against Nehanda and Murenga. One cannot help contemplating why they are choosing to wash their hands with spittle and yet underneath them there is an overflowing stream? Such type of dissent must not only be disapproved intellectually, but morally and culturally.

All progressive Zimbabweans cannot afford promises of paradise on the side of the grave. Zimbabweans are an enlightened lot because they are able to recognise a temple when they see it, to tell the difference between a sheep and a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In this respect no better testimony to this broad-mindedness can be offered than the Zanu-PF 2012 Gweru conference resolutions.

The Zanu-PF resolutions are an account nothing short of glowing of the achievements of the Zanu-PF party that pronounced a death sentence on colonialism and neo-colonialism because as a revolutionary party it recognises the importance of the First, Second and Third Chimurenga.

Some Zimbabweans might not be willing to accept this, but later on in life they will understand the organic logic of the Zanu-PF ideologies.

Zanu-PF has undertaken sound programmes that have continued to rescue the majority from the idiocy of poverty that engulf most of the developing countries. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that Zimbabweans are indefatigable workers, workaholics and nobody can take this away from us.

This is why we strongly support the notion that Zimbabweans must own their  resources and determine their destiny.

The assumption that foreign aid or “hypocritical hand outs” are the ones that will sustain Zimbabwe’s development is particularly a damaging one. It is public knowledge and not intellectually puzzling that foreign hand outs perpetuate a dependency syndrome that is unhealthy. It is aid that is far from being humane, it is exploitation that is not an accident, but a well thought out plan that is embedded in the so called neo-liberal “democratic system.”

The irony of it all is that in developing countries there is nothing that is more common than those political swashbuckler politicians who are of the opinion that everything will be alright because they have been promised foreign financial bail outs.

The crux of the matter is that, however smart, you might be in borrowed clothes they are still borrowed clothes, one has got to work for his own success and one has to sacrifice everything so that whatever one does is sustainable.

It must be borne in the mind of every progressive Zimbabwean that the issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity symbolise a nation’s independence and independence is not something that can be borrowed and then returned. Zimbabweans cherish their independence as dearly as they respect the independence of other countries.

Zimbabweans are people who are progressive and cannot afford to be humiliated by other countries great or small by accepting imposed foreign unequal economic, political or diplomatic relations.

Zimbabwe’s aim is to foster a steadily growing economic co-operation on the basis of mutual benefit and this must be a result of mutual non-aggressive and non-intrusive policies between sovereign countries, this then is arguably a political prerequisite for economic co-operation.

The vacillating character of the MDC-T leader and its executive on critical developmental issues becomes worrisome. Why are they week-kneed when it comes to launching a full-fledged anti-sanction campaign? Zimbabweans therefore have to reflect on why they are very much interested in igniting flames of “misunderstanding?”

This is a grim reality that Zimbabweans must scrutinise and see whether the politicians that we are having are politicians representing public interests or their own. President Mugabe clearly reiterated during the 2012 Gweru conference that during the liberation struggle they never used to campaign or canvass for political positions, but worked for the benefit of the oppressed common man and woman in the then Southern Rhodesia.

Progressive Zimbabweans have long declared that “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again”, this must be a permanent phenomenon firmly fixed in the Zimbabwean past, a past that must always be alive in our memories.

What supporters of the opposition parties must come to grips with is that the fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the Zanu-PF engine in motion comes from its revolutionary ethos; it is people oriented and not a profit making movement bent at fattening the pockets of its elite activists.

It is a party that has undergone a process of qualitative change since its formation. Zanu-PF as a party puts the people first. The interests to be considered should be the interests of all, the fame to be sought should be fame that last for ever, fame that will certainly win the esteem of the nation and praise of all.

Cdes Chitepo, Tongogara, Takawira, Parirenyatwa and many others laid down their lives for a worthy cause and history has recorded this as a glorious contribution. They did a meritorious service to the country.

They dedicated their lives to liberating Zimbabwe from the miseries of imperialist domination. Chitepo’s strong conviction was that as a people we must not resign ourselves to injustice, exploitation and mercilessness. This then calls on all progressive Zimbabweans to always remember history.

Zimbabweans must always base their livelihoods in the Chimurenga libertarian tradition. The injustice which Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, Mapondera, George Nyandoro, Joshua Nkomo and other fallen sons and daughters must always be recalled, the hunger for justice they yearned for must be remembered. This hunger for justice that they craved for is the one that must guide the way we think, the decisions that we make and the path that we as progressive Zimbabweans must take.

It is a pity that the crop of politicians that we have is not worried about what they will be remembered for. Are they going to be the Patrick Lumumbas, Thomas Sankaras, Nkrumahs, of Africa or they are going to be remembered as the Moise Tshombes, Mobutu Sese Sekos or the Compaores of Africa. All progressive Africans must be aware that the ghosts of these betrayers have not yet rested and they are refusing to rest.

This is why we strongly contend that a house must always be repaired before it rains. Future generations will judge us on decisions that we make presently. The choice is ours. The President clearly stated that the party will not tolerate corruption. Politicians must devote their energies to serving the people and their efforts must be geared to Zimbabwe’s development as well as to raise the people’s economic political and social wellbeing.

Dear reader, where will the pseudo-politicians be when the electoral bell finally rings?
President Mugabe has demonstrated that he has great foresight and strong determination. He has withstood the neo-imperialist onslaught and has surmounted obstruction from die-hards who want to be proxies of the West. The truth is that opposition parties who are being sponsored by the West are wittingly or unwittingly advancing foreign interests.

By refusing to support the Zanu-PF indigenisation and empowerment ideologies they are being retrogressive and at the same time preventing Zimbabweans from reaching the maturity that our dear fallen sons and daughters of the soil sweated and spilt their precious blood for.

Such myopic minded pseudo-politicians fail to realise that Zimbabweans have come of age, Zimbabweans are no longer under colonial servitude and will never be a colony again, the fullness of time has arrived and it must be embraced by all those who are progressive. Zimbabwe cannot afford the luxury of depending on foreign financial hand outs.

We strongly opine that it is the height of absurdity to call “humanistic” foreign hand outs that are hypocritically given as aid because such aid is not enviable because it perpetuates oppression and alienation. It is idiocy to brand as “anti-humanistic” Zanu-PF indigenisation and empowerment programmes. These are programmes that are meant to economically and socially emancipate the majority.

It must be borne in mind that utopian world views only enable man to be distracted from his own responsibility which is a systematic profanation and humiliation of all progressive Zimbabweans.

Darlington Mahuku and Bowden Mbanje are lecturers in International Relations, and Peace and Governance with Bindura University of Science Education.