WHEN Europeans came to colonise Africa, they realised that unquestioned submission to the will of the white settlers by the indigenes would be difficult as long as they remained united.
And the best unifying cord of any people is their culture.
This, therefore, had to be broken.
We have to give the devil his due.
Colonialists had done their homework well in advance and it was not by accident that the education and religion they introduced were structured to achieve just that.
A certain Lord Macaulay on February 2 1835 aptly spelt out the whiteman’s colonial strategy to the British Parliament.
He said it was impossible to steer colonial subjects into submission: ‘…unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if Africans think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation’.
Thirty-five years after black majority rule, we might have thought by now we would have reversed the destruction process started by our erstwhile colonisers.
Colonialists have a bag full of tricks.
This time they are using our own brothers and sisters as proxies.
Instead of outright desk education and Bible verses, they have turned to arts.
That is why we have Magamba Network, an outgrowth of House of Hunger Poetry Slam, that is used as an instrument to spread the so-called ‘urban culture’.
This has turned out to be a destructive haven preparing children for social ills like violence, immorality and homosexuality.
What makes their project border on criminality is that they target youths through music, poetry and TV series to accept what is culturally abominable to us.
To preach about rights, when those rights mean women marrying women and men marrying men, is totally unacceptable in our culture.
Magamba Network must know that.
The lyrics in their banned album, House of Hunger, demonstrate the kind of violent culture this group wants to infuse into our youth.
All these are part of the so-called ‘urban culture’ being promoted by Magamba Trust.
And obviously, come election day, Fatso and his associates hope the youth will vote against anybody not toeing their wicked line.
There might be a temptation to accept a plea of ignorance from this arts group.
Not with this lot.
They definitely know what they are doing and are able to discern right from wrong.
Just have a look at their names.
‘Magamba’ implies they know the role played by our freedom fighters in liberating ourselves from colonial rule so that we could halt the erosion of our culture, among other evils.
Stage names like Fatso, Godobori, Outspoken, Madzitateguru, Mono and So Profound sound more like noms de guerre of liberation fighters.
Obviously, Magamba Network, led by a descendent of racist Rhodies, knows the intrinsic value attached to names. Even Sam Munro, who is kith and kin of racist Rhodies, knows he is a lost cause.
So he gives himself an African name Farai, shortened to Fatso.
That’s how the Greeks deceived the Trojans.
They presented the Trojans with a gift for their gods, just like the pleasant names used by this group.
And yet behind those names are poems, songs and TV series meant to destroy the cultural fabric of the African youth.
With the Greeks, inside the Trojan Horse were Greek soldiers ready to open the gates to let in their mates who then defeated Troy.
Our Zimbabwean youth are targeted and must therefore be on guard.
Magamba Network, and those of its ilk, might try to acculturate youth to their so-called urban culture, hoping on voting day they would go for what is culturally unacceptable.
These agents of change are bound to fail.
Lord Macaulay might have to turn in his grave when he realises it is not that easy for British colonialism to truly dominate Zimbabwe.