AS Zimbabweans, we need to shun the mentality of inferiority complex by being proud of who we are as a people.

Our history was written by our colonisers and hence they deliberately left out our past achievements.

The truth of the matter is that Zimbabweans have been leaders, are still leaders and will remain leaders as well as pace setters for the African continent. Thus, we have all the reasons to exhibit a high self-esteem by walking tall even though under the extended illegal sanctions.

A high self-esteem is crucial and functions as a cornerstone of a positive attitude towards living.

Your level of self-esteem affects how you think, act and relate to other people. With a high self-esteem, one is able to realise his/her full potential.

According to the findings of several psychologists, the most important thing for a person starting out on the road to success is to work on his/her self-esteem.

Self-esteem is the collection of beliefs or feelings you have about yourself.

Put simply, it is the opinion you have about yourself.

High self-esteem is a positive opinion about oneself while a low self-esteem is a negative opinion about oneself.

Low self-esteem feeds your negative thinking and causes you to believe the criticism others make of you.

This causes you to lose confidence.

The best way of dealing with this is to understand the root cause of your low esteem and work to overcome them, bearing in mind that self-esteem is not inherited, but acquired.

One of the evils and successes recorded by our former colonisers is making us disregard our history and paint our values and traditions inferior.

We need to disseminate valuable knowledge about our past, our present and to instil a sense of nationhood.

We need to recoup the lost self-confidence in our young people, empower them so that they can take charge of their own lives and be loyal citizens of the nation.

That way they can be a people who are proud of their motherland and ready to defend it with their blood: not go about apologising for living and feeling sorry for oneself.

Having a high self-esteem requires one to strongly believe in the self.

The reason we have some among us working against their country is because they have low self-esteem.

One woman who exhibited a high self-esteem, even when faced with a death penalty, was Mbuya Nehanda.

She vehemently refused to be baptised as was the norm before being hanged. Instead of shivering and pleading for mercy, Mbuya Nehanda openly said: “Mapfupa angu achamuka”, meaning my bones shall rise.

Mbuya Nehanda‘s source of confidence was that she strongly believed in what she stood for.

As Zimbabweans, we must dig deep within and ask ourselves some very serious questions.

Who am I in the scheme of things?

What is my role in the country of my birth?

Where does my allegiance lie?

When do I serve my country and how?

We are an enlightened people, highly educated and should know better.

Our level of education points to the fact that those doing harm to the motherland are doing it deliberately.

They know they are hurting the nation but they just do not care.

It is time that laws that have been enacted to protect the country come into full force.

The time of trying to please the West is over and we are in a new dispensation. We are now in an era in which Africans must totally shun neo-colonialism.