By Dr Tafataona Mahoso

IN the March 2 2018 instalment, I suggested that chihwindi mentality was the complete opposite of Chimurenga and that the former was fast-spreading, especially to urban politics and economic practices characterised by short-termism, expediency, egotism and narrow-group chauvinism.
These chihwindi tendencies may become worse during election campaigns as MaDzimbahwe are beginning to notice.
In contrast, Chimurenga, as a relational African philosophy, is a part of pan-Africanism and marked by the search for an enduring legacy.
Chimurenga as part of pan-Africanism is based on African living law.
A glimpse of African living law:
l In African living law, a claim to be defending human rights is not the same thing as defending human life and human beings.
l Forgiveness or reconciliation cannot be initiated by those whose inheritance (nhaka) is not involved in the dispute or crime.
l Sponsors, donors and so-called stakeholders cannot and should not initiate, let alone offer terms of settlement of the disputed nhaka or conflict.
l Like memory, African living law does not expire.
It does not obey the linear sunset laws of Euro-American capitalism.
In other words, in African living law of inheritance, one cannot say 1890 or 1965 is too far back and should not be considered while 1997 and 2011 remain valid and should be considered.
l Where Euro-American human rights now allow millions of souls murdered in illegal wars to be erased as ‘collateral damage’ – not a single soul can be discarded as such in African law.
Every life must be accounted for or it will account for itself.
Where the unit to be defended in Euro-American rights is allegedly the individual, African living law defends relationships; the bloodline, the family, the individual and the means for sustaining them (nhaka). Here, the land in question is the primary means.
This individual African defines herself or himself thus: “I relate, therefore I am.”
l The dispossession of a people or a person is treated in African law as an attack on social and family relationships, on the bloodline and on life itself, especially when it involves land and other forms of heritage and inheritance which make life sustainable.
l The worst thing white settlers ever did was to build a society so racist and discriminatory that only white persons could give inheritance to their children and children’s children while Africans had to treat their children as a source of welfare and as funeral insurance because of the total dispossession of the African family and community.
What this has meant in the light of African law is that the spirits of African ancestors demand that African society must forever explain why its children now do not have any meaningful nhaka (inheritance and heritage) to pass on.
That is why in South Africa today, the land issue is again at the forefront of political and legal debates.
It is this Chimurenga philosophy and our understanding of African living law which the media and all institutions involved in educating the public should foreground as Zimbabwe seeks to hold free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
Out there, there are loud demands for all sorts of reforms being made as part of electioneering.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe is being used as the main reason for demanding ‘reforms’ before elections, but the parties making such demands have made little effort to make that Constitution available and accessible to the majority of the voters being asked to accept ‘reforms’ blindly.
How should voters respond to these demands?
How should voters separate legitimate from dubious demands?
There is need to consider the following facts before trying to answer questions about reforms:
l The MDC formations were part of an inclusive Government of Zimbabwe for five years.
During those five years, they failed to convince Parliament and other state institutions to effect most of the reforms they demanded before joining Government, the same reforms which they now demand again as the country enters election season.
Many of their MPs remained in Parliament for a further five years after the end of the Inclusive Government.
l For other political parties who were not part of the Inclusive Government, there is a difference between saying: “Make these electoral and other reforms so that I or my

party may win elections,” on one hand, and saying: “My party and I pledge to pursue these electoral and other reforms when/if we win these elections.
So, please, vote for me and my party so that the reforms we propose become law because we sincerely believe that they will be good in the long-term for the whole nation.”
In this particular case, voters can give the individual leader and her or his party the benefit of the doubt: That they will pursue the reforms after the heat and smoke of the election season have died down and that the reforms have been formulated and put forward in the genuine belief that they will benefit the nation if effected and the benefits will accrue for the long-term to the whole nation.
Journalists and their editors are expected to make it clear to voters that the purpose of the impending harmonised elections is not to enable a particular politician or a specific political party to win the elections, unless that particular politician and that specific political party first convince the voters through persuasion that it is in the long-term interest of the people, the nation, to vote for the individual politician and the particular party.
African philosophy and long-term interests
Readers may wonder about the sources of this African philosophy, African living law and wisdom.
Wisdom is about weighing nuanced options and at election time, it is the voters, the people, who must be offered real options and be persuaded that the programme outlined in the manifesto or through rallies is not just a gimmick which will be abandoned as soon as the party and its leader get elected.
How do the people discard chancers?
In this respect, the election campaign rhetoric of reforms to level the playing field for a certain leader and a certain party is at best problematic because this leader and his or her party are not asking the people to assess through the ballot the value of the reforms for the nation.
They are telling the people to accept the party’s word, the leader’s word, that these reforms will be good for the nation because they can enable the particular party and its leader to win elections now, now!
Chihwindi is all about me and my gang.
Chimurenga is about heritage, an inheritance for millennia to come.
The ancient African wisdom borrowed by the Hebrews from Egypt as the Book of Proverbs (Chapter 13 verse 22) says:
“Mubereki wakanaka unogadzirira nokusiira vana vevana vake nhaka yakakwana.”
The good and wise founder of a family or nation prepares an adequate inheritance for his or her children’s children, not just for the immediate children alone.
Shona proverbs say the same thing in a different language.
“Watungamira haaendi nenzira. Watungamira haanhanhuri gwara sewasheni.”
The pioneer or leader does not disappear with the path.
The trail-blazer does not run away with the trail and its horizons which belong to the whole group, the whole nation.
Then there is also the need to identify Zimbabwe’s permanent values and permanent interests against those who say change this and that now in order to make me and my party electable.
“Gunde repwa rinotapira asi hariiswi mudura.”
The stick of sugarcane is very sweet and temporarily thirst-quenching; but it should never be introduced into the granary, the long term inheritance of the people.
“Regai dzive shiri, mazai haana muto.”
Let them (eggs) hatch into birds, chickens or turkeys first, because we cannot make rich broth from eggs.
“Utungamiri hahutizirwi.” Kana kuti: “Hauwani ukuru ngekufosha (kutizira).”
‘Kutizira’ means to elope.
The girl who agrees to rush into elopement with an immature boy cannot hope to assume leadership when she arrives in the boy’s family.
She may be lucky to be accepted as a mere apprentice to be guided by hordes of grown-ups.
Elopement here means taking short-cuts. But it does not lead to quick leadership roles.
“Mucheri weshana mutevedzeri; mudimbudziri anorasa vekenya.”
The digger who wants to catch fat mice follows the hole.
The one who takes short cuts loses the direction of the hole and the bait.
Then there are wise sayings about youth:
“Vagara imba imwe vave varumudzani.”
Those youths raised in the same house, regardless of parentage, do become siblings.
This is wisdom about education, creating optional relationships, training and unity.
If we teach young people well together, we build a united nation, regardless of who their biological parents were, which party they joined or which region of the country they came from.
“Mwana ijira, rino fukwa navanhu vose.”
A child is like cloth which will cover (clothe) many people. Children do not strictly belong to their immediate mother and father.
They belong to the extended family, the larger society, the nation.
As such, the nation, the extended family must take a keen interest in their up-bringing, teaching and welfare.
Finally, some African wisdom on media and communication:
“Chinovhikwa itsvimbo kana chibhakera, shoko harivhikwi.” It is easier to fend off a physical attack by a knobkerrie or a fist; words and thoughts, when expressed, cannot be barred.
The targets may reply but only after first being hit, hurt.
“Chinyamakuhwa simidzai nguwo chena, angoonekwa neusiku hwemhindo;” kana kuti: “Chinyamakuhwa simidzai minhenga yezizi angoonekwa neusiku hwe mhindo.”
The peddler of lies and gossip must be clothed in white or reflective clothing so that even during the darkest hour he or she is easy to identify as a provocateur or liar.
Tag the peddler of lies and gossip with owl feathers for easy identification even in the darkest moment.
Liars and gossips may be allowed free reign only to the peril of society. That is what is at stake as we enter the 2018 election campaign period.