HomeFeatureReclaim our heritage: Part Three ...‘we are all sitting on gold’

Reclaim our heritage: Part Three …‘we are all sitting on gold’

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WHEN a land is so rich in natural resources and in cultural scaffolding, it should be hard to starve.

Logic would say it should be possible to find some workable alternatives.

In some cases, people imprison themselves in the cities as the only option, but the cities are not built to accommodate everybody, least of all the vulnerable. Capitalism will never bow to pressure to accommodate everyone. 

No matter how strong that pressure is, capitalism will always look out for the capitalists, their interests overriding everything else.

That is why, during the liberation struggle, the goal was to build a socialist Zimbabwe because a socialist Zimbabwe is the only formula that would take care of everybody. 

It is the only formula that would requiet the love and sacrifice of thousands, the only formula that would answer the grievances which motivated so many to take up arms to end colonial capitalism.

Today we have many capitalists. 

Capitalism still dominates the economy but, as said at the beginning, there is still a lot of cultural scaffolding that can enable someone to survive. 

There are State interventions to assist those who are struggling with inputs and expert agricultural advice (such as is the case with the Pfumvudza concept) but not in the heart of capitalism, not in the cities, they are not designed so, neither do they purport to take care of everyone.

If you can live in a cabin for 10-15 years and raise a family in such, through the rain seasons, winter seasons and through the hot summer months, while enduring the mosquitoes and pests of all kinds, then it should be clear that this is no place for you. 

That home, the home of your ancestors is still the better option because here you will never be so dehumanised. You can build a dwelling in which your family can be comfortable; where boys and girls can sleep apart; where children do not have to share the same room with the mother and father; where you can have clean fresh air; clean water from your own well which you can dig as you please. 

You can grow crops, raise your own livestock and not live as a prisoner confined to a one-roomed cabin for 15 years. 

It is not befitting for someone who is in the land of their birth, for someone who is not a refugee. 

You can always ask for land from the chief even if you do not originally hail from that area. 

There is always room for someone, for a stranger shall not be left stranded and starving. 

You shall not turn away a stranger; you shall not refuse to shield the vulnerable, Mwari insists.

A friend I shall call Thomas found the capitalist capital of his homeland so inimical to his survival and decided to retrace his footsteps to where he came from. 

Thomas had been working in Harare for sometime. 

He was not comfortable, but he was making ends meet. They had a roof of their head, not a cabin, and food on the table was guaranteed. 

But in the last few years when the vagaries of the economy reached a screeching crescendo, he could no longer make it and was on the verge of destitution.

He sat down with his brother who was in a similar predicament and they realised they were sitting on gold.

Their ancestral lands were lying idle. 

For a whole generation no-one had taken up the land that their forefathers used to till, the land on which they had been raised.

But they needed resources to start their project. 

They needed to fence off the whole area and would need implements for a sustainable project that goes beyond subsistence.

They would need inputs on a large scale. 

They needed to do something that would sustain their families but this would not be enough; only something on a commercial scale would transform their lives and put them on a firm footing. 

They wanted to do something that would make them independent of the capitalist world where one has to scrounge for everything unless you are one of them.

They took stock of what each had which they could dispose of for cash, and they did not find much. Between them they had a phone which they could dispose of. 

It was not much but they were not discouraged. 

They sold the phone and used the money to start somewhere. 

They fenced a portion of the land and they started working on the land, weekends and holidays. 

After sometime, their sons joined them with their own contributions, both in cash and labour. 

The project is in its fourth year and it is thriving. 

They have fenced the whole of their ancestral land and are farming on a commercial scale; maize, sweet potatoes, soya beans — and it is paying dividends.

Thomas says, ‘never say I have nothing, there is always something, look hard, there is bound to be something somewhere, maybe something you thought you needed but what you don’t really need’. 

Thomas and his brother categorically decided they would not take a loan from the bank or from anyone and on that principle, they worked through the project and have progressed with spectacular results.

The proceeds from sales of their maize, sweet potatoes, and soya not only kept the wolf away from the door, but have put their lives on a comfortable footing.

They have kept their Harare jobs.

They and their families work on the land over the weekends and have also a hired someone who helps them during the week.

“Taking to the land is the only way we could survive,” said Thomas. 

“In a way, the economic hardships did make us realise we were sitting on gold.”

In the end, the solution for Thomas and his brother was reclaiming their heritage. 

There was no reason to remain prisoners in the capitalist city. 

Thomas plans to build a state-of-the-art house at his ancestral home where he shall reside after retirement; more in the same way Genius Kadungure built a mansion at his rural home in Domboshava.

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