A NATIONAL vision is a People’s Manifesto.
Every nation has its vision or manifesto.
Americans called theirs ‘The Declaration of Independence’.
That was after they had vanquished the Red Indians and stole their land.
The Russians called theirs ‘The Communist Manifesto’.
That was after they had freed themselves from Tsarist oppression.
Rhodesians called theirs ‘Unilateral Declaration of Independence’, after they had rebelled from Britain.
Ian Smith celebrated the Rhodesian national settler vision on November 11 1965 saying: “We have struck a blow for the preservation of justice, civilisation and Christianity; and in the spirit of this belief, we have this day assumed our sovereign independence.
“God bless you all.”
Rhodesian poets, Clem Tholet and Andy Dillon, celebrated the settler Rhodesian racist vision saying: “We’re all Rhodesians.
“We’ll fight through thick and thin.
“We’ll keep our land a free land. Stop the enemy coming in. We’ll keep them north of the Zambezi. Till that river’s running dry.
“And this mighty land will prosper. For Rhodesians never die.”
Cecil John Rhodes called the British national imperialist colonial vision, ‘The Confession of Faith’ and urged the British to invade Africa, conquer its people, and seize their land and build an empire of British culture, British business, and British civilisation, saying:
“Africa awaits us still.
“It is our duty to seize every opportunity to acquire more territory and keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honourable race the world possesses.”
Zimbabwean politicians, intellectuals, educationists, economists, bankers, the media, and lawmakers have adopted this British imperialist vision and look up to Europe as the source of best practices in business, media laws, education, economics, politics, culture, agriculture, health, marriage, religion, governance and Roman Dutch Law.
They turn against their people’s national vision and manifesto that put them in power, and in so doing, in the words of Okot p’Bitek, “behave like a hen that eats its own eggs, a hen that should be imprisoned under a basket and whose sharp beak should be shortened by a hot iron”.
A wise government never deviates from its national vision or manifesto.
Its policies and programmes are guided by the national vision and aspirations of the people as articulated in its manifesto.
A government that abandons a national vision or manifesto is, in turn, abandoned by the people. It ceases to be a government of the people, for the people, by the people.
It becomes a government in spite of the people, without the people, and against the people.
A national vision or manifesto is a people’s covenant with their government.
It is the path bequeathed to us by our ancestors and freedom fighters during the First and the Second Chimurenga.
The whole life and survival of our nation depends on it.
Our national heroes are honoured in accordance to their adherence to our national vision.
It is the path that our children who come to be born must be taught to follow and cherish.
A government cannot depart from it without getting lost.
A nation without a vision will surely perish.
The vision of Zimbabwe as a nation is contained in The People’s Manifesto of 2013 produced by ZANU PF.
Its provisions include “taking back our land and economy, indigenise our wealth and empower our people to develop themselves and create their own employment”.
The manifesto underscores ‘indigenisation as the real freedom’ and the basis of our liberation struggle.
It also says “Land is the economy, and the economy is land.”
Our vision, history, aspirations, identity, existence and destiny as a nation are sung in our National Anthem.
They are expressed by our National Flag and Coat of Arms as symbols of our land and all its resources from Zambezi to Limpopo.
All these emphasise the reclamation and indigenisation of our land and all its wealth as the basis of our liberation struggle and true sovereignty as a free nation.
President Mugabe describes the struggle to reclaim our land and take back our economy and give it back to the indigenous people of Zimbabwe as “a legacy that permanently connects past, present and future generations of this nation with one another”.
He says, the People’s Manifesto is “a solemn call from the fallen and living heroes of our liberation struggle, indeed from the wailing bones that lie in many places known and others yet to be discovered, for every Zimbabwean to patriotically cherish and jealously guard the gains of our heroic liberation struggle”.
Yet our Constitution and school curricula contain values and provisions that go against the gains of our liberation struggle.
As the headmaster in a story by Chinua Achebe says, “The whole purpose of our schools is to eradicate such beliefs.
“Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.”
The schools, churches and Zimbabwe constitution are doing exactly that.
They are continuing the Rhodesian colonial legacy of reversing the gains of our liberation struggle.
Rhodesians used their schools, churches and constitution to deny us our freedom.
The freedom fighters to up arms and waged the Second Chimurenga inspired by the vision of our ancestors.
One such vision was, “Mapfupa angu achamuka.”
Rhodesians, again, tried to reverse the gains of our liberation struggle using the MDC to oppose the Land Reform Programme.
Again, Zimbabweans rose up and took back their land and called the uprising The Third Chimurenga.
Yet again, spurred by their vision that Rhodesians never die, Rhodesians ganged with their kith and kin in Britain, Europe, America, Canada and Australia to impose illegal economic sanctions and ZIDERA on us to mar our revolutionary vision and derail us from our revolutionary path. But the elections of July 31 2013 reopened the path and put ZANU PF back on track again.
Its mandate, as contained in The People’s Manifesto, was to make sure that the gains of our liberation struggle will never be reversed by whatever clandestine machinations our enemies or our own people may come up with.
Examples of such clandestine machinations are the 266 loopholes identified by ZANU PF in our Constitution which go against the principles of our liberation struggle.
These must be amended without fail if we are to insure that Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again.