THE media has been recycling this question to the extent of giving it validity.
Idare rani rinotituma kuti tivhunze mivhunzo iyoyo?
Inombova mibvunzo yaaniko?
Is there anyone who does not know the answer to this question?
What each person knows to be correct is what no-one wants to admit, it is what people do not wish to be at peace with. They would rather bury their heads in the sand like ostriches.
Zimbabweans are a straightforward people, a no-nonsense people, but there is a certain caricature of who the Zimbabwean is which is viciously encroaching on our true identity.
Our value system has answers to all this nonsense that is being bandied around as if it is worth anything.
When the British armed robbers invaded our land and took over our country, our value system had an answer to that situation.
The answer was that we are a people as worthy as any and therefore, we will not accept to be subjugated by another, pink or whatever colour?
Although we had inferior weapons, our values were our defence, hence Nehanda’s ‘mapfupa angu achamuka’ mantra.
We knew and believed in ourselves to be invincible; guns or no guns.
That is the true mettle of Zimbabwe, our true identity.
Our ancestors did not bequeath us a value system yokuita somusambangwena, (the willow tree which will bow in whatever direction the wind is blowing).
Had this been the legacy they left us, we would never have thought of fighting the British invaders, let alone defeat them.
It is this value system, this culture which produced the likes of King Lobengula who dared to send messengers to the whiteman’s land to protest the so-called ‘Rudd Concession’, the likes of Nehanda, who when told to ask for forgiveness for ‘rebelling’ and accept to be baptised so she could be admitted into heaven after they murdered her, replied: “It is not me who needs forgiveness, but you who came and stole my land,” the likes of young Emmerson (Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa) who while still a minor (less than 16 years old) was prepared to shoulder the responsibility of freeing Zimbabwe and the likes of Muchemwa,(Rtd Brigadier-General Felix Muchemwa) who was prepared to abandon a promising medical career in the ‘first world’ and a bride of only three weeks for the armed struggle. Such heroism arises out of our culture, our values, our beliefs, our collective ethos.
Now what is the plan with this current generation that we are so harshly tearing away from this precious culture? What do we plan to achieve with them, what do we plan to achieve for Zimbabwe?
The plan to raise young Zimbabweans who do not have to control their physical desires, but are told “you have every right to indulge in your physical desires as and when, all we are worried about is that you should not fall sick or pregnant or both,” is a wicked plot to destroy Zimbabwe.
That is not the stuff that heroes are made of, young people who are raised never to say no to their bodies cannot one day deny their bodies for loftier purposes, cannot one day abandon everything for the sake of Zimbabwe or others in the family, in the community.
Training young Zimbabweans never to deny themselves is to raise a generation steeped in hedonism and debauchery; everyone knows what the end result will be?
Zimbabwe haina kuvakwa namadhaka, yakavakwa namabwe.
Munovaona vaMugabe, vanorwiswa left, right, kupi nokupi, but he stands firm, he has stood firm all his life, 10 years of incarceration under colonialism did not change him, not death threats, nor the many attempts on his life.
That is the stuff that heroes are made of and yet people dare to take the microphone and say pane chinotyisa kuti mwana anzi azvibate kusvika achata.
People dare pretend to debate that: “Can the Zimbabwean child be told categorically, no sex until marriage?”
If that is too much to expect of our children vangaisumudza here Zimbabwe?
Vangafavo vakaita savaMugabe namamwe magamba here?
Ndihwo here ushingisi hungafananidza vana vedu navarere kuHeroes Acre, nekupi-nekupi, muZimbabwe nekunze?
Hatingavi tinorevesa.
Can it be debatable in Zimbabwe that: “Shall we license our children to sleep around?”
What kind of Zimbabwe can be hatched out of such sexual licence.
It takes discipline, commitment and self-denial to raise the Zimbabwe flag high and one certainly has to start by being able to control the body, that goes without saying.
As we waged the liberation struggle, our spirituality taught us: “Musaite choupombwe muhondo yeChimurenga.”
Whenever this rule was broken there were serious repercussions.
Zimbabwe zvayakauya kudai, zvayakamira kudai, haina kuuya nechifevi, haina kumiswa nechifevi, uye haigoni kushingiswa nechifevi.
Musatiputsira chikoshi.
Kozvino umburuvira hwamunoti goverai macondom,munoda kufadza ani?
Don’t say Zimbabwe because that is not true. When our parents brought us up they never said: “You sleep around as you feel like daughter, I know the herb to prevent pregnancy.”
What they said is: “If you fool around you will get pregnant, baba vako unovaziva, pano unotama, uchagara musango semhuka.”
They had zero tolerance for sexual license.
The boys were told: “Ukachinyira mwana wavanhu, unotoroora, hapana chimwe chinhu.”
So what is this you want to teach their grand-children?
Kutsvakisisa kuti mugovere vana vedu macondom kuvatuka kuti havana kukosha pavari.
It is to tell them that they do not have it in them to be true Zimbabweans because Zimbabweans are heroes, it is not an issue for them to abstain from sexual activity until marriage.
This is the least of their challenges, they are calibrated for great endeavors, to build for us a great Zimbabwe, therefore our children should not be ‘diminutivised’ so horribly. It is only our enemies who are interested in diverting our children from their mission.
It hurts the children when we continually bring evil to cross their paths, it hurts their tender souls, they need to be nurtured to be the great Zimbabweans they are born to be, it is not only the schools or the parents but the whole nation which is responsible.
If our children get hurt, they may never fulfill their mission, then who will build us the Great Zimbabwe.
Dr Mahamba is a war veteran and holds a PhD from Havard University. She is currently doing consultancy work.