ONE of the most evil legacies of settler-rule was their well-calculated strategy to destroy anything that gave colonial victims pride in a common identity.
This meant the destruction of traditions and cultural norms that bound the indigenous folk together.
And the denigration of values that had moulded us over decades became fashionable.
Of course the white colonisers knew their racist colonial laws aimed deliberately at subjugating the indigenes to settlers would eventually be resisted.
But for the protests to be effective, a co-ordinated approach by people fighting the same cause was essential.
This had to be nipped in the bud.
The indigenes had to devalue themselves by accepting that their traditional beliefs and value systems were inferior to those of white settlers.
Traditional practices which involved brewing beer for social occasions like welcoming back the spirit of a departed one or appealing to Mwari for rains were considered pagan, archaic and retrogressive.
In fact the settlers saw beer at ritual ceremonies as a means of enhancing solidarity and cohesion among indigenes.
Thus colonial laws to discourage these unifying occasions were passed.
Note, beer drinking in urban centres, where imbibers did it as individuals, was encouraged as a ‘lullaby’.
That is why colonial regimes built more beer halls than libraries and clinics.
White values, as embodied in the Christian religion, were supposed to be seen as synonymous with modernity and a civilised society.
Indigenous belief systems, traditions and values were dismissed as not only primitive but also evil.
However, African values which were found not to be a threat to white rule, like marrying many wives, whose unlimited offspring would provide cheap labour to the settlers, were approved through the African ‘customary law’.
On the other hand, they don’t credit us with anything that demonstrates our prowess in any field.
For instance, they strenuously argue that the pride of our cultural heritage, the Great Zimbabwe, was built by anyone else but blacks.
The whole purpose was to convince us that nothing African was good.
Even our own vernacular languages, a key cultural medium, were said to be inferior.
For one to be considered civilised, speaking the English language was the gateway.
School syllabuses were designed to emphasise this.
Meaningful Shona names were discarded in preference to some ‘deified’ former English queens or kings.
African religion, with a belief system similar to Christianity, where the supreme being (God or Mwari) is not approached directly, was condemned as pagan.
Our traditional dances and music which were occasion-specific and respected as cultural practices have been dismissed as primitive, only to be replaced by foreign dances which have no cultural meaning to us.
Small grains, which had been an integral part of our diet when women’s role in agriculture was recognised in our culture, are no more.
The tragedy with the destruction of our cultural beliefs and tradition is that, because of mental colonisation, many have accepted it.
Thirty five years after indipendence we still have many among us who are proud to be associated with the Western culture.
Practices rooted in our traditional past are condemned both in religious and social circles.
Colonial authorities have done a sterling job in converting Africans into willing cultural slaves.
The situation becomes worse for those in the Diaspora.
Here is a sad scenario where children grow up with a cultural mix-up which has led to an identity crisis.
For example, Zimbabweans growing up in UK are never regarded as English while on the other hand, the same children don’t want to be identified with their black cousins back home.
All this is the result of mental colonisation which has succeeded in distorting our traditions and cultural beliefs.
Under such circumstances, it is difficult to form a united front against colonialism.
Our ubuntu ethos has been bruised by years of settler-rule.