IN the war to liberate the economy, the British use local black agents to prevent the success of the programme. These agents are led by MDC-T, MDC, MDC 99, ZAPU Dabengwa, Mavambo/Kusile/ Dawn, ZAPU Madlela- Siwela, and a plethora of other tribalistic parties trying to use the people of Matabeleland. The British and their agents are saying they are on a mission “to liberate Ndebeles from the Shonas”. That is why there is noise about Matabeleland having been allocated fewer resources than other provinces since independence.We wonder the next tribe in Zimbabwe the British are going to “liberate”. I am saying tribalism in Zimbabwe was created by the British and Rhodes when they colonised the country. Tribalism had to be used in order to subdue the country and keep it under colonialism and white racism forever. But tribalism failed to stop the liberation of the country because the people of Zimbabwe have never been tribalists. And, therefore, the tribalism that is being pursued by the British and their stooges in Zimbabwe will fail again as you cannot divide our people by telling them to hate each other in the process, to hate themselves and remain neo-colonial slaves. To our people the most fundamental thing in their lives, the most important thing that unites them is the ownership of the economy of this country together as one, sharing it equitably, all benefiting, as individuals, families, and as tribes, owning this country’s economy as their ancestors did. That is why in 1893 they rose up as one and fought the British. That is why they rose again in 1896-7, that is why during the liberation struggle ZANU and ZAPU fought as one, each of the two parties had all the tribes in its ranks. Rhodes used missionaries and their churches to colonise the country and maintain colonialism and white supremacy to the end. The established churches were part of the colonisation process. They came here to brutalise and control the minds of the black person. He gave out large tracts of the best land to all the churches in all the districts of the country. He also gave the land to the Company and to the white settlers. Rhodes also paid each of the Christian denominations every year so that they played their part in colonising the country. They were paid as denominations and as individual priests like Charles Helm and John Moffat of the London Missionary Society (LMS). By the way, these are the same priests who lied by the Bible to King Lobhengula that the contents of the Rudd and Moffat agreements were not going to lead to the country being taken by away by the British. It was these priests who were the chaplains of the Pioneer Column and the Rhodesian government. Is it any wonder then that none of the orthodox churches has come out in support of the land reform programme? Is it any wonder that none of the established churches has come out in support of the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme? What do these churches say about the illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West and the MDC? The sanctions that have seen our hospitals running out of medical drugs, machinery, equipment and without adequate accommodation for all our medical staff. Sanctions that have reduced civil servants and teachers to destitutes. Sanctions that have seen our factories in Bulawayo and everywhere in the country closing down? Sanctions that have seen our pensioners earning US$5 or less a month? What do these churches say about the illegal sanctions? Our traditional leaders and chiefs have called for their immediate removal. No wonder Mbuya Nehanda refused to be converted to Christianity as she was led up the hangman’s gallows. No wonder King Mzilikazi, King Lobhengula, Chief Mashayamombe, Chief Gutu and many others rejected Christianity. They could not separate these churches (the churches of the ruling classes of the colonising countries) from the designs of Rhodes and his friends. The religion of the Mambos told them to remain independent, to safeguard themselves and their cultures and their past. It told them to own the land and all the resources of the country of their ancestors. It told them never to accept their country being turned into a colony, it would have openly advocated for a constitution that outlawed homosexual activity and called for the imposition of sanctions against one’s country illegal. It would have agreed with Apostle Guti when he said in 1995: “On behalf of the ZAOGA FIF Church, the Christian community and the people of Zimbabwe who are opposed to homosexuality we are gathered here in solidarity with His Excellency The President of Zimbabwe Comrade R. G. Mugabe’s stand against sexual perversion.” The independent churches, churches led by black Zimbabweans with their headquarters in Zimbabwe (the Apostolic churches), were not accepted in Rhodesia. They were harassed, they were discouraged from building their churches and schools in urban areas. “It was difficult to have a church site because during colonial rule they required you to be under the leadership of a white man,” (Apostle Ezekiel H. Guti, 1999). For instance, Apostle Guti (1999) says he prayed partly this way in 1957, “The message of salvation has not yet reached the rulers of our country. None of them have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.” These churches therefore were for the land returning to the indigenous people, that is why today they support the land reform programme and the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, and that is why many of them have come out against the illegal sanctions of the West and the MDC. Zimbabwe is a country of many ethnic groups, it is a country of different tribes,it is still one country. Its main ingredient is unity in diversity as its indigenous people own and control their economy. Zimbabwe is a country whose unity is the same as its diversity in common and equitable ownership of its land and all its resources. One of my hopes is to contribute towards the creation of the Zimbabwean philosophy, the philosophy that defines who we really are. The definition of who we really are can only be genuine if it is anchored on the understanding that the basic, the most fundamental, social relations in any society and any country are the economic relations; that is, who owns the country’s economy, us or foreigners. Therefore any unity, any reconciliation, any coalition government and any peace in Zimbabwe that is not based on all of us agreeing that first and foremost the economy is owned by us and that foreign investors should invest in the country on our terms will not work. It is for this reason that the Westminster Foundation of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and Liberal Party of the UK formed the MDC in Zimbabwe, to continue to control and own our economy. That is the most fundamental point – black people of Zimbabwe must the owners of the country’s economy and control it. Once that is achieved, then even our independence, peace, tolerance, democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of association and justice will be real and genuine.