EDITOR’S NOTE
With Professor Pfukwa
IT is a fact that the Rhodesians did not die.
Rhodies will continue striving to come back through the back door.
We must constantly be on our guard.
Never should we go to sleep on the ideological front.
It will be a mistake to think that the Chimurenga war is over.
We should never forget that every arrival marks the beginning of a new journey.
The year 1980 marked an arrival; it marked the silencing of guns with fighters quietly disappearing — but neo-colonial forces, imperialism and the Western dream did not die.
Instead, they escalated the struggle for the control of our resources to a higher plane, a more complex plane.
The fight now calls for intellectual insight, it is ideological.
It is a battle that rages in the minds; it is a battle where sharp minds outwit each other for ideological dominance, space and the benefits therefrom.
Zimbabwe, for Zimbabwe, by Zimbabweans: ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe liyakhwa ngabanikazi’ is our guiding principle.
We are very clear and owe no-one an apology for our position.
Firstly, we are very clear about our history and where we come from.
Those who want to work with us, partner us, mix with us, should do so on our own terms because when we go to their countries we interact with them on their own terms.
We are very clear about this; we are a self-determining people proud of who we are.
Secondly, we are very clear about our identity.
We suffer no illusions and do not aspire to be anything other than who we are, black, African, Zimbabwean.
We are a proud people.
Tine unhu hwedu/ubuntu bethu.
We are firmly rooted in Africa and we have a symbiotic link with our land.
In this respect, we have our culture and traditions that shape our identity.
We are a people with vast natural resources.
We have fought and died for these.
We have fought and died for this land and all the wealth it holds.
The West is painfully aware of this truth and will try by all means to lay their hands on our natural resources or determine how we extract the same.
We should be on guard at all times.
When civic organisations come and claim to be humanitarian, most of them are doing it on behalf of the West that is determined to get our resources for a song.
We must give our people the right education — an education steeped in the ideals and values of Zimbabwe.
In the past, our education has sometimes questioned hunhu hwedu, our traditions, making us look up to the West or anywhere else outside this nation.
But we are happy that now, our education seeks to shape and create a citizen who has faith in his/her nation, his/her people and history.
This citizen should be ready to die for his/her nation and heritage.
The citizen must, at all times, walk with his/her head high and proudly proclaim: ‘I come from Zimbabwe, the land of Chimurenga, the land of milk and honey!’