By Bernard Bwoni
The incoming African
Union Chairman, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is an extraordinary
socio-political and economic Engineer and just what the continent needs and
deserves right now. He has shouldered and continues to shoulder the burden of
the African case with unparalleled resolve to see the continent achieve total
economic emancipation and political independence. Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe has posed a real and direct threat
to an economic system which only functions smoothly when resource-abundant African
countries remain confined to the edges and the lower ranks of any meaningful
global economic activity. This is the same economic system that flourished on
the back of cheap slave labour and free resources during slavery and
colonialism respectively. Robert Mugabe represents what can accurately be
described as the last outpost and final frontier for genuine African
Renaissance. The childish excitement that gripped social media about his trip
on a poorly laid carpet and the associated media mass hysteria is not an attack
on Mugabe the man per se, but Mugabe the ideas which resonate well in Africans
continent-wide. President Mugabe assuming the AU Chairmanship poses a present
and direct threat to covert imperialism and the threat exist not necessarily from
Mugabe the man but the big ideas that he has instilled and continue to sow in
present and future African generations. The attacks on Mugabe the man are a
reaction to the AU Chairmanship because the principles he stands for will now
cascade signals continent wide that the historically biased socio-economic
structure can be challenged and dismantled by a united Africa. He represents
real hope for total economic independence that is meaningful for present and
future generations. It is important to emphasise the word ‘meaningful’ here and
not the misleading narrative of political independence that most if not all
countries on the continent had to settle for whilst neglecting real economic
freedom. However
no amount of tampering with media headlines will change the fact that Robert
Mugabe is a visionary. This legendary son of Africa commands African respect
from Cape to Cairo and the people of Africa are well aware of who their real
heroes are. The Mugabe
vision is not going to be derailed by a trip on a poorly laid carpet. Here is
visionary who is leading Africa out of the racist ICC kangaroo court and coming
up with the African engineered idea of an African court to deal with African
affairs manned by Africans themselves not some fresh-faced condescending newly
qualified lawyers who have never set foot on the continent!
The assault on the
Mugabe ideas is clandestine affair engineered miles away from the continent
with some misguided African elements and local cheerleaders doing the footwork
under the gullible banner of all the hollow high-sounding themes of ‘human
rights’, ‘legitimacy’ and ‘rule of law’. It is no longer just about Mugabe the
man, but the deeper meaning behind Robert Mugabe’s call to not just settle for
political independence but total economic emancipation. These are the values
and principles that resonate with indigenous population in Zimbabwe and
continent-wide. It is that belief and lifelong commitment to liberating the
black indigene and that resolve to place African resources back into the hands
of their rightful owners that invite the profound and unwarranted hatred from
the coalition of the erstwhile architects of the twin wrongs of slavery and
colonialism and their local lapdogs we have come to call the opposition.
President Mugabe has remained guided by
those principles that put Africa ahead of all else and the frenzy that is
sweeping across the African continent is a prelude to Africa’s reorganisation
and re-emergence as the force it definitely is and should have been centuries
ago had its development not been dislocated by the evils of slavery,
imperialism, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism. The African continent
has to start serving divorce papers to the doomed marriage it continues to
endure unnecessarily with her erstwhile colonisers and their allies. This
marriage ended many years ago and in the case of Zimbabwe arms had to be used
to get rid of this unfair and unfaithful partner. There is no point in sharing
a bed with these strange bedfellows who you know for definite will easily knife
you in your sleep for self-preservation and self-benefit at some point. This
marriage is over and Africa is going to have to go it alone and those who seek
to aid and assist will have to do so not to just exploit the continent’s
abundant natural resources but to respect mutually beneficial engagement.
Robert Mugabe represents the unique brand
of Pan-African cadres at the core of this conscious and principled pursuit of
the African regeneration and renaissance. The African quest to seek divorce from
the undignified one-sided and overly dependent union must not be viewed as
pursuing an isolationist course but a positive move towards mutually favourable
development partnerships. It would not be dishonest to suggest that
partnerships with the West have been exclusively disastrous, their presence
unfortunately has historically brought about conflict and chaos to the inhabitants
of the continent and that cannot be an accident but carefully calculated to
enable unrestrained exploitation of the continent’s abundant natural resources.
There is nothing called charity in this world and my beautiful sister Dambisa
Moyo put it aptly in her book ‘Dead Aid’.
The quest for genuine economic freedom
for the continent will remain ingrained in this generation and many generations
to come unless these historically and racially skewed constructs which continue
to relegate black Africans to the bottom of the economic core are dismantled
completely. The illusion that once people have ‘food on the table’ then the
agitation will stop is just but what it is - an illusion. The very reason why
President Mugabe’s name is synonymous with the ‘international media’ as the
sole cause of Zimbabwe’s economic downturn is a direct assault and attempt to
extinguish the visionary flame he set in Zimbabwe and across the continent. The
people of Zimbabwe and Africa subscribe to this vision and what they all see in
the Mugabe vision is the very same thing those who went into social media mass meltdown
mode see as well. The difference is that those who despise President Mugabe do
so because his vision is running opposite to their exploitation-packaged
ideologies. It is interesting to note that our beautiful neighbours to the south are
mulling over the idea of a fast track land reform. The Zimbabwe land reform
programme is a beckon of hope for those indigenous black Africans that history
has forever forsaken to a lifestyle of poverty inside a resource-abundant
continent like Africa. South Africa will have to go through the mire and mud
Zimbabwe went through to wrestle her lands from a system that only seek to preserve
itself for the benefit a minority on racial grounds. The fact of the matter is
that there is no other route to land reform in Africa except for the Zimbabwe
Model. Anything else is child’s play!
The newly elected AU Chairman is taking
Africa on a journey, an African journey that is and a journey that requires
Africans and them alone to carry forward the vision. There are plenty illusory
promises from ‘Dead Aid’; but the hard truth is that Africa is going to walk
this path alone as there are no philanthropic champions out who have no
self-serving motives of their own.
The social media regurgitation of the
Mugabe trip is non-event and the clear message from the African continent is
that no amount media fabrication will smother this unavoidable desire to uplift
and upgrade the lives of the perennially downtrodden people of this continent. The unrelenting
and unethical denigration of Mugabe the man is just a smokescreen to choke the
Mugabe ideas of total economic independence which are aimed at making the
continent less dependent on the West for her survival. The fact of the matter
is that the Mugabe ideas are here to stay. These are ideas that know no
boundaries and they will continue to arouse curiosity and interest in African
minds, to challenge and to provoke minds of the historically deprived indigene
until lives have been enhanced and upgraded. You can put as many trending fall
pictures on Twitter but you cannot shackle the seed that has been sown by these
limitless Mugabe ideas. These are ideas beyond any restraint; these are ideas
that can penetrate through any exploitation-packaged ideologies that are being
perilously dangled to Africa by the former colonisers as democracy promotion,
rule of law and rights and all those high-sounding nothings minus the grit and
hard realities on the African ground. The Mugabe ideas have found a permanent
home in African minds and now the execution begins. The new AU Chairman is
going to leave a permanent mark on the continent. You cannot put sanctions on ideas because these are African ideas
from the African continent, for the African continent and the African
off-springs.
bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
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