Conversing with Zimbabwe's Rural Life: Bikita and Being

 By Takura Zhangazha *

I am from Bikita, Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. I was born there. But I grew up in Harare with the regular school  holiday visit during public holidays. As instructed and directed  by my mother and father.

 Upon attaining adulthood and sort of passing my Advanced Level courses and arriving at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) I did a Political Sciences course on the Theory and Practice of Public Policy research project in Bikita.

I went to the Nyika growth point satellite office for the Bikita  Rural District Council and got the necessary information for my short term study. And  at the same time my father, Teacher Francis Zhangazha was in a bank queue at the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) collecting his savings book recorded salary. We had met on a Tanda Tavaruva/Mhunga  bus that day.  And happily accompanied each other to Nyika growth point.  And no he did not buy me a beer that day.

 This was in 1998 and also at least 7 years after my own father, his younger brother Ignatious Zhangazha had passed away.  And where he had  already decided  (as my mother explains) to be buried at his own homestead in Tamirepi village. 

 This was a homestead he had acquired via  his elder brother Teacher Franics Zhangazha who persuaded the local headman to give him and now by defualt his children/us the land on which we  can live without being questioned. 

 When my father passed my mother and uncles kept the land for us. She did not have to but chose to do so. 

We then inevitably grew up knowing that Bikita is home. Even as we grew up in Harare. And went to Mission schools that both our parents in their devout Catholicism valued greatly. 

 In this growing up we did not know that the question of our rural and urban upbringing would come back to haunt us. Not as a horror story that is seen in movies. But as a lived reality where we are faced with the primary question of the fact that we are, as Zimbabweans, saddled with a dual consciousness.  And this is the key issue of the matter.

 A majority of us black Zimbabweans are rural by upbringing. And where we claim we are both combined urban and rural in the minority, we still want to be urban. And be recognised for the material success that comes with the same said urban success and recognition. 

 We are forgetting our own historical realities of where we have come from. And who we are. 

 Including the fact of as is now generally said in times of crisis (funerals) and even happiness (weddings), " ngatimirire vakomana or vasikana vari Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo, Jonhi kana ku UK ne Canada". 

 The key issue however is the fact of the reality of our rural, urban and Diaspora contradictions.

 With the key point being we have to recognise our origins as important.  No matter where we now are. And how we cannot change that particular historical reality.

 As alluded to earlier, I am from Bikita. And I recognise that basic historical fact. 

 One that I cannot and do not want to wish away. Even if I tried.

 Just like a cde from Gokwe, Tsholotsho, Nyanga or Gwanda cannot  wish their historical realities and existence away. 

 What however remains in focus is the fact of balancing our rural life experiences with our urban and also Diaspora ones. 

 When we read Charles Mungoshi's "Waiting for the Rain".  Or Dambudzo Marechera's "House of Hunger" the prominent narratives were about the contradictions between the urban, rural and colonially induced poverty and again contradictory national consciousness induced by cultural colonialism. 

 What has since happened is the fact that we cannot wish the 'rural' away. It's intrinsic to who we are as a Zimbabwean people.

Even if colonially designed. And countered by our national liberation struggle. And then reinforced by post colonial education and administrative systems that oddly we are still using to this day.

 My conversations with the Zimbabwean rural life are more aboit the recognti9n of colonial migration and how to handle it.  

 Rural cdes are not at all dull. They know who tbey are and they now how to handle their challenges with or without central government. 

 To conclude I mentioned Bikita my own rural home because I have an historical sense of belonging to it. Not only by having been born there but because there are very many Zimbabweans that do not come from the same historical background.

 Our historical native reserves remain intrinsic to who we are. Historically. But I have no idea what the future holds. 

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his own personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com  takurazhangazha.com 

 

 

 

 

 

Takura Zhangazha

Email: kuurayiwa@gmail.com

Skype: kuurayiwa1

Blog: takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com

Twitter: @TakuraZhangazha

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Was it Too Soon or Too Late? ZanuPf, Geza and Monday 31 March 2025.

By Takura Zhangazha *

I have recently made very general comments about Zanu Pf succession politics as they are occurring in 2025. And their newfound contestations about current president  ED Mnangagwa's term extension beyond 2028.

I have done this on social media and in one or two instances for mainstream media. 

This succession question in Zanu Pf  has caused a very public and social media motivated  factionalism within the ruling party's war veterans of the liberation struggle. 

But also at their elite leadership and likely their own presidium/presidential level. That is, at least allegedly power contestations between Mnangagwa and his first deputy president Retired General C. Chiwenga.

Especially after this week's Monday 31 March 2025 abortive protests against the current government. 

 Where in particular they have been playing various war veteran (Zanla/Zipra), ethnic, economic or other interests/factions against the other.   

 With the same said interests in also full or semi flight into various nodes of the patronage and potential wealth that the ruling party Zanu Pf's factionalism can offer them. Individually, ethnically and as a combination of both, factionally. 

This initially internal Zanu Pf factionalism has after Monday 31 March 2025 taken on a more populist angle. With at least the two major cities in Zimbabwe (Harare and Bulawayo) experiencing what eventually became a default stay away by their residents. 

Either in fear or again default support of one war veteran Blessed Geza who took to social media like a duck to water in order to spread his message of declaring that Mnangagwa and his government must go. 

While there were no major protests as envisaged, the country took both physical and social media notice. As though we were all in a movie theatre waiting for some main actors to pull a game changer. 

That did not happen. 

Not least because there is a recognition that whatever fights are happening in Zanu Pf elitist circles, they are not national in their strictest popular impression with the Zimbabwean people. 

With an underlying subtle but again popular assumption that when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. As it did in the 2017 coup-not-a-coup that ushered in the current second republic government. 

For many Zimbabweans it is too early to leave the political movie theatre until all of this plays itself out. Almost like waiting to see if either James Bond or an assumed villain wins in the end. When we know at the back of our minds that this is almost safely scripted in Zanu Pf. And not in the country. 

Though even in Zanu Pf, there is a scramble to ensure that their chosen main actors emerge victorious. With or without the people of Zimbabwe. 

And here is the irony for Zanu Pf supporters and our national liberation war veterans. 

Their attempt to nationalise their internal, elitist and materialist political factionalism may have brief popular traction but it is nationally and politically unsustainable. 

Mainly because it lacks progressive ideological grounding and is highly personalised and highly cultist with the assistance of national, and again populist, religious leaders. And if they continue on this path, as the Shona adages "vacharumwa nechekuchera."

But this is were we are as a country. As you read this, pick any Zanu Pf afficionado, supporter or functionary and ask them what their internal fights are all about. They cannot give you a straight answer apart from mentioning the importance of either the incumbent Mnangagwa or his deputy Chiwenga. 

Similarly pick any die hard supporter of the somewhat mainstream opposition political party the CCC and ask them where they are placed in all of this. They will likely tell you about their 'floating' leadership waiting for God's call to return. Or give a constitutional argument about why they are against a 2030 term  extension. While not preparing not only for by-elections but forgetting that technically the next best chance for them to acquire power is in 2028. 

Where you add the dire state of our Zimbabwean national political economy to this you have a national consciousness conundrum. One in which as a citizen even if you pick a side it is not because you want to. But you have to. And in this you may always side on the material as opposed to the democratic value and principle side. An almost survival mode within the ambit of politics one can only observe, not influence. While waiting for the next social media post. 

I titled this particular blog, "Was it too Soon, Or Too Late? Zanu Pf, Geza and 31 March 2025" in remembrance of Samora Machel's question in an interview on why Mozambique decided to support Zimbabwe even after his own country had  become independent. With his key answer to the interviewer being No it was not too soon to help Zimbabwe to be free.'

And in a subsequent official state visit to independent Zimbabwe, he asked the then recent war veterans of our liberation struggle  such as cde Mujuru, Mnangagwa as to if the struggle was continuing, what was it against after independence? 

Many of you reading this know what Machel said in rhetorical response. The struggle continued as he said  "against ignorance, superstion, exploitation,  misery, hunger, so that someday we will all be equal"

Monday 31 March 2025 failed to meet this basic ideological standard. No matter the attire that war veteran Geza wore or the reposte that came from clearly capitalist Zanu Pf spokesperson Mutsvangwa recently. 

I will conclude by stating that what happened on 31 March 2025 was indicative of a false national consciousness that did not understand via our war veterans that there was never too soon a moment as argued by Machel. And that they have arrived late to what should have been an historical national changing moment. Decades ago before they became direct players in Zanu Pf succession politics after the 2000 Fast Track Land Reform Programme and in 2017. 

They should have done what they are factionally trying to do now many years ago. 

If you ask them, now, what does the struggle continue against? Very few of them will tell you, as they once did, against hunger, poverty, miserior, superstition or political ignorance. When they should be telling us it continues for organic Zimbabwean democracy. 

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com) 

In Brief: The Newer Conscious African

This is a rather controversial topic to discuss and analyze. 

 When global media magazines were quite fashionable in the late 1990s we used to have the likes of Time and NewsWeek magazines. They always gave us a comparatively expansive insight into what was going on in the global west. We also encountered the then famous Readers Digest magazine which we would crowd around to assume what love, relationships and work meant in order to be a modernised human being. Even in Africa. At some point the African Diaspora decided to also establish an equivalent magazine called 'The New African". 

This was within the ambit of not only Nkhrumaist/Nyerereist values but also the ideological argumentation of what Thabo Mbeki (South Africa) Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal) and Abdel Aziz Bouteflika (Algeria) considered as an 'African Renaissance'. 

And soon after the reformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to become the African Union (AU) in mimicry of the European Union (EU) and its controversial imperialist historicity. But we can only recognise their efforts within the context of what obtained in the narrative of assumptions global human equality and universalism. 

Until we were reminded of the 'exceptionalism' of the global north. An 'exceptionalism' which still obtains today via wars and financialised capitalism as evidenced by our high dependency and border line worship of the intrinsic value of the US dollar. 

 Where we fast forward to the contemporary, without affinity to the formerly famous global magazines such as Time and Newsweek. Or the cable television networks such as CNN or BBC, for recognition as Africans we realise that the narrative was never designed to be un8versal. No matter how hard we (have) tried. We are still African. And unfortunately denigratively black as ascribed by conservative global media,. 

But that is not the major issue. We are in global period where we need to re-think what it means to be African. Whether we are brown or black. As Africans we have gone through various historical motions. Of either forced militarized inferiority via the slave trade, colonialism and counter resistance to it (both political and militarily) with lessons that inform our Pan Africanism as led by for example Cabral and Fanon. 

What we did not anticipate, even in our own now global Diaspora is the fact of hanging mediums of meaning beyond the glossy magazines such as Time or Newsweek that were and are still a part of a media hegemonic complex. 

We did not and probably still do not recognise the impact that social media and the Internet has had on what it means to be African. We still try to steal remnants of our own identities in-between. While knowing that we do not own social media let alone its newer version in the form of Artificial Intelligence (my phone and laptop is autocorrecting me as I type this blog). 

 There is however a grey area which old media, social media and the Internet cannot reach. That which remains your organic African being. A being that recognises the historicity of colonialism, technology (magetsi) and post/neo-coloniality and contemporary religion as foundations of a false new African and national consciousness. 

 As I argued initially, we probably need a 'newer African'. Or to be that more historically conscious African. As complex as this may read or sound. 

 This would mean, when you listen to for example Donald Trump, the president of the USA you as an African are not thinking of the 'Art of the Deal'. Or when you watch the current UK prime minister Keir Stemmer, you are not remembering the legacies of late British colonialism. 

 Or even when you see Francois Macron and you do not have empathy for the fact of colonial cultural assimilation. 

 Even if colleagues and cdes bring in the question of how China or Russia are influencing African consciousness. There can be no argument about that. It is up to you if you want to be a newer organic African. 

 More so for one who reads between internationalised racist lines and understands who the African you are and who you should be. With the key component being what has been referred to academically and culturally as your newer 'Africaninity'. 

 One in which the realities or recognition of your own history and being better placed as a reality therefore of where you can talk back to the now not so subtle racism of the global north. 

 But let me return to my initial admiration of the glossy magazines such as Time or Newsweek. As an African, I used to admire the journalistic stories of those publications. As rare and expensive as they were. Now we have the Internet and social media. These not so new mediums will perpetually challenge our Africanness. They however cannot change it. 

 What is then required is a newer more conscious African. Beyond even what was then referred to as the journalistically and magazine motivated 'New African'. 

 Or the Eurocentric 'African Renaissance' that birthed the contemporary African Union.

 But because I know that on our African continent nothing is ever ahistorical. We need to be newer Africans that recognise not only history, our own historicity and the fact that we are still our own liberators . Ideologically and materially. One cannot function without the other. Or in abstract mimicry. 

 *Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)

Zimbabwe's War Veterans and Revolutionary Stasis

By Takura Zhangazha*

In the tragic crossfire that was Zimbabwes liberation struggle, I have only known at a personal level eleven (11) liberation war veterans. 

I can only name five (5) who are regrettably late but who also actively always encouraged me to tell stories of their own versions and roles, as they wrote or spoke of it, in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle for national independence.

The first three are/were cde Dzinashe Machingura (aka Cde Dzino) and cde Freedom Nyamubaya (cde MaFree), cde Dumiso Dabengwa (The Black Russian) as we referred to them at the now defunct Ambassador Hotel Press Club (The Quill) in Harare. 

With the fourth one being my own blood brother Hamufari Zhangazha (cde Tito) who is now laid to rest at the Harare Provincial heroes acre. 

And the fifth being Cde Sigauke (Chihwa) who was very active in seeking reparations for cdes from the state for their role in the liberation struggle. He too is interred at the Harare provincial heroes acre. 

The other six (6) I cannot mention by name. 

Not only because they are still alive but also because they have never given me permission to make them publicly known by their names and that I agreed to respect their roles in Zimbabwes liberation struggle. 

All that they requested is that we understand not only their role, warts and all, with a clear appreciation of the passage of time, history and their important placement in bringing about a democratic Zimbabwe. 

Including an equitable recognition of this beyond medals and public holidays like Heroes and Defence Forces Day. (But also to make sure we appreciate the national recognition and go kumusha kwakarwiwa hondo yacho!)

As stated above I only personally know at least eleven (11) war veterans. Even though I have encountered many in various spheres of my minimal and non-struggle related existence.

Except where and when one considers the fact of my small counterhegemonic role in the labour movement in Zimbabwe that almost took power from the ruling Zanu Pf in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2013, 2017 (coup-no-coup) and 2018. The electoral year 2023 is an whole other matter for another article. 

Where we fast forward to 2025 and what war veterans, generically, appear to be saying, is that they are no longer interested in being led by the current Zanu Pf president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Even though they argued, back then that he owes his ascendancy to them. Something he has personally acknowledged. 

This from their variegated factions such as  the Zimbabwe National African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) and the Zimbabwe Peoples Army (ZIPA).

This is now evidenced by one war veteran cde Blessed Geza who this week dramatically came out of hiding to declare that there shall be some sort of process to oust the sitting president of Zimbabwe and his government. Even though he (Geza) has been expelled from the ruling Zanu Pf party and is officially wanted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).

In his online video statement from wherever he is hiding from, he is encouraging Zimbabweans to 'rise up' against the current post -Mugabe ruling Zanu Pf government. One which he helped put in place as a long standing central committee member. 

I hold no brief for his comments but here is the rub or problem with Zimbabwe's liberation war veterans. 

And it comes quite respectfully (you can be arrested these days) in four parts. 

The first being that cdes who fought in the liberation struggle and are alive, may initially need to disabuse themselves of a sense of entitlement to the country and compensation for the sacrifices they made for Zimbabwe to be free. 

And where we as a peoples have sought politically and economically to appreciate the cdes of the liberation struggle we remember instances of where we materially recognised their sacrifices. 

From not only the demobilisation funds of 1980, through to recruitment in the national defence forces and also the 1998 gratuities and the then immediate follow up controversial War Victims Compensation Fund. 

Before we add in the Fast Track Land Reform Programme of 2000 to present day, monthly pensions, education benefits for their offspring and the more recent/current allegedly unpopular borehole and bicycle distribution programmes led by the newly established War Veterans League and a special presidential advisor.

In the second instance, its given that our war veterans are trying to establish their revolution in historically staggered succession paths. And they know this. 

The unwritten rule was/is that in a free Zimbabwe the power succession theory was that there would be allowance for the original nationalists to lead the newly independent country. Based on the following original nationalists and in no particualr order of importance: Chitepo,Nkomo, Mugabe, Tekere, Silundika, Nyagumbo, Chikerema, and others

In the second instance and in their argumentation phase of national leadership succession they would let those that combined nationalism and guerilla training to lead: your Tongogara, Mnangagwa, Mujuru, Ziyaphapa. 

And then the third phase by default would be the direct combatants who were also part of the Mgagao crew (Dzino, Masuku, Gava, Chiwenga, Mutinhiri, Sibanda et al and some names I will deliberately leave out)

With a nascent or even current generational phase of cdes who were in refugee camps, keeps and then those who were war collaborators- detainees  and their children from the povo/people/masses. 

Historically it did not turn out this way. The nationalists stuck around for longer than expected via Mugabe. And as unptredicatably as it turned out the dual nationalists and guerillas decided to take over in 2017. 

In terms of this succession politics in ZanuPf it would be now an expected turn of those who were full guerillas to take over the country after the dual nationalists and guerillas.

Hence cde Geza and his 'It's our turn to eat', argumentation. Whoever he is allegedly fronting for within Zanu Pf. 

The national question and issue however is that of the revolutionary passage of time. 

Or even it's revolutionary stasis (stagnation). Moreso for our own war veterans. 

And where and why Zimbabwe's liberation war veterans place themselves perpetually at the centre of state/government change and never revolutionary change in Zimbabwe. As though they have no children who are now adults who cannot ask them as many questions.

Furthermore, this is a development which begs a more general question, 

'In the aftermath of the Second Chimurenga, are our war veterans populist and opportunistic? Or they mean what they say in an organic form?" 

Or why would they not understand that younger Zimbabweans while appreciating their historical role may quite literally differ with how they seek to see the country go forward?

And why would they seek the support of the same  young Zimbabwean population demographic while attacking it for being unpatriotic? All in an effort to deal with their internally unresolved question of power succession in their own "united" ruling ZanuPf party?

But, and I am being frank here, our war veteran cdes cannot assume that 45 years after our national independence the country still thinks the same, feels the same and can only again be liberated, if need be, by them. Again. Given all that has historically happened this would be the height of revolutionary dishonesty on their part as founding fathers.

Something that we can only then call "revolutionary stasis" or to be stuck in their  own historical and grudge based past.

Or to simplify it further, an inability to understand the historical fact of the necessity of revolutionary posterity. That is an inability to pass on a revolutionary candlelight beyond personal experiences and what Geza has referred to as bu##s##t. 

As argued earlier I am a friend of war veterans of Zimbabwes liberation struggle. And I will always be. Despite what happened in the years 2002-2010. Or even earlier with Gukurahundi in the early to late 1980s though I was too young to know apart from Zapu cdes jumping over fences and being hidden in our houses in Zengeza1 Chitungwiza. 

The struggle was the struggle. As painful as it was. 

We however cannot for the fifth time be arguing about who the revolution must reward by way of political power or proximity to state wealth. Again.  And I know war veteran cdes who will understand this argument. With or without going to school but on the basis of having been on the frontline. 

For young Zimbabweans I am sure our war veteran cdes mean well. But their historical consciousness while appreciated is no longer enough. They need to rise above their painful past, understand the present and enunciate a new Zimbabwean future. When asked. And for posterity. 

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com) (takurazhangazha.com 

In Defence of Africa’s Relationship with USAID: Countering False Claims of Radical Pan Africanism

By Takura Zhangazha*

We may have a new form of what I will refer to as a fake Pan Africanism in our African immediate consciousness.

One that has recently found voice following the dramatic and tragic cutting of foreign aid assistance by the new United States government led by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Accompanied by the quite literal shutting down of its largest state enabled donor, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

While I am not up to date on the impact of these cuts on global USAID programmes, I am more familiar with their impact on aid to countries in the global south.  With a specific interest on what all of this has meant for Africa and its continental political economy.  

A negative impact that has been reported extensively in mainstream and social media platforms.  With varied reactions from African governments, businesses, opposition political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s). 

Most African government officials have as expected diplomatically expressed regret at the withdrawal of in particular support from USAID for a myriad of health, education and other developmental capacity building programmes. Some have gone further by accusing USAID of interfering in their domestic politics while ironically being recipients of many forms of much needed aid.

While the more opportunistic business circles have, despite being directly affected in relation to cancelled tenders have taken on an acerbic and profit eying pan Africanist tone.  One which argues that African governments should look within, shun corruption and engage their private capital services to fill in the evident gap left by USAID. (Even though we know the money will not be competitively enough for them)

NGO’s have had a different narrative due to the fact that in most cases they are part of what globally is known as the non-profit industrial complex (NPIC).  Even if by default.   One in which the established system of global philanthropy by either global north governments and wealthy individuals sought to give a human face to global challenges. All within the context of international relations determined by the then Cold War between the USA and the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), now Russia.  And also one which is very much a part of global corporate culture based on stock-exchanges/markets, investments and claims at ‘trickle-down’ neoliberal economics. 

So thee is no doubt that foreign aid came with conditionalities determined by global international relations.  But even this fact did not and does not take away what was and still is a global need to identify and work to resolve humanitarian problems.  Be they in a bilateral sense or under the supervision of the United Nations as the neutral arbiter of humanity’s challenges.

With this background of the matter, it is imperative that we look at Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s move to shutdown USAID from a more African reality based perspective.  

Its given immediate impact on the African continent are the loss of access to humanitarian aid for health, education, refugees, gender equality, civil society, media and others for ordinary Africans that relied on this aid. 

A reliance that for many reasons included war, legacies of colonialism and contemporary neoliberalism that has left many African governments and peoples quite literally hapless when it comes to priorities for their own citizens.

I use the turn of phrase ‘hapless’ because most of our African post/neo-colonial states were at the mercy of an historical global Cold War and tended to be pitted one against the other in relation to material and financial support in times of economic, natural disaster national crisis. Whether they looked to the global west or global east.

In the wake of these recent events we have a new false and ahistorical narrative about for example why should African states rely on USAID to run their health, education or even governance structures.

Africa’s role in the world has historically relied on international partnerships with established global superpowers and economies.   That the USA was one of the then strongest in the last half century does not preclude the fact that we also interacted with others for either direct aid, military support during our liberation struggles or even ideological frameworks to develop.   

The imperative was how we negotiated these relationships and these desires for aid or economic development.  And also how we have negotiated our own minerals, agricultural and human resources within the contemporary neoliberal global political economy. 

So it is relatively naïve to assume that the ending of USAID funding in Africa as of old is a reflection of any fundamental weaknesses of the African state.  Or to assume it as a new cause for some revamped but ephemeral Pan Africanism that occurs over things we do not control.  Clearly we don’t control American, European, Russian or Chinese foreign policy priorities.   

We only interact with them within a highly unfair and already poisoned global political economy laced with the legacies of colonialism, neo-colonialism and an ahistorical admiration of the global north.  

Indeed African states and governments need to be more self-reliant and choose their global economic or other partnerships more careful and organically to the needs of the people of our continent.  But that has not been a possibility in recent history.   We have to contend with the Americans, the Europeans, the Chinese, the Russians and also attempt at our own non-alignment in international interests that we eventually do not control. 

Even as we acknowledge how big USAID on the continent and its impact on livelihoods was, we cannot assume an own victim mentality when we know Africa’s placement in the global political economy.  Wherein in most cases, we deal the hand with are dealt with globally.  

We however need to interrogate this particular placement in its holistic nature beyond waiting for changes of government in the global north.   Or having secret and populist admirations for the celebrity politics of Donald Trump and his techno-acolytes. 

As Africans we know that 'democracy or development is not like Coca Cola' as once intoned by Nyerere. It has to be organic and with multiple solidarity partnerships that come with their own warts and all.

 But we can always and should negotiate a better placement of Africa in the world based on principles and not false-found, ahistorical and ephemeral populist Pan Africanisms. With or without USAID.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity  (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com) (takurazhangazha.com) 

 

Makandiwa’s “Main Actoring”: Religion as a Societal Ruse in Zimbabwe

By Takura Zhangazha*

You could almost laugh about it.  Thousands of adult Zimbabweans flocking to a Sunday service to ‘see’ the power of ‘prophecy’.  Over and about a US$ 1 million pledge on, you guessed it, the ability to prophesy what was in a religious leader’s pocket.  These thousands of Zimbabweans were not only in the auditorium.  They were also online and watching live.  It was as dramatic as it was without depth. 

And even if you didn’t attend the service physically or watch it live online, you could not escape it in general conversation or on social media.  

With the narrative being given as that of a self anointed prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa had decided to challenge all other purported religious (Christian and traditional) leaders to identify what he would have in his trouser pocket this previous Sunday.

Being the Catholic agnostic that I am, I laughed about this when I encountered the story from journalist friends and other colleagues.

What I did not realize was the fact that there are thousands of Zimbabweans that took this quite seriously.  Or even if they did not, they were willing enablers of the expansion of its narrative.  Be they musicians, celebrities or just general believers in religion and its import on the lived physical or spiritual afterlife.

As a writer/blogger, there are some topics you are generally warned to steer clear of.  And one of these is religion.  Mainly because it is not only a sensitive matter but also because it may have safety and security concerns for your personal well-being. Not only because of religious fanaticism but also the reality of the fact that many Zimbabweans are embedded in one faith or the other. Both by way of their right to religious freedom but also upbringing or personal experiences.  

So I will tread somewhat carefully. But also honestly.

The self-styled Prophet Makandiwa who challenged others of his ilk and kind to identify items on his pockets is phenomenally influencial in Zimbabwean society.  A thing that he know and utilizes to maximum public evangelical effect. 

His popularity is not beyond question as evidenced by not only the massive attendance at his weekly sermons(American style). I am not sure what capacity his auditorium has but I would hazard to argue it can equate to a weekly seating capacity of 15-20 thousand. More like the Harare City Sports Centre.  And that’s a lot of people for cyclical weekly religious sermons from a singular individual.

But it is our now lived reality that he commands these thousands of Zimbabweans almost at his religious beck and call. 

So I did a little ask around. Why would men and women of various professional qualifications or attributes believe that this is as religious as it can get? For themselves or their families? 

And the key question here is ‘why?’ in a Zimbabwean sense. 

As much as we claim to be highly educated or at least to have one of African’s highest literacy rates, we couldn’t have a decent number of us flock to cross-checking/prophesying what is in another man’s pocket. 

If religion was not a serious functional and social stabilization business/sector in Zimbabwe, this would be completely laughable.  Bordering on crosschecking how we relate to magic and illusion as shown on television or a community road-show. 

But we have to deal the hand we are dealt with. Religion is intrinsic to Zimbabwean culture.  Both in its traditional and colonial, post-neo-colonial dimensions.  And in the contemporary it is more of the Christian version of the same that influences how we relate to each other and also come to sort of understand and deal with our national political economy. 

This latest popular and popularized incident of ‘prophesying’ or guessing ‘things’ in another man’s pocket for 1 million United States dollars is a key low for Zimbabwe.  Not only for its government, religious leaders but also for us as a people.

It may be entertaining on social media but it is ridiculous as a national debate issue. 

What it brings into vogue is the fact that we are an over-religious country that is functioning on high levels of superstition and materialist religiosity (Protestant ethic, anyone?)

Let me explain this a little further.  Where you have comrades believing that one can become rich based merely on their faith and by themselves, you have a country that has no future in the context of elite privatization of the state’s resources.  It is like functioning on a wing and a prayer but with some religious element to spur you on.

Be it in relation to your job or lack of it, school fees or the life you envy after watching a television programme or a western movie that depicts life in the way you prefer or aspire to live it.

Without any iota of sensitivity to the historically given fact that our Zimbabwean society should function on the basis of enabling human equitability for all.  No matter your religious or economic background.   

What is evident is that religion is like our national politics, a little bit of entertainment and individual populist, cultist recognition.

What Makandiwa did most likely gained him more followers (and likes). What those that sought to challenge his ‘prophetic matters’ also helped them get newer recognition. 

It however has not and will not change the country for the better. 

So comrades should go ahead and find their Jesus, Allah, Buddha or Musikavanhu to help them deal with what are their own real challenges in their existence.

The imperative however is to understand that religion, though being some sort of business, cannot fundamentally define the Zimbabwean state.  Even if for entertainment and an assumed sense of belonging.  Nor can the Zimbabwean state be found in anyone’s religious pockets.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity.  (takurazhangazha.com) (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)

 

 

  

 

 

Undemocratic, Ahistorical Harare City Modernisation, Contradictions and Colonial Legacy.

By Takura Zhangazha*

Zimbabwe’s urban landscape is changing form quite rapidly.  Particularly where one considers new modern urban developments such as shopping malls away from city centres or new residential housing in the form of either ‘flats’ or ‘cluster’ residential compounds and new low-income suburbs.

This is also in tandem with the expansion of privatized social service buildings or amenities such as private clinics, schools, fast food outlets and fuel service stations. 

One colleague who had not travelled as much around for example the city of Harare’s high density areas was astounded by these new developments.

So would anyone who has not been around the capital city for a while since the Covid 19 pandemic or if one is not keen on seeing the new real estate regime in its geographical physicality.

For many who have studied urban development academically or otherwise, this is an age of the rapid expansion of at least Harare. And a modernist and somewhat ‘post-colonial’ one for that matter. 

I use the term post-colonial here because to call it neo-colonial would be slightly off the mark based on either the passage of time. Or the fact that the Harare city urban masterplan is still officially the one adopted by the colonial Salisbury city council. 

The key point however is that Harare is not physically the same anymore. 

If one was in the Diaspora for at least three years and came back to the capital, landscapes one would remember have structurally changed.  Not only from the road that comes from the Robert Mugabe International Airport but also from the southern approach of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway. Or in any other direction from Harare’s dysfunctional Central Post Office.  

In any one direction, we will witness multiple housing developments, expanded road networks, service stations and awkwardly placed fast food outlets.

In fact it could be classified as witnessing a mimicry of assumed urban modernization of countries’ in which one is domiciled in the Diaspora.  Or if you are coming from a long-duree stay in the rural areas.

So it is now relatively easy to get awestruck by the changing Harare infrastructure.  Until you veer off a main road and into the internals of high density, middle or low density older suburbs only to see the dilapidation of still existent council buildings, roads, two-roomed housing and tower-lights. 

In such instances you get the sense of the new infrastructural developments being somewhat of a veneer of progress amidst a continual rubble of administrative decay.

Or to make matters slightly more depressing, a re-ordering of a former minority white capital into being a black elite capital based on either individual wealth or proximity to financialised or fast tracked land (reform) capital in the city or its immediate outskirts. 

And this is where the contradictions begin and continually show themselves.  

With the first key point being that new privatised infrastructure does not mean a new city.  It means one that papers over the colonial legacy poverty cracks that are evident if you move from the shopping mall to the middle of a high density area.

 Or even a middle or low density one where the more prevalent narratives of residents therein are unfortunately usually about how Salisbury or Smith was better!   One which tends to be followed up by the undemocratic assertion that our local government councilors are not educated enough to run a city even with full-time city council professional employees.

The second key contradiction is that of lifestyle aspirations of Zimbabweans.  I have written on this before but for this analysis I will limit it to the fact of the following outline. 

A majority of us were either born in a rural area or have strong migratory links to the same.  The city or any urban area, colonially induced, was always viewed as where the ‘good life’ could eventually be lived.  Fair enough for an historical point and reality. 

Upon arrival in the city (mainly by African males) to either search for work or be forced into work, the aspiration was some sort of urban housing in the designated African quarter or suburb. 

Upon attaining national independence the general aspiration was to leave the previous African quarters/residential area to either the former ‘coloured’ or ‘white’ residential areas.  All as emblems of individual success derived from a limited understanding of the colonial legacy and structure that is currently the city of Harare.

Or where we cannot follow this trajectory, we will re-create it in areas where residentialised poverty and wealth can co-exist side by side (pick any high density area of your choice for examples- I just know that some cdes are building double-storey houses where others still live in two rooms with outside toilets).

The third contradiction is that of what I consider to be ‘ vulture urban capitalism’.   Given the colonial legacy city that is Harare and the above outline of how I think we have responded to it as residents this is probably the most crippling in how we envision a new Harare. 

As argued prior, privatized infrastructure development does not change the culture of a city.  It generally reinforces a repressive one as of colonial old.  Making the differences between the rich and the poor more glaring.  With the again added contradiction of the poor wanting to mimic the rich.   Except that the corporates (aka the rich) also now know they made a mistake in assuming shopping mall and fast food outlets were about niche markets and not about numbers markets. 

So Harare is in an historical existential crisis as a city (as I am sure so are other cities across the country).  One in which there is elitist and privatisation of various infrastructural facilities such as main roads, expansion of private schools and private clinics.  All against the backdrop of a colonially designed planning system that never envisioned generic equality of access to water/sanitation, health, transport, education and ease of urban living for the majority of its residents.

As for the vulture corporates circling around Harare’s poorer neighbourhoods, they are lucky, who doesn’t want the convenience of a two piecer and chips over running water and fixed inner roads in their residential area?

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takurazhangazha.com)  takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)