Many educated Zimbabweans are still controlled by a colonial mentality which makes them think they are superior to others because of their education, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo said Thursday.
Speaking during the Western Region launch of the labour movement’s book entitled Beyond the Enclave — Towards a Pro-Poor and Inclusive Development Strategy for Zimbabwe at a Bulawayo hotel, Matombo decried the manner in which intellectuals belittled lesser educated Zimbabweans.
He said that was why educated people wanted those not schooled to remain uneducated so that they could suppress them at will.
“The launch of this book comes as a solution to the problems that many people in Zimbabwe face. The book gives us the reasons why we and our economy failed before and also provides solutions to the problems we face,” said Matombo.
Matombo said the superiority complex that pervaded the colonial mentality now dominated the black educated elite to an extent that they were now suppressing their uneducated compatriots.
“Do you know that here in this country every educated person thinks that he or she is not a worker? This is exclusive for Zimbabwe. Graduates here think unionism is for uneducated people yet we have seen educated unionists, across the world taking over the leadership of their countries and doing well because they know and feel how it is to be a worker,” said Matombo.
The national launch of the book was conducted in Harare on June 30 this year where the president Robert Mugabe was invited as the guest of honour but did not attend due to other commitments.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara attended.
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The book gives an overview of the pre independence micro-economic situation from 1980 to 2010 incorporating the issue of Economic Structural Adjustment Programme which the ZCTU and many other economic sectors blamed for the destruction of the country’s economy.
