In response to Manheru’s contention that having acquired the citizenship of South Africa, my focus should exclusively be on how South Africa is governed, I believe that this matter deserves a broader and considered debate that goes beyond the perceived political threat that presumably prompted Manheru to react in the manner he did without attempting to verify the true facts.
Mutumwa On Tuesday
What appears to be at play is that on learning that my name was associated with a new political movement, the political alarm bells rang in Manheru’s head about the implications of the alleged occurrence.
There is no doubt that Manheru would have doubted the veracity of the link between me and the political party in question, but without any comment from me, it then became necessary to provoke with a view to eliciting a response from me.
What could have been the state of mind of Manheru when he read that my name was associated with a party whose aim was to contest the forthcoming elections?
In his capacity as a gatekeeper who is expected to know all, he obviously had no facts to confirm or deny the allegations and, therefore, in the absence of information, the propensity to manufacture reality is high particularly in Manheru’s world.
Having accepted the implications of my alleged role in the party to the political dynamics of Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that Manheru understood that a response was necessary and beneficial to his political principals.
Had my name been of no consequence, Manheru would not have bothered provoking me.
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Why would Manheru seek to invoke the “foreigner” sentiment in relation to my name fully cognisant of my heritage and interests in Zimbabwe?
Manheru’s connection with Zimbabwe is through birth, which is the same case as me.
Manheru’s skin is no different from my skin. Manheru must be worried about the direction Zimbabwe is going and, indeed, has been going since independence as should be the case for everyone with connections and interests in Zimbabwe.
He must know that he has no better claim to Zimbabwe’s future than other people.
The right to vote is vested with people who choose to register as voters and who make the effort.
It must be accepted that persons under the age of 18, although they are citizens, do not enjoy the privilege to vote, but one cannot argue that they have interests on the future of the country.
For persons above the age of 18, the right to vote is entrenched in the constitution.
Accordingly, a person resident in Zimbabwe can choose to register and this option is also available to non-resident Zimbabweans who can also make the choice to return home and in terms of the law, such persons suffer no legal disability from re-asserting their citizenship rights.
The right to automatically reassert citizenship status is entrenched in law, a point that Manheru may have overlooked in the zealousness to kill the rumour.
It is important that Manheru clarifies the precise legal position that informed his views on citizenship, nationality and voting.
A well-to-do self-exile Manheru having acknowledged that I voluntarily acquired the nationality of my adopted home then goes to describe me as being in “self-exile”.
How can a free man who makes a voluntary choice be described as being in exile?
I left Zimbabwe voluntarily and I will return to Zimbabwe, if I choose, on the same basis that I left. My interest in Zimbabwe’s future did not diminish just because I had departed.
The example I used of Chinese was merely to point out that unlike the Chinese whose connection to Zimbabwe is only transactional, my connection is both transactional and transformative.
If the well-chosen words “well-to-do” that seems to describe me are accepted, then there is no doubt that many people will be inspired to follow my footsteps and in so doing, the profile and economic standing of Zimbabwe is boosted.
If a Chinese does well in Zimbabwe, the inspiration will only be valid for people of Chinese heritage.
When one of us does well, others are inspired. Some are even inspired to allow them to include people like us on the menu of future leaders of the country.
Manheru obviously misunderstood the import of my message when he responded by saying: “He wants to be regarded as a partner the same way the Chinese are regarded.”
If I were to stand together with a Chinese person in a Zimbabwean village, there is no doubt who would be considered to be Zimbabwean, notwithstanding the fact that there are Zimbabweans of Chinese heritage, but they are few in number to help change the generally accepted Zimbabwean identity.
Equally, if I were to stand with a Chinese in any Chinese village and then proclaim that I am Chinese the reaction would be predictable.
The Chinese, motivated by potential transactions, have joined the Zimbabwean bus as they should.
However, the security of Chinese investments in Zimbabwe lies in a political system that respects the rule of law. Manheru has previously threatened to expose the true facts of the Shabani Mashaba Mines (SMM) matter, but regrettably has not lived up to his threats.
This is unusual for a man who is gifted with the garb and yet on SMM it would appear that he surrenders to cheap propaganda.
If my rights in relation to SMM were acquired by an act of State, then surely my contention that the Chinese, for example, who have not been privileged to have a law dedicated to strip them of their assets, are preferred citizens by a government that hypocritically preaches the hollow and selective message of indigenous empowerment.
Manheru mischievously asserts that “his relationship with this country is founded on his commercial interests in the country which he rates as substantial” fully knowing that there would hardly have been any need for President Mugabe to use emergency powers to place SMM under reconstruction if there was no national interest threatened.
It would appear that Manheru, when challenged, resorts to hallucinations. He has made it a habit to label perceived political opponents of Zanu PF and its leadership as “agents” of the West hence the choice of words in saying: “What is more, going by the politics of post-land reform programme, it is clear who has had an overriding interest in how Zimbabwe is governed, even to the point of wanting to go to war.
“It has been the Westerner, who by the way, is just as exercised about the Chinese getting a foothold in Zimbabwe as Mawere is.”
In making the statement that “he sounds to me like a well-to-do self-exile who finds his fellow countrymen exactly in the same country quite embarrassing to him and how he is regarded by his newfound hosts!” it would appear that Manheru is living in a fantasy world.
Although there may be a dispute as to the causes of the Zimbabwean economic crisis, there is no one who would argue that Zimbabwe is where it should have been had the right choices been made and supported by actions that conform to the principles and values that informed the revolution.
The poverty, unemployment and inequality that independence promised to reduce are realities that may be elusive to Manheru who evidently lives in a different world.
Manheru is part of a small cabal that has used the State to cross the bridge from poverty to unexplained wealth and, therefore, will fight to ensure that the bridge is only used by believers.
Manheru then writes: “I hope I have gone quite some way in illustrating the enigma of Mawere’s response, an enigma which cannot be dismissed as a peculiarity of one man” to drive home the fact that he is ignorant of the enigma and hypocrisy that is evident in his response.
My lifestyle and where I reside are not issues of public interest. Rather the lifestyle and choices of his principals, including himself, is a matter that must be of concern to Zimbabweans who struggle to bring food to the table while their leaders behave as if Zimbabwe is a land of milk and honey. Manheru must explain the source of money for many of the political actors who joined the bus with nothing but miraculously are now wealthy.
Mutumwa Mawere is a businessman based in South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
