I spent most of my early schooling years living with my grandparents from my mother’s side. I must say life was so simple back then, in a rural area called Mberengwa, in Zimbabwe. The most fascinating thing I observed from then was the way family hierarchies were strictly observed, which I think holds for most, if not all the rural areas in Zimbabwe. The father had the final say in all things and in extreme cases, some families would not allow women to comment just on any matters regarding life and the direction the family would want to take in decision making. Their duty was only to cook, work in the fields and look after the children! There was no such thing as accountability on the father’s side, he was only accountable to himself yet with others it was the other way round.
Kenneth Ndlovu
Back then, we enjoyed one thing in common with all the other kids; vast tracts of land that we used for farming-the majorfood production method for the family ahead of hunting and fishing. As a family, we shared that common belief that the land we used for farming was ours-all of us, and would make sure to look after it with pride! I remember during farming seasons, I could at times go on my own and just walk around the fields just admiring the crops in them! I regarded them as mine even though the fields belonged to my grandfather.
At least we understood that we shared something and all worked hard in ensuring that something good comes out of the fields.
I can go on and on explaining how life was back then. But as an African child, I at least discovered that from that life, there are certain things that I cannot just ignore as they somehow reflect into how it is today with African leadership in its entirety. I reckon all our leaders today came from that background, when they used to watch their parents do things at home, when the father was always right and when a child was not in any way allowed to question his father’s choices and decisions. They also in the same way watched when those same communities they came from used to take pride in what they had in common and their ways of life, full of sharing and love. It was all easy back then to go to your next door neighbor and ask for a plateful of mealie-meal if you had none in your house. They made sure that no one in the community starved as long as someone had something to give. At times the neighbor would give his other neighbor some work to do so that he can pay him with some food for his family.
But when I look around today, certain things have changed. People simply no longer share the love as they used to do, nowadays it always has some strings attached to it. People have dropped the good acts of kindness and clung on to the wrong inclinations of their forefathers’ autocratic tendencies in a family. I want you to get me right here, a father’s authority must not be undermined in his house, but in the same way he ought to respect his wife’s opinions and also pay attention to his children’s needs.
What does that all have to do with Africa and its leadership? I can only say that my focus here is just on two things, that is: 1. Sharing and fighting for the same belief and, or cause. 2. Inclining our ears towards the voice of reason, regardless of who says so.
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For long I have been observing people at different levels. As times moved by, people suddenly got caught up in the enormous changes taking place across the globe. Yes, things are happening way too fast! The social media added a new dimension to our lives. It is now easy to show the whole world how successful one is through posting all of his achievements on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram amongst others.
In as much as that cannot be wrong, some people tend to feel pressurized by some others’ achievements to an extent such that they end up purposing themselves to fight solely for their positions in the elite’s corner. They get worried only about how many followers they have on social sites, which obviously is some measure of popularity. People now care much about how the world sees them other than how they can change the world for a better place.No wonder why we see some people in high positions and worth billions of dollars still coveting more public funds to their families, they only care about one thing-making it into those Forbes’ list of the richest people and be known across the globe!
After observing all that, I then asked myself, ‘What really happened to the spirit of sharing and uplifting one another?’ I want you to know that as I write, my focus is on the people commanding top positions in society and African nations at large. This I did because good things and good news should be shared from the top going downwards. People in positions should be responsible of the things that happen to the lives of the people they lead. Because of this greed and less concern for others in society, we have seen an African child crying foul in many different ways.
The African child also is in consistent pain because people in positions are clinging to some of our forefathers’ belief that the father is never wrong. They have now became immune to criticism. But to be honest, everyone holding a public office should know that he works for the people who elected him to that office and hence should always be accountable to them. Two, three or four heads put together obviously bring in better results than just one. Africa is suffering today because no one cares about listening to those trying to air in their views about what should be done to move forward. I once told someone that the greatest enemy one could ever face is oneself! People can be so self-sabotaging at times. You fail to deal with that destructive tendency in you, then that would be the first chapter to your own downfall.
Instead of Africans proudly saying ‘This is OUR Africa,’ it seems most now doubt it very much if it is theirs. They now just leave it in the hands of their leaders who will leave no stone unturned just to cling on to power. It is easy to understand this, just take a look at some African nations and try to observe how many people are running away from their countries of birth? Who are they running from? And who really owns those nations? Isn’t it everyone who is a citizen thereof? Today countries that have the highest poverty rates do not observe the rule of law. People in power treat themselves as sort of some gods who have since been declared untouchable. They do not listen to anyone but themselves, a tendency which they inherited from our yesteryear fathers. But to compare how just a home is run to an entire country will be tantamount to our own destruction.
Just as it is on top, where the people there only care about their needs to an extent that we have read of quite a number of leaders breaching their own constitutions several times, things become just as disjointed even at the bottom. In communities where people used to fight with one goal, they now care about who the greatest among them is, thereby derailing progress at community level. At a point where someone could bring in an idea and share for the purpose of the betterment of the whole society, people now go through the back door and even enlist the services of people from overseas just to make sure that their fellow countrymen will not benefit from that. All they care about is for them to be regarded as the greatest in the end. I still believe that success without bringing up at least one person with you is not success. It would be such a motivating thing to see a person who succeeds and in the same time bringing development to his society. After all, a wealthy country is made of several wealthy communities.
A disjointed Africa will never see any progress. An Africa full of selfish people and leaders who will not accept criticism and breach their own constitutions for self-gain will not go anywhere. We need to respect the fact that we all are sons of Africa with the right to enjoy and participate into the wellbeing of our continent. That continuous measure of who is the greatest and the ecstasy some seem to derive from trampling on other people’s heads is just as misleading
