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NewsDay

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Lies have become a commodity

Opinion & Analysis
THERE is no way we can achieve any form of success in our country because lies have become the best commodity we can manufacture. In fact, lying has become such a huge industry that people are falling over each other to be the best. And those backed by State machinery have both competitive and comparative advantage.

THERE is no way we can achieve any form of success in our country because lies have become the best commodity we can manufacture. In fact, lying has become such a huge industry that people are falling over each other to be the best. And those backed by State machinery have both competitive and comparative advantage.

Kamurai Mudzingwa

holy-bible

Those who lie more, in line with what the powers-that-be want to hear, are rewarded materially for their efforts and they masquerade as successful businessmen. How can we, honestly, for example, believe that leaders who are past 90 can still run like gazelles and they are fit as fiddles, with minds that are sharper than those of the youth when we all know that old age and senility are two sides of the same coin? But this lie has made people rich — and I mean literally — as they are allowed to sell it at an exorbitant cost to the nation. Such liars are rewarded with high posts and the payment that they desire most — looting with impunity. We have seen people getting rewarded for selling the lie that our old and visionless leaders are leading us towards Canaan, when we can actually see that they are leading the nation towards a dangerous precipice.

We are supposed to be an educated nation, with numerous PhD holders and professors. However, our system only recognises professors and PhD holders who are post-truth. These post-truth professors and PhD holders are touted as the best brains in the country because they give authority to the many lies that are being sold to the nation. Such professors are loved in the industry of lies as they “authenticate” the lies. They get rich pickings in return and are also given the leeway to insult whomsoever they wish. And whenever these professors and PhD holders open their mouths, we know that nothing constructive comes out except lies and insults. This is in total contrast with countries that aim for development because their professors and PhD holders spearhead development through researches and policies based on researches. Our professors and PhD holders craft policies based on lies and because they have State machinery backing, they can easily force these down the throat of the nation with disastrous consequences.

We also have many misguided youths, who do not want to earn a living by the sweat of their brow. These youths have joined the industry of lies and claim that the leaders we have are shining like a beacon. By selling this big lie, these youths know that they don’t have to sweat to make a living; they simply wait to be richly rewarded by those for whom they are selling the lie. The youths are prepared to kill if anyone dares them and refuses to buy the lie. The youths lie that the old and tired leaders have a vision to lead the nation to a glowing future yet they know that in reality they are not only damaging young people’s future and the future of the country, but they are people, who are frozen in the past. It is pathetic when these youths mobilise (by force) people to defend such big lies. However, they do it because they know that such lies are big business in the country. The more you proclaim them publicly, the richer you are likely to become.

And one of the biggest lies ever manufactured with rich pickings is that we are under siege from the West and we are loved by the East. This lie has seen leaders engage in a lot of empty pan-Africanist talk, saying they are the only ones who can defend the nation from the machinations of the West. This leads to the bigger lie — that they were ordained by God (whoever that God is) to defend the country from the West. So they won’t leave.

And talking about God brings us to the issue of more liars, who have become some of the richest people by simply proclaiming that they represent God on earth. Such people call themselves prophets and pastors. Since their prophecies are part of the industry of lies, they complement the leaders’ lies through prophecies of prosperity in a dying economy. Like the political leaders, they manufacture lies to rob the masses of their hard-earned cash. While the leaders sell lies through coercion, these men and women sell their lies in the name of Jesus and the threat of hell.

So in a nation where the biggest brains and successful leaders are measured by the amount of lies they can manufacture, there is no hope for success. Lies are not commodities that revive our industry nor do they contribute anything to the gross domestic product, but amazingly, lies have become the only commodities we seem to be bent on manufacturing and selling. And if people continue to be rewarded for the quality of their lies, then we are sunk.