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NewsDay

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You know the party is over when the DJ joins the dance floor

Opinion & Analysis
A COLLEAGUE of mine always says you know the party is over when the DJ joins the dance floor. DJs drive the mood on the dance floor.

A COLLEAGUE of mine always says you know the party is over when the DJ joins the dance floor. DJs drive the mood on the dance floor.

Tapiwa Gomo

Acie-Lumumba

They respond to the needs of those on the dance floor. In fact, they serve those on the dance floor. But when they decide to leave the deck and join the dance floor, it means the music is on auto cruise. No one is in charge anymore as the DJ has ceded or surrendered his role.

A similar situation is fast unfolding in our country. When citizens protest to raise issues to a democratically elected government, the governing party also responds by mobilising a protest. Since when has a protest become a response to another protest? It looks like we are running a contest of protests. Have those in government abrogated their responsibilities. What happened to basic engagement with the people? Surely, blocking citizens from expressing their frustrations will not solve anything but increase the problems.

The most embarrassing thing is that most of the voices are coming from youth — real youth against a system that should not have been in office today. Yes young people — very young people are challenging the old system and it is not looking good at all. The Acie Lumumba case is an example of how bad the system has stooped so low. The Evan Mawarire case also demonstrated that patriotism has shifted and is no longer about Zanu PF, but the country. Things have changed.

Yet even so, we still have some among us who feel that we must all be patriotic to a system that has let dreams of millions of people down. By patriotic, they mean allegiance to Zanu PF. It has eluded them that patriotism is the love for the country, the anger for the missing $15 billion under Zanu PF watch, and the desire to see a better life for young people and their children.

Few weeks back, I wrote about some of Ian Smith’s fears about the model to which he was under pressure to hand over power. But the truth is that we are living in a country that Ian Smith predicted in the late 1970s. We have become the unfortunate generation to live in a historical embarrassment where the words of a man — history recorded as representing an evil system and a person we claim to have defeated — have actually come to pass. We have made the devil a hero.

The current establishment has mastered the art of othering. Anything outside its mainstream is cast as evil, unpatriotic and western-funded. It has resembled some affinities with the colonial system. Remember the colonial system stupidly ignored Mbuya Nehanda’s words that: “My bones shall rise again”. They too could have made use of the wise words from Ian Smith that: “Pushing people forward simply because of their [allegiance], irrespective of merit, would be most unfortunate and would of course lead to disaster. It would mean that [Zimbabwe] would then develop into a kind of banana republic where the country would in no time be bankrupt.” Aren’t we in a disaster today?

Doesn’t it just defy logic that a country that is facing drought shuts its people from importing food and other goods as a means of survival and maintaining their household economies? And for an establishment that has mastered the art of evading responsibility, the effects of such bad policies will soon be apportioned to and blamed on the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for failing to act urgently to feed the hungry population when in fact there were some people who were capable of sustaining themselves. Once the situation improves, the same NGOs will be accused of advancing western regime change agendas as we near elections.

What is there, therefore, to be patriotic about? People cannot be productive without being hindered by the system. A kombi owner, driver, conductor and motorist now subsidise the failures of the system because the lady and the gentleman who are supposed to enforce road rules are hungry as they have not been paid. Those in the diaspora can no longer use their earnings for investment as they need to send cash back home. And those back home cannot access their cash, in addition there is little food on the market as importation is curtailed by the system. It’s a vicious cycle of bad policies which leave no room for patriotism.

Patriotism is not just a word, but an emotional attachment to a nation which we should recognise as our country. That feeling has to be reciprocal. We love our country, but our country needs to show its people love. It is not the case at the moment. Zimbabweans feel hated and short-changed by the system. Patriotism is not loving Zanu PF, but an attachment to our country. Patriotism should encompass and promote nationalism.

These ethos have not lost value but transferred into the hunger for change. Events of the past weeks were loud enough to send the message home. They told a story that is taboo to tell, that Zimbabwe is back into colonial hands with the only difference being the colour of the hands. Smith’s system served a few people based on race and today’s system serves a few people based on political affiliation. Our country has become a new colony that needs to be freed again. If people cannot access basic services, cannot get jobs, are not free to be productive, hindered from being who they are then we are back to the 1970s.