I am not divisive at all Mr President, and I am a subscriber to the phenomenon that separation is an illusion. It is an illusion but an important one that needs to be taken seriously.
I believe humanity is one but that we have been put in different places geographically for a divine reason. Many get confused by this and end up running with the decoy and not the real thing.
There is a biblical verse that puts this well in The Acts of the Apostles which goes like this, And He has made from one [a]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; So there is a divine reason our brothers and sisters have a different colour from us. I believe our mandate as humanity is to use difference to be one.
Growing up at high school, we would compete in sport as houses. I was in Sagonda at Cyrene and some of my brothers were in Somkhence, Fisher and Patterson.
I might be boring you with the detail of my story I know but there is point I want to make. We would fiercely compete against each other, and the best would emerge out of this phase of competition and that best would become one and make the school team in athletics for example.
That school team would compete with other schools and out of that phase, the zonal squad would emerge, and we would become one with other schools in our zone.
You can see that competition always gave birth to oneness ultimately but what is important to note, Mr President is the fierce competition. It made our lives, gave us the edge to compete and win and after that collapse into oneness. These little team players at schools would grow and make the national team later. Those who used to compete fiercely, at that level become one.
Based on that I can conclude Mr President that Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe by providential necessitation. It is not a mistake and competing as Zimbabwe in different arenas is our mandate to participate as this temporary identity that shall sibilate into oneness.
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Competition is super good if it is done with a fighting attitude, and fighting not to kill but to participate and from fierce participation and grit we derive gratification, joy and meaning.
We derive useful identity, albeit temporary. You have schools and teams performing war cries.
Oh my God what an exhilarating moment for both the players and the supporters. It makes a committed cadre want to stand up and feel good. Look at the Churchill Boys haka here Mr President. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZDdzgvS1BQ
It is disappointing therefore and ungodly for any people to surrender their mandate to self-determine and participate to another group. It reminds me of the parable of talents again from the Bible. 14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents."
Manchester City, an English Team, recently played Inter Milan and the whole of Africa, Zimbabwe included, maybe including yourself Mr. President, caught a fever.
As the West played, all Zimbabwe could do was watch. Really? Reducing ourselves to spectators just like that, fulfilling Chinweizu’s book title, The West and the Rest of Us… We are guilty of not enthusiastically participating in the game of life and are happy with the terraces, just watching, doing nothing. Where is our pride?
When life then takes the little we have and gives to the West we should be fine with it. Why? Because life wants to watch games and there will be nothing in Zimbabwe because we take the little we have, hide it and let the West play. God wants to watch us play please Mr President. God likes games because the way we play reflects our engagement with life in its entirety. If we play poorly, we live poorly too. We must play and not just watch.
Even in the larger scheme of things, in commerce, we are to watch others manufacture because that is where value addition is.
They know we do not play well and so they find it easy to take advantage of us. Consider our simple village lives Mr President as little kids who played even when we had nothing. We cannot, therefore, use lack of resources as an excuse for not playing.
We played as village boys and are proud of our humble yet fertile village backgrounds.
- *Bhekilizwe Bernard Ndlovu’s training is in human resources, development and transformation, behavioural change, applied drama, personal mastery and mental fitness. He works for a Zimbabwean company as Human Capital Executive, while also doing a PhD with Wits University where he looks at violent strikes in the South African workplace as a researcher. Ndlovu worked as a human resources manager for several blue-chip companies in Zimbabwe and still takes keen interest in the affairs of people and performance management. He can be contacted on [email protected]
