The majority of adolescents who left the country had GCSEs with no degrees or skills, but after 15-20 years overseas they are now skilled and qualified in many fields. Tragically, inspired by the macho war stories of Ian Smith’s foot soldiers, several hundred ended up as fodder in the West’s attempted Middle East regime change, which means that Zimbabwean blood was not only shed in Burma during WW2, but more recently in Arab lands, fighting for the same British who colonized Zambezia in the footsteps of Cecil John Rhodes. This is why I found this Vince Musewe’s Analysis positive and encouraging – especially for many ‘Zimbos’- when they get the courage to return after all the negative publicity nailed into place with yet more Sanctions imposed by western moguls. Yes, there will be challenges but I believe those who are intent on returning home will prove a greater asset to Zimbabwe, having had their wits honed to perfection while scattered out here in the diasporas. Few outside of Zimbabwe are aware that Sanctions have caused multinationals to collapse. Parents split up and moved beyond its borders in order to pay for school fees back home. With no dads around to protect their children, teenage pregnancies are another heartbreaking symptom as a result of Sanctions; sadly the world is only vaguely aware at what cost these Sanctions have come at to the man in the street with the breakdown in traditional culture, marriage and the family home. For one reason or another, teenagers find themselves parenting their siblings while young girls search for newsprint to absorb their monthly menstruation because they www.thepromota.co.uk
cannot afford cotton towelling. Holding the casualties of alcoholism and prostitution to ransom for that which is destroying Zimbabwe is unfair and misleading. Diseases are common in any war zone. Zimbabwe’s situation has not strictly been classified as a war zone because weapons used against the people are not Weapons of War as such, but psychologically demonizing and demoralizing, taking their toll. The world has forgotten that four generations ago the ancestors of those today, too, faced Sanctions during Rhodesia Front’s reign, and now their descendants are subjected to the bullying tactics of more vicious western Sanctions – but they dare to live on – much to the chagrin of the West who appear more interested in minerals and billions of gallons of liquid gas beneath the ground of Matabeleland rather than in the people struggling above it, gas which will ultimately replace oil in the Middle East which is what the West covets. If anything, the tenacity embedded deep in Zimbabwe’s people, as deeply ingrained as veins of gold in the soil, empowers every man, woman and child in the street who will still take on the challenges that beset this young nation, albeit innocently facing their tomorrows with Hope. The anointed words that Vince Musewe, wrote on fundamental moral regeneration in “Zimbabwe After Mugabe” should inspire and challenge one and all, including President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady, to reconsider their options and make Zimbabwe whole. Its children have suffered enough. by Donette Read Kruger©
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