Nostalgia

Watching the news headlines on the television got me thinking deeply. Scores of foreign nationals, mainly Zimbabweans throng the Durban police stations seeking shelter and protection. It is not a cyclone they run from...not a pack of wolves either. Had it been too much crime I would understand. Even our so called African brothers and sisters do not want us anymore. They resent us. They loathe us. To be very frank with you it is way more comfortable to live in your own country among your friends and relatives - your kinsmen. Every Zimbabwean, deep down, longs for that but, inasmuch as we dream of reveling in the camaraderie of those closest to us, we need to eat and dress while we do that.

Home now only offers distant memories of the once glorious republic, Christmas celebrations at growth points, childhood games and primary school shenanigans. Everyone would love creating new memories but we just cannot. We heard tales of the liberation struggle, which we hold dear, and we held, in high esteem, our then liberators - now our oppressors. We still believe we also have a stake in this land they fought for but it has just been that for decades now - belief.

The thousands of us that decided to cross the Limpopo river with hopes of decent wages and better living conditions, albeit among foreigners with a well documented history of hostility are getting what they feared the most. They are our sisters...and we see their shelters being burnt down, their means of subsistence being torn down on national television. At one point it was them and their children burning on tires. They have a name for it in the dictionary - xenophobia. Personally, I do not think it is mere prejudice against people from other countries. I believe it is iniquity being practiced by self centered and self righteous individuals. In fact, if it were just individuals my pain would be much better. Rather, even the head of State echoes the same sentiments - that 'illegal' migrants should be chased from their country. Yes they are illegal and I know it. I am not debating their legality.

The ones that stayed put are not having it any better. Commodity prices have gone bananas, there is shortage of fuel, crippling taxation (dubbed austerity), civil unrest, the harshest working conditions and grossly disproportionate remuneration. All this hard on the heels of the promise of a new era, meant to be ushered by self-proclaimed 'sincere' reformists. Had this been the fate of a legitimately elected government, we would blame our own myopia and wait patiently for the next elections. This government rigged its way into power and killed its own people to sweep the rigging under the carpet.

Once again, our collective values and ethos as a people have screwed us. Believers are fond of likening our suffering to the Biblical Israel, the 'learned' prefer to comment on social media and our peace loving mothers commend our 'long suffering'. Nietzsche put it succinctly, "The inoffensiveness of the weakling, the very cowardice with which he is richly endowed, his standing-by-the-door, his inevitable position of having to wait, are all given good names such as 'patience'. also known as the virtue; might even be forgiveness ('for they know not what they do - but we know what they are doing!". They are also talking about 'loving your enemies' - and sweating while they do it.

There is this enraging patternicity among my people. Generally, wee are pattern seeking beings. We try to connect the dots in every situation. At the depths of our hearts we want to feel in control. Unfortunately, the incessant suffering at the hands of our own has left scores of us delusional. We are seeing patterns where there are no patterns...and we are missing the patterns that actually exist and matter. You hear them talking about us angering God by our sins. Well, I'm not the sharpest...neither am I the most shallow bloke around but, I'm quite certain there is no causative relationship between a nation's religiosity and it's economic performance. I'm not making conclusions but, I'm thinking of the holocaust right now...I'm also thinking about the Vietnam war, the Cold war. More than that, I'm also thinking of constitutions that legalise homosexuality. Yes I know you what the 'righteous' will say: you can't weigh sin. And that is exactly where my argument is.

If almost an entire population can lead slave trade as well as slave trade over several centuries and still have one of the biggest economies then there is something purely economic it does right. It is very easy to believe than not to believe. For many reasons I blame the church in my country for being the chief enabler of our patternicity and pliancy. It has become easy for almost everyone to retreat behind the statement "God will intervene"...If the November 2017 coup was not the perfect illustration of how a people can challenge the status quo and take control, then I don't know what is.