I have decided that I am not going to use the words Whites or Europeans anymore in my writings, when referring to Africans with European ancestry.
These are definitely not a derogatory words but they carry this sense of 'otherness' that we need to get rid of. They have connotations of these other people who are not part of us in this continent. They sort of imply that people born and bred here in Africa somehow belong to Europe.
Yet the real truth is they are part and parcel of this continent forever. They are as African as any charcoal-black South Sudanese you can imagine. So for me there is no more White farmers but Euro-Zimbabwean farmers. This acknowledges their ethnic origin but makes it clear they are Zimbabwean.
If I ever slip up please remind me of this pledge that I am making. Especially you my fellow Euro-Africans.
This line of thought on my part was prompted by recent statements by the president of my country, Robert Mugabe. In an informal off the cuff speech, it was reported, he declared that Euro-Zimbabweans should not be allowed to own land in Zimbabwe.
It is clear His Excellency thinks of them as people who belong to some place other than Zimbabwe. It is also clear he is subconsciously allocating them lesser rights than non-Euro Zimbabweans. To me that is racist.
As I was writing this blog, a columnist of The Sunday Mail, Nathaniel Manheru, thought to be Mugabe's spokesperson, launched a scathing attack on a minister who called for the remaining Euro-Zimbabweans to be protected by government.
Given the atmosphere in Zimbabwe after fast track land reform, I believe such protections are an absolute necessity. Don't get me wrong. Land reform was necessary, but it has morphed into gratuitous harassment of a minority group.
To me this is evidence that Zanu-PF have clearly shifted from liberation rhetoric to anti-White racist rhetoric.
Let me make it clear, I believe in the liberation and freedom of every human being walking the surface of this planet. Oops! The guys on the International Space Station are also included.
I do not believe in black or white supremacy. I certainly do not believe in black revenge. As an atheistic humanist, I believe individual human freedoms surpass any group rights that some groups, like religious zealots for example, might wish to allocate themselves.
Migration is an inevitable happening in human existence. It has been happening for millennia. We the Bantu peoples migrated to this region from north and central Africa. Euro-Africans may have migrated after us, but once born here, they belong here as much as we do.
Migration comes with conflict. Conflict is a physical struggle to achieve domination. Domination comes with oppression and rights abuses. Consequently conflict leaves behind bitter memories that get handed down for generations. We need to get past these bitter memories and move on as a human race.
Migration is often followed by cultural integration and assimilation. Where the assimilation is allowed to naturally occur the bitter memories get quickly overwhelmed but the intermixing of cultures. In this region there was a tremendous amount of resistance to integration by the ancestors of Euro-Africans. That makes the process more difficult but it doesn't stop it.
The history of European colonisation and domination of Africa has left very, very bitter memories among the black population of the continent. That is a result of the virulent, violent racism and wholesale dispossession of resources that accompanied it. Euro-Africans themselves worked very hard, at keeping themselves segregated and separate. That has hindered natural assimilation and lengthened the period of bitter memories.
On top of that the ancestors of Euro-Africans unfairly grabbed and reserved the bulk of resources for exclusive use by themselves. This has added a very deep sense of injustice on top of the bitterness left by conflict.
Robert Mugabe is not alone in thinking that Euro-Africans belong to Europe. Millions of black Africans, still think of Euro-Africans as belonging to Europe. This is a direct result of lack of assimilation.
Just now I was involved in a debate between a Sotho colleague, and an Afrikaner colleague. The Sotho was adamant that the young Afrikaner belonged to Holland. I had to come to the defence of the Afrikaner.
The Euro-African's great-great-great-great---grandfather may have come from Holland, but people in Holland today will call him a foreigner and won't want him there. The Hollanders would be right, he belongs to Africa.
I reminded the young Sotho that even his and my ancestors migrated from elsewhere. We have no right to expect later migrants to go back to where they came from. The same way we cannot turn around and start a black Zionist movement to go back to where our ancestors came from. We will probably just start another senseless and idiotic conflict in the Middle East.
It is alright to seek justice and equity for past wrongs. However it not right to use the quest for justice as cover for retaliation, revenge and reverse abuse of rights.
Many Euro-Africans themselves seem to think of Europe as 'home'. Brothers and sisters, your home is here in Africa. We do not choose where and when to be born.
If I had been given a choice, I would have chosen to be born into some un-contacted Amazon tribe, hidden from the pains and injustices of this world.
We may not like the racism the ancestors of Euro-Africans brought with them. However what is done is done. We need to move on. If a man rapes you, the child you bear is still your child. Anyone born on this continent has got the same belonging, as everyone else. It is not right to qualify someone's belonging by the colour of their skin.
I was not right, when it was done by the ancestors of Euro-Africans. It is not right, when it is done by blacks today. I will never ever be right.
Friday 22 August 2014
Tuesday 5 August 2014
Comrade Chinamasa, dollarisation is not the problem.
Recently Zimbabwe's finance minister Patrick Chinamasa testified before a parliamentary committee supposedly investigating Zimbabwe's economic woes.
The minister blamed the exclusive use of foreign currencies (referred to as dollarisation since the US dollar is the most used currency) as the prime evil in creating these problems.
The erstwhile comrade seems to have forgotten that he is the one who announced dollarisation in the first place. The wheel has turned a full circle but the economy has remained stuck in the mud. He is now blaming his own idea. Surely it should be obvious to the minister that other things apart from the currency regime are responsible for the economic stagnation.
My long held view is, as long as the government is living beyond its means, as long as the government is spending TOO MUCH of taxes collected in Zimbabwe OUTSIDE the country, there is nothing they can do to fix the economy. Overspending is overspending. It does not matter what currency you overspend in.
There is a better chance of the sun rising from the west than of getting the economy right as long as we paper over the issue of corrupt, irresponsible behaviour in the top echelons of government and parastatals.
Having a currency you control means you can try to print money in order to fool yourself into believing that you have lots of cash. However we all know what happened when Zimbabwe printed zimdollars in billions, trillions and quadrillions? Value in our economy comes from the way we behave and support our economy than from the amount of ink we put on paper and call it money.
I find it ironic that the very same MPs sitting in the committee, are demanding that the government import luxury vehicles for them. They all seem to think that driving a locally assembled vehicle is beneath their dignity. As they sit around a table scratching their heads wondering what is causing Zimbabwe's economic doldrums, does it not occur to just one of them that it is their spending habits which are chiefly responsible.
I would like to say to Chinamasa, Comrade Minister the problem is not the currency that we use. The problem is the conduct of the people who run the economy. Let me not hit a dog with a hidden stick. I mean you and your colleagues are the problem. As long as you think it is beneath your personal dignity to buy Zimbabwe, wear Zimbabwe, drive Zimbabwe and educate Zimbabwe, it will remain beneath your capability to right Zimbabwe's economy.
Varume kana muchida kugadzirisa economy motosiya nyaya yenyu yekudya kusvika matumbu arembera seemombe muchidya mari yenyika.
Stop the foreign trips. Start buying locally. Buy all your vehicles from Willowvale and Quest. Encourage other manufacturers to set up plants here.
At one time Volkswagen floated the idea of setting up a plant in Zimbabwe. Why should they bother if you are going to ignore locally produced vehicles and go buy in South Africa. It would be better for them to keep all their manufacturing, jobs generated and downstream economic activity, in South Africa.
One of the few white people ever placed on sanctions for associating with Zanu-PF, Billy Rautenbach, had car assembly operations in the region. I am sure he could set up a plant in Zimbabwe if he had the confidence that the government would support him. Why should he bother when he watches the Zimbabwe government leaving the cars of other local assemblers, like Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries and Quest Motors rotting in dealerships while they buy Range Rovers, Fords and Jeeps manufactured in the very same countries that placed them under sanctions?
As we say in Shona kwadzinorohwa matumbu ndiko kwadzinomhanyira. The Zimbabwe government are busy sending profits to those who are sanctioning them.
Insist that every minister buys locally made clothes, shoes, socks and even underpants. Tell His Excellency the President, and the rest of you ministers that the University of Zimbabwe and NUST are among the best universities in the world.
A large proportion of the experts running mining, manufacturing and services in this region came from there. So there is not need to spend millions of our scarce money sending children to two-bit backroom universities elsewhere, where they come back without even enough skills to tie their own shoelaces. The only reason for sending them there being your mistaken belief that it is prestigious to be associated with something foreign. On the contrary, it is as intelligent as cutting off one's own feet.
I am very much aware that a number of people who gave you political trouble came from local universities. The likes of Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Munyaradzi Gwisai and the infamous Madhuku came from there. However my elders you do not burn down your homestead because your children are troublesome.
Use Zimbabwean money in Zimbabwe to support Zimbabwe's economy. Do not rush to hand it over to those in Dubai, Japan, South Africa, Hong Kong and China. They are the ones who will get rich while this country remains poor.
It is as simple as that!
The minister blamed the exclusive use of foreign currencies (referred to as dollarisation since the US dollar is the most used currency) as the prime evil in creating these problems.
The erstwhile comrade seems to have forgotten that he is the one who announced dollarisation in the first place. The wheel has turned a full circle but the economy has remained stuck in the mud. He is now blaming his own idea. Surely it should be obvious to the minister that other things apart from the currency regime are responsible for the economic stagnation.
My long held view is, as long as the government is living beyond its means, as long as the government is spending TOO MUCH of taxes collected in Zimbabwe OUTSIDE the country, there is nothing they can do to fix the economy. Overspending is overspending. It does not matter what currency you overspend in.
There is a better chance of the sun rising from the west than of getting the economy right as long as we paper over the issue of corrupt, irresponsible behaviour in the top echelons of government and parastatals.
Having a currency you control means you can try to print money in order to fool yourself into believing that you have lots of cash. However we all know what happened when Zimbabwe printed zimdollars in billions, trillions and quadrillions? Value in our economy comes from the way we behave and support our economy than from the amount of ink we put on paper and call it money.
I find it ironic that the very same MPs sitting in the committee, are demanding that the government import luxury vehicles for them. They all seem to think that driving a locally assembled vehicle is beneath their dignity. As they sit around a table scratching their heads wondering what is causing Zimbabwe's economic doldrums, does it not occur to just one of them that it is their spending habits which are chiefly responsible.
I would like to say to Chinamasa, Comrade Minister the problem is not the currency that we use. The problem is the conduct of the people who run the economy. Let me not hit a dog with a hidden stick. I mean you and your colleagues are the problem. As long as you think it is beneath your personal dignity to buy Zimbabwe, wear Zimbabwe, drive Zimbabwe and educate Zimbabwe, it will remain beneath your capability to right Zimbabwe's economy.
Varume kana muchida kugadzirisa economy motosiya nyaya yenyu yekudya kusvika matumbu arembera seemombe muchidya mari yenyika.
Stop the foreign trips. Start buying locally. Buy all your vehicles from Willowvale and Quest. Encourage other manufacturers to set up plants here.
At one time Volkswagen floated the idea of setting up a plant in Zimbabwe. Why should they bother if you are going to ignore locally produced vehicles and go buy in South Africa. It would be better for them to keep all their manufacturing, jobs generated and downstream economic activity, in South Africa.
One of the few white people ever placed on sanctions for associating with Zanu-PF, Billy Rautenbach, had car assembly operations in the region. I am sure he could set up a plant in Zimbabwe if he had the confidence that the government would support him. Why should he bother when he watches the Zimbabwe government leaving the cars of other local assemblers, like Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries and Quest Motors rotting in dealerships while they buy Range Rovers, Fords and Jeeps manufactured in the very same countries that placed them under sanctions?
As we say in Shona kwadzinorohwa matumbu ndiko kwadzinomhanyira. The Zimbabwe government are busy sending profits to those who are sanctioning them.
Insist that every minister buys locally made clothes, shoes, socks and even underpants. Tell His Excellency the President, and the rest of you ministers that the University of Zimbabwe and NUST are among the best universities in the world.
A large proportion of the experts running mining, manufacturing and services in this region came from there. So there is not need to spend millions of our scarce money sending children to two-bit backroom universities elsewhere, where they come back without even enough skills to tie their own shoelaces. The only reason for sending them there being your mistaken belief that it is prestigious to be associated with something foreign. On the contrary, it is as intelligent as cutting off one's own feet.
I am very much aware that a number of people who gave you political trouble came from local universities. The likes of Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Munyaradzi Gwisai and the infamous Madhuku came from there. However my elders you do not burn down your homestead because your children are troublesome.
Use Zimbabwean money in Zimbabwe to support Zimbabwe's economy. Do not rush to hand it over to those in Dubai, Japan, South Africa, Hong Kong and China. They are the ones who will get rich while this country remains poor.
It is as simple as that!
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