Whose government is it?

Yesterday I got one of the usual snide remarks about "your government" being corrupt based on the fact that I am black, and the recent revelations about the activities of Bosasa.

"It's Gavin Watson's government." was my immediate retort.

The person jerked his head back a little and gave me a very surprised look.

"Of course your side of the border is bad too."

Apparently he had now remembered that I am a Zimbabwean citizen. Maybe he thought I was basing my reply on that, but I knew what his point was and I was replying to that exact point. I could not be bothered by the artificial lines drawn by his ancestors down the middle of our Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Sotho, Khoi, Karanga and Namaqua communities.

Oh by the way do people know there are Xhosa people in Gwanda district of Zimbabwe who were there before colonialists came?

"And Angelo Agrizzi's government too." so I added.

Then the topic became about Agrizzi being a turn coat and a backstabber, but I had made my point. Corruption is not the sole fault of blacks.

When blacks steal big, it is often at the behest of someone else who knows the system and makes off with most of the loot.

Look at the case of the Mozambican minister. He facilitated the theft of US$2 billion of which he was given only 50 million.

Look at the Guptas, they made billions while in the end Zuma had to borrow from other thieves (VBS) just to be able to pay less than 10 million he was eventually asked to pay back over Nkandla.

Look at the Bosasa saga. The company and Watson made over $2billion while those who facilitated the theft were given amounts in the thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands if they were lucky.

Look at my Zimbabwean government? They don't know where US$15 billion worth of diamonds went. The politicians stole mere millions and they think they made a killing. The rest was bilked out of the country.

That kind of, for lack of a better word, idiotic thinking by our politicians is what we need to get rid of.

You go and buy a buffalo for millions. The person selling you the buffalo found it walking in the bush, on land he took from your forefathers.

In any case the buffalo is of no use to you for that much money. The meat is not much more than that of an average cow. You cannot use it for many other things that you can use a cow for such as drawing a plough or scotch-cart.

The buffalo will be expensive to look after because you have to keep it away from people with expensive fences. It is a dangerous animal after all, that can even kill a lion. What more mere humans in the village.

Yet our politicians somehow think they are doing something extra-ordinarily clever when they get bamboozled by marketing sweet-talk, hype and propaganda into making such senseless 'investments'.

Why not invest on a better school or vocational training centre in your village and out of that you can get brick-layers, carpenters, metal-workers and other skilled people who will be of use to your businesses and the wider community, not buffaloes.

Matric is basic education, so that you can read, write and do the simpler sums. Beyond Matric you need a skill.

Why not teach our young people that skills are not just for finding jobs, but also that can eliminate costs by doing basic chores around their homes and communities.

Despite all the things that I list on my CV, I find that the skills that I use most frequently for my own benefit, not for an employer's benefit, are carpentry, metal-work and brick-laying.

The house that I live in now, I extended a couple of rooms over a few weekends, doing all the measuring, plumbing, brick-laying and roofing myself.

Recently my welding machine got stolen but I want to buy another one. What with all the handiwork I do. From fixing trailers to building structures for various uses around the home. I recently made a gantry to take out engines from cars. Professional mechanics are even hiring it from me.

Back to my main point, our leaders get used to steal from us, and they are not even the main beneficiaries of the theft. They do not even seem to see anything wrong when those for whom they steal, shift the blame back, not just to them but to the entire black community, including the real victims of the theft.

Victims today who have been victims of colonial and racist theft before.