eBusiness Weekly
Charles Dahwa
After reading what I am about to share with all of us as a nation, I have no doubt some will label me backward, not moving with the times, or anti-human rights or call me by some other names.
Yet, the fact remains: Our national culture and national righteousness is increasingly under serious threat such that by 2030, we risk losing being significantly Zimbabwean.
This is a several parts assessment of the continued and aggressive defilement of our national culture and national righteousness and my primary objective is to sound the alarm bells and evoke within us all “hunhu hwedu sema Zimbabweans”.
Importantly, a signal to us all to take corrective action, key being to proactively and strongly legislate against what defiles our national culture and national righteousness.
If we are to be honest with ourselves, being Zimbabwean “pachibarirwe uye pakurerwa nekukudzwa kwedu nemadzitateguru edu”, all this is fast vanishing as we continue to sell our pure Zimbabwean souls to the ever-contagious global open society and its culture.
Immorality is on the rise, from hard drugs to nudity, increasing loss of respect, increasing breakdown of marriages, corruption, crime, unbecoming dressing and behaviour and the list goes on.
What is painful to note is that as we continue to slide down the gullies of immorality, some among us increasingly defend such ‘unbecoming culture’ as their exclusive rights to express themselves.
So, in the name of freedom of speech and expression those of such a mind find it important and indeed their rights to conduct themselves in whatever manner, wherever, however, whenever, and with whomsoever; all in total disregard of what we all have commonly known and have upheld for centuries as our Zimbabwean national culture and national righteousness.
As I proceed, I therefore, ask: Has it occurred to us as yet that our national culture as Zimbabweans is incessantly under severe attack? Has it as yet dawned in our minds that our national righteousness is relentlessly under extreme defilement?
Whether you are aware of this or not, do you know that this continuous erosion of our national culture and the incessant defiling of our national righteousness cripples the success of our national vision:
‘Zimbabwe towards a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income economy and society by 2030’.
I am raising this alarm, because we now live in a global village, which whether we like it or not, imposes on us its own global culture.
Importantly, existence and interactions in the global village is not based on an equal footing and respect of individual nations’ sovereign, national culture and national righteousness. Only few super power nations that are driven by a neo-colonialist and globalist agenda are the major proponents and sponsors of the new world order and this global village open society culture.
Wondering who the leaders of the global village and global open society are? Of course, it is the Collective West.
What makes the global village quite risky and threatening to the national cultures and national righteousness of weaker states (in terms of financial and military muscle), for example, the Global South nations and Africa in particular, is that, financial and development support is weaponised to bully them to adopt whatever is prescribed as the appropriate global culture.
Currently, we have a very contentious issue in respect of LGBTQ+ which the collective West deem and advance as constituting universal human rights, and therefore, must be incorporated into the constitutions of each country throughout the world.
On the other hand, many countries especially Africa do not hold this position as they consider LGBTQ+ a sexual deviation and not a constitutional right neither a universal right.
Further, most recently, (Mid-May, 2023) awash in global news, are reports about how Elon Musk, a USA entrepreneur is at an advanced stage in exploiting artificial intelligence to roll out a robot wife, which is expected to reach Africa earliest September and latest November this year, (timeafricamagazine.com, zambianobserver.com; thestreetjournal.org; operanews.com).
The dismissal of this news as fake has been very minimal and what rages on and indeed quite worrying is that robot wives are soon to serenade humanity.
Whether fake or true what is very important to note is that Africa is a significant target market for such robot wives, and who knows, robot husbands as well.
Merits of this robot wife, we are told, is the ability to do numerous odd jobs and at the same time capacity to be intimate sexually.
Additional advantages already being celebrated in mass media include that, for Africans lobola/dowry becomes cheaper, given African women would now have to compete with robot wives. Also, those with greater appetite for intimacy would now have found their match and get forever satisfied, given the robot wife never says no.
All men need to do is to input the password and they can be intimate with the robot wife. It is also being argued that the robot wife gives a viable alternative to those who are lonely and cannot or struggle to get a partner or are having sour relationships; hence, whilst being married, you can easily hangout with your robot wife.
Given all the above is taking place in the global village, for which as Zimbabweans we are active members, what then shall the success of our national vision be like for us in 2030?
What then shall success be like for us as a people, as a nation and specifically as vazukuru vaNyamutota, vaKaguvi, vaNehanda, vaMakombe, vaMapondera, vaChaminuka, vaTangwena and the list goes on?
What then shall our African and Zimbabwean culture be like in 2030 given this vicious global acculturation, which is further exacerbated by manipulative threats of the collective West as they advance their neo-con and globalist agenda?
It is imperative to note that Zimbabwe is not just the name of a country or some country, but this entails all of us as a people and nation distinct in terms of who we are, where we came from, where we are now, where we seek to go, who we seek to become, how we shall become who we seek to be, and when and with what means.
Notably, we are Africans and importantly we have a peculiar culture: Vana ve vana ve vana vemadzitateguru edu; yes, we have ancestors and a clear genealogy!
While I do not claim to be an expert in history subject, I do know that we are descendants of the San people from, which our Bantu forefathers migrated southwards of Africa and established various kingdoms such as Kingdom of Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe and later Khami ruins amongst others.
As Zimbabweans we are very much distinct through our historic African languages for example, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambiya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa and following the adoption of our 2013 Constitution, we now also have English and Sign Language.
Notably, it is crucial to note that English is not our African language but its alien — it’s a language imposed on us by our erstwhile British Colonisers — “Mutauro watakamanikidzwa kutaura nevauyi, vapambe pfumi, vanhu vasina mabvi”.
Sadly, 43 years after independence, English still remains central in how we conduct ourselves and very much crowds out our very own Shona and Ndebele, just to mention only two of our major national languages.
May I also proudly remind all of us that as Zimbabweans we are distinct as a nation and people through our very unique totems, for example, Bonga (Wild Cat), Chuma/Tshuma (Sheep Breeds), Musoni/Hwesa (Anti rat), Nkomo (Cattle), Ncube/Soko (Monkey), Chikonamombe (African Antelope), Gushungo (Crocodile), Muyambo/Mlambo (Ants), Chiveso/Moto (Fire), Nyati (Buffalo), Humba (Wild Pig), Maphosa/Ngara/Nungu/Hlatshwayo (Porcupine), Dziva (Pool of still water) , Gumbo (Cow Hooves), Mhofu/Mpofu (Eland), Shumba/Sibanda(Lion), Nyoni/Hungwe (African Fish Eagle), Nzou/Zhou/Ndlovu (Elephant), Moyo (Heart), Dube/Dhuve (Zebra), among several others.
In addition to our languages and totems we are unique in how we constitute ourselves into clans, whereby, we live together under the leadership of our headsmen, chiefs and the unity of our common language and its dialects as well as our unique totems.
So special and very identifying of us is how we go about ‘tichi detemba mitupo yedu’ (zvidawo), that is, praising lyrics to identify and signify our sub clans.
A few examples, will help us refresh our memories.
Shumba Murambwi
Maita Murambwi Maita Shumba Matikaha Kuona chiso. Hekani Chibwa,
Mushereketi, Vadzimba vedu, variritiri, Mutsikapanyoro vana vaChivi,
Vakanyairi, vadyi vemhuka, Maita Shumba yangu yiyi Hekani Bumhi rangu
riri, Maita vaMhari, Chipamutoro, Vari Nyaningwe, Vari Chamhota, Maita
Shumba.
Mukweverakwasviba, Asingadyi chokupamba, Maita
vaMhungudza, Vari Baradzanwa, Zvaonekwa vaMhari.
Zvaitwa vari Chitonje, Vanomuka ngwe namasikati. Zvaitwa Matikaha nokuone gumbo,
Kuone mumhu vanovhunduka.
Maita varere Baradzanwa.
Kwaka paradzanwa baba afa. Hekani Mhungubwe yangu yiyi! Zvaitwa mwana
waChibi! Aiawa zvaonekwa Mhungubwe. VaNyamukanga, Makovere.
Zvaitwa muNyaningwe, Chibwa!
You tell me! How, do you feel after reminiscing the above totems and I know of course you have since evoked and relived your own totem?
There you are: Truly gratified in your totem as mwana wevhu! Strikingly, we do not do “zvidawo” in English and even as I write to you, it is very unfortunate, I am doing this in a foreign language, English, imposed on us since the 1890’s.
Now, can we do zvidawo praising robot wives or robot husbands? Can we go ‘kunotemera hoko mwanakomana wako ayaruka asi iye achiramba kuroora munhukadzi chaiye nokuti waanoda ndi Robot Wife?’
Surely, our national culture and national righteousness is under incessant attack and if we do not wake up, we shall cease to be a people and to be vazukuru vaNyamutota, vaNehanda, vaKaguvi, vaChaminuka, vaTangwena among several of our forefathers.
Dr Charlie writes in his personal capacity as a Zimbabwean and proudly mwana wevhu. Being patriotic, he is of the strong conviction that regardless of the trials and tribulations we have gone through as a nation for the past decades, we, as Zimbabweans should never sell our birth right. He is contactable on [email protected]
