Zimbabwe cabinet member Saviour Kasukuwere delivered an addressed on the real meaning behind African empowerment and indigenization. a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Indigenisation: the Last Chimurenga .
Sunday, 13 March 2011 00:05
Opinion
By Professor Jonathan Moyo, MP
Now that the dodgy politics of the GPA Government have become part of the ignominy of history thanks to the treachery of the MDC formations, an unmistakably new and arguably the last revolution is sweeping across the country as Zimbabweans are once again and without doubt finding their home in Zanu-PF under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe in pursuit of the “Last Chimurenga” whose thrust is different from that of the First, Second and Third Chimurengas insofar as it seeks the permanent indigenisation of our national economy.
Put differently, Zimbabwe is under the grip of the start of an irreversible Last Chimurenga which spells political doom for counter-revolutionaries like Morgan Tsvangirai, his fellow puppets and their US and EU masters, while creating unprecedented economic opportunities for Zimbabweans — especially the youth — under the banner of indigenisation with far-reaching positive implications for our country’s prosperity well into the future and beyond.
In a nutshell, the context of the Last Chimurenga is as follows: Whereas our ancestors fought the First Chimurenga to reaffirm our inalienable political, societal and economic rights as indigenous Zimbabweans in the face of colonialism, gallant sons and daughters of our liberation struggle were inspired by our ancestors to fight the Second Chimurenga against illegal Rhodesia to restore our political rights leading to the indigenisation of our national politics which we achieved by taking full control of the State in 1980 which in turn paved the way for the Third Chimurenga in 2000 whose defining purpose was to regain our societal rights to the ancestral land of our birth.
In the same way that the armed struggle in the Second Chimurenga was necessary to fulfil the objectives of the First Chimurenga against colonialism, the transformation of the ownership of the majority equity in our economy through indigenisation is necessary as an expression of the Last Chimurenga to complement the economic gains of the Third Chimurenga against neo-colonialism.
Parenthetically, and for the avoidance of confusion, it is important to appreciate why the Last Chimurenga is now fully in operation and reaching out to every Zimbabwean instead of, say, the Fourth Chimurenga, which some might think is a natural next step after the Third Chimurenga.
Basically and in point of fact, if the First Chimurenga of our ancestors had been successful in repelling colonialism and foreclosing neo-colonialism, it would have been the last in that there would not have been a need for the Second Chimurenga. By the same token if the Second Chimurenga had succeeded to restore both our political and economic independence by ensuring not only reclamation of our land but also the economic indigenisation of our economy, the Third Chimurenga would not have been necessary.
Furthermore, and along the same lines, if the Third Chimurenga had not only reclaimed our land but also indigenised our economy, the revolutionary deed would have been done and completed and we would be seized with developing our economy, state and society as a sovereign people who own our land and who preside over an indigenised economy.
As things stand, we have consolidated our hard-won political independence and we have scored an historic achievement by reclaiming our land as an important drive towards ensuring our economic independence, but we have not indigenised our economy.
Therefore the last challenge before us is the indigenisation of our economy. If we do that we are home and dry.
In the circumstances, for Zimbabweans to meet the last historic challenge before the nation, of indigenising our national economy to cement the gains of the Second and Third Chimurengas, requires the waging of the Last Chimurenga to seal it all through Zanu-PF and under the leadership of President Mugabe, who has established a visible, dynamic and infectious connection with the majority of the country’s youth in what has become nationally known as the “Gushungo Connection”.
And so it is that although its breadth, depth and historical import are not yet fully blown out and even though it is not yet fully appreciated by the generality of the people, the Last Chimurenga is upon us and it is a momentous and unstoppable revolution which, while inextricably intertwined with the legacies of the First, Second and Third Chimurengas upon which it is founded, it is nevertheless distinct and unique in terms of the following three key factors which define it:
The first key factor of the Last Chimurenga is that its demographic content is defined by young Zimbabweans, most of them in their teens, twenties and thirties and others in their forties who are not only in the trenches of the struggle for economic empowerment through indigenisation but also who, along with their offsprings, are the main beneficiaries of that struggle.
What this means is that while the demographic content of the Third Chimurenga primarily favoured landless peasants across the country who were resettled under the hugely successful A1 scheme, the demographic content of the Last Chimurenga primarily targets — as beneficiaries — the born-free generation that has the education, skills and experience to benefit the most from the on-going indigenisation of the economy.
The second major factor of the Last Chimurenga is its ideological thrust. Everybody now understands that whereas in ideological terms the First and Second Chimurengas were mainly but not only political and military responses to the vestiges of colonialism by indigenous Zimbabweans, just like the Third Chimurenga whose historic purpose was to ensure that land and everything under and on it belongs to
Zimbabweans, the Last Chimurenga is essentially an economic response to the vagaries of neo-colonialism which these days comes under the cover of regime change ever pursued in the false name of democracy, human rights, good governance and the rule of law.
The ideological message of the Last Chimurenga to the born-free generation is very clear: if the generation allows the regime-change agenda of the US and the EU to succeed through illegal economic sanctions and the treacherous politics of the embattled MDC formations that offer no economic benefit to Zimbabweans, then neo-colonialism will succeed in our country with the consequence that being born free will be reduced to political cosmetics with no economic content as the born free would remain labourers in their own economy.
The only answer to this clear and present danger is the indigenisation of equity so as to enable Zimbabweans through the born-free generation to take full control of the means of production in our economy.
The third key factor of the Last Chimurenga relevant to this discussion is its policy matrix whose essence is that 100 percent equity should be indigenised in the strategic sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, alluvial mining, tourism and retail, among others, while the threshold of indigenisation in other sectors where foreign investment is either desirable or necessary should be at least 51 percent in favour of the born-free generation as the leading but not only benefiting group. Happily Cdes Saviour Kusukuwere and Tendai Savanhu are already well advanced in their development of this policy thrust to benefit the born-free generation as a defining feature of the Last Chimurenga.
The three key defining features of the Last Chimurenga outlined above need further explanation starting with its policy matrix.
Zimbabwe’s detractors in the US and the EU assisted by their local puppets in the MDC formations have variously sought to present the policy matrix of the Last Chimurenga through indigenisation either as nationalisation or a barrier to foreign investment.
Yet the truth of the matter is that there is a difference of night and day between nationalisation and indigenisation not least because the former empowers only state institutions some of which are run by corrupt mandarins whereas the latter empowers the people themselves and in the case of Zimbabwe the born-free generation in particular.
As such, indigenisation under the Last Chimurenga is not about empowering government structures under the State but about empowering the people of Zimbabwe the majority of whom are born frees who shall be enabled to own majority equity across the national economy. This is for real and will be done technically, procedurally and legally to benefit the country’s youth whose time to be counted in revolutionary ways has come.
As for the inane claim that indigenisation under the Last Chimurenga is a barrier to foreign investment, what is notable about it is that it is largely if not altogether coming from representatives of countries whose governments have imposed illegal economic sanctions that have not only sacred away neutral investors but have also caused untold terror in our country.
Nobody needs to be a rocket scientist to tell what is a barrier to foreign investment between illegal economic sanctions whose evil impact knows no bounds and indigenisation. Indeed, policy experience around the world shows that the foundation of a dynamic and positive foreign investment climate is indigenisation. Any foreign investment that is not supported by a solid indigenous foundation is too risky by definition.
On the ideological front, the import of the Last Chimurenga is very clear: every generation has an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity of the born-free generation which stands to benefit the most from the Zanu-PF-led policy of indigenisation of the economy being spearheaded by President Mugabe is to take majority ownership and control of the economy through equity.
But there is a challenge which stands as barrier to this opportunity and it is the US and EU-inspired regime change politics pursued in a Machiavellian way through puppet MDC formations under the guise of human rights, democracy, good governance and the rule of law.
The born-free generation needs to understand that in the same way that their forefathers and fathers fought against slavery and colonialism they need to fight against neo-colonialism and regime change. They must understand that regime change is not an African concept or an African invention but a US and EU mantra meant to corrupt, disrupt and defeat the total political and economic independence of African people.
Just like disagreements among and within African communities in the past were never an acceptable justification for slavery or colonialism our differences today cannot justify US and EU regime change agendas. Only puppets use internal disagreements to justify diabolic foreign agendas such as regime change.
When Tsvangirai sought to justify the illegal economic sanctions last week by claiming that they were imposed by the US and the EU on account of alleged human rights abuses he was once again reminding everyone that he is an incurable merchant of regime change and a modern-day Tshombe who is not a fit and proper African to govern Zimbabwe let alone shape the future of the born-free generation. A Tshombe is a sell-out, not a leader.
Also last week Tsvangirai proved that, as an unthinking merchant of regime change who is used as an empty vessel by the US and the EU, he makes a lot of noise about the rule of law without understanding what it means. He contemptuously described the Supreme Court as “an appendage of Zanu-PF” in a case in which the Court ruled against the Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, by setting aside the election of the Speaker of Parliament which he had conducted on August 25 2008.
How does a Court decision against the Clerk of Parliament become “a Zanu-PF appendage” and are we to think that if the decision had gone in favour of the Clerk of Parliament, as it did earlier in the High Court, it would have been “an MDC-T appendage”?
Surely that is utter nonsense coming from somebody who has failed to be the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe after more than 24 months in office. The born-free generation needs to take this into account given past treacherous attempts by the MDC-T to fool and mislead the youth of this country.
But perhaps the one example from last week which puts paid to Tsvangirai’s rule of law nonsense, and shames the 24 embassies that issued a blatantly stupid statement about the political situation in Zimbabwe which did not hide their desperation, was the MDC-T leader’s claim that Energy and Power Development Minister Elton Mangoma should have been “arrested in accordance with the GPA”. What does that mean? Has the GPA now become part of our country’s criminal code?
Tsvangirai and his cronies even shamelessly tried to allege that no Zanu-PF Cabinet minister has ever been arrested in the manner Mangoma was.
Yet Zimbabweans still have fresh memories of the recent arrests of Zanu-PF ministers such as Dr Chris Kuruneri and Cde Bright Matonga to mention just two.
But what is worse is that Tsvangirai also claimed in the same vein that Mangoma had explained himself in Cabinet and should not have been arrested for that silly reason. Has the Prime Minister gone mad or that’s just another example of his now legendary incompetence?
The fact that a minister explains anything in Cabinet does not mean the law should not take its course and Zimbabweans, especially the born-free generation who are marching on with the Last Chimurenga, expect their Prime Minister to know that.
The bottom line is that Tsvangirai is now an open book of incompetence thanks not only to stunning revelations about him from WikiLeaks about what senior US government think about how useless he is but also to his widely publicised private indiscretions which like his public conduct prove beyond any doubt that he never ever takes responsibility for anything even when his victim is a 23-year-old.
Finally, and putting Tsvangirai’s incapacity to take responsibility for actions, there’s the third and last issue of the demographic content of the Last Chimurenga.
As already pointed out that content is defined mainly by the youth who are in their teens, twenties and thirties with sprinkles or a few in their early forties who are not only in the trenches of the struggle for economic empowerment through indigenisation and are the main beneficiaries of that struggle along with their offsprings.
In this sense, the Last Chimurenga is a call of history to the born-free generation to prepare to take the baton of the revolution from the senior national leadership in the country under the revolutionary guidance of President Mugabe. And this is a historic moment not to squander.
It is totally unacceptable that the same countries in the US and EU whose kith and kin dehumanised and brutally turned our ancestors into slaves and colonised our country to plunder its resources and whom we fought a protracted liberation struggle to regain our independence should today pose as champions of good governance, democracy and human rights while dictating to us who should govern our country and how only a paltry 31 years since our hard-won independence.
That must never happen and the Last Chimurenga is the best way to stop it. Against this backdrop, it would be catastrophic and the ultimate treachery for the born-free generation to flirt with merchants of regime change and puppets at a time when the heroes of the Second and Third Chimurengas are publicly and genuinely handing them the revered baton of the revolution with its roots in the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi and King Lobengula, among our illustrious ancestors, to fight and secure the Last Chimurenga through indigenisation of our national economy.
Just like US and EU slavery and colonialism failed, US and EU regime change must also fail once and for all. For that to happen we must take total control of our economy and work in partnerships with foreign investors who understand the meaning of mutual interests and mutual benefit.
The truism which the born-free generation and the senior national leadership must now come to terms with in the national interest is that every true revolution is fought by the younger generation and led by the senior generation.
Zimbabweans cannot ask for better than to have President Mugabe lead the born-free generation into the Last Chimurenga.
-The Sunday Mail
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