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Empowering the Zimbabwean dream
Mutsa Murenje
October 15, 2011

I had meant to write this article many months ago but I found out that each time that I thought of doing so, I had to juggle multiple tasks that deprived me of the much-needed time to pen something for my (thirsty) esteemed readership. There is no need for me to impress anybody, neither is there any need for this writer to interest the readership with a display of scholarship. I will forever remain in the background and will, without failure, put the Almighty God in the foreground.

In empowering the Zimbabwean dream, I don-t claim to have something so special to offer because I am neither a great politician nor a profound scholar although I realised the necessity for scholastic attainment in the social services profession. I felt that postgraduate studies would give me a better grasp of my area. I had a general knowledge of my field but had not done adequate research to meet the scholarly issues which I would confront in this field.

I thought to myself, an additional year or two of intensified study would not only give me a thorough grasp of knowledge in my field but would also increase chances of my employability in a wide range of areas including non-governmental organisations, international agencies and state ministries thereby making me a utilitarian asset in developing the underdeveloped, schooling the unschooled and feeding the unfed. For this reason, I found myself battling with three offers for advanced studies-two in Europe (the University of East Anglia and Westminster respectively) and one in Africa (the University of Ibadan). I chose the latter because it was fully funded.

There is obviously no pretense to infallibility on my part that of course is reserved for the height of the divine as opposed to the depth of the human. I am consciously aware of my own finiteness and incompleteness, knowing so clearly that I have not been bathed in the sunshine of omniscience or baptised in the waters of omnipotence. All I know is that I have most of my life ahead of me, indeed a lifetime of potential productivity. Consequently, I gave myself to something eternal and absolute rather than to little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow.

I also know that the good Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has been our constant help in ages past, and our hope for years to come and our shelter in the time of storm, and our eternal home. There is talk of elections in early 2012. Knowing how much desirous we are to achieve social, economic and political change in our country, I have thought long and hard that for us to move forward, we need to go back as a nation and find the good Lord I have just alluded to. I believe that that is the God that demands and commands our ultimate allegiance because all reality hinges on moral foundations and all reality has spiritual control.

I am convinced that there is no single approach to the solution of the Zimbabwean political and economic crisis. Anyone who starts out with the conviction that the road to a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe is only one lane will inevitably create a traffic jam and make the journey infinitely longer thereby disempowering the Zimbabwean dream. I am further calling for an impeccable character and deep-rooted dedication as we continue to face Robert Mugabe-s oppressive forces. This will be our intrepid and courageous affirmation that we have had enough of Mugabe and his ZANU PF party. The 2012 elections should deliver to the peace-loving people of Zimbabwe, women and men of real integrity, indeed people who are deeply committed to moral and ethical principles. Remember: "Of course, 'morality- has an old-fashioned ring about it; but any politics without morality is destructive. And the destructive results of African politics in the post-colonial era owes something to the amorality of the civic public" (Peter Ekeh).

In a nutshell, ZANU PF has caused us untold suffering and sorrow and we have to reaffirm our faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person; promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom; and practice tolerance, and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours. The struggle continues unabated!

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