Zimbabweans are not so gullible

Published in The Standard 27 March 2011

Zimbabweans are a religious lot. The varieties of religious practices vary between traditionalists and other religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindi, and Baha’i Faith. There may be other faiths in between. Times of desperation often bring out what people are made of. For me, our religiosity has been our anchor. Our faith makes us who we are.

According to proved records, the majority people claim to be Christians in this country. That as it may, many have learned practices that prove that religions often are comfortable with each other when they are faced with one common enemy. The leadership in this country has become so proud that they think they will be there forever. One hopes the GNU does not think that it will be there forever.

The majority of the religions above have a strong belief that there is someone who is stronger than our leaders. This person has a final say. This is what our dear leaders do not realise. The good thing, though, is that the majority of the people they lead are far ahead. Forcing them or not to go to rallies is not what worries the majority. They are worried about being taken for granted.

No one owns anybody. No party, no leader, be he/she a church leader or not should claim to have people of their own. These are God’s children who may at one point show allegiance to you. These are the ones who matter and not you as a leader. Indeed a culture of forcing people to do what leaders want has emerged but let them be warned. Zimbabweans are not that gullible.

Zimbabweans have suffered for a very long time. As a result of this suffering several thousands if not a couple of millions have like the biblical Israelites traversed the length and breadth of this world. A big chunk of them have taken citizenship abroad. They did this because they were looking for fresh beginnings. A number had established jobs here but could not stand abuse at the hands of the powers that be.

Nothing is going to stop people from gaining their ultimate freedom. Freedom from hunger, being forced to attend rallies, being forced to surrender all in the name of religion and so forth.

Do not force people to demand God to act. This Lent period until Easter is special to many in this country and a lot are praying for this nation.

The Old Testament says that everything has its own time. The greatest travesty is to take people for granted. The Master has the final authority and we can smell it all over.

Rev Dr Levee Kadenge