We wondered how in such a short space of time, we, as Black people, could have reduced – a suburb that had been for decades the pride of the nation – to such deplorable standards.
The failure to maintain the houses and their yards – let alone improve them – rubbish strewn all over the streets and nearby bushes, noise everywhere, and a place that once did not have alcohol consumption areas was now a hive for drinking.
I remember confessing to my dear wife that – as some of the first Black pupils at the formerly Group A school of Redcliff Primary – we used to engrave our names on the desks using pointed objects, such as mathematical dividers and compasses, and how we would write all sorts of stuff in textbooks.
Is it then any wonder that there are no longer any textbooks and desks?
It is clear that our group were the Black people to initiate this deterioration of a once vibrant community – something that, unfortunately, has been passed on from generation to generation.
We could not help asking, what the people who resided in this suburb prior to independence would say if they were to return for a visit today.
Would that not be the most embarrassing moment in the lives of Black people?
Thus, the question came to my dear wife and I: ‘ Was Ian Smith right in saying that Black majority rule would lead to the lowering of standards’?
It seems that he was right after all.
My father – who had been a staunch ZANU PF supporter, and had actually been blacklisted by the Rhodesian regime for his political activism – had always been angered by such statements by Smith, labelling them racist.
In fact, he was even more enraged by one particular comment that he attributed to a senior Rhodesian government official that if Black people ruled this country, we will find faeces strewn all over town.
How I wish my beloved father had still been alive today so that he could witness for himself what has become of our towns and cities’ alleys – then he would have, most probably, eaten his words.
Our towns and cities now reek of urine and faeces – that is if you are fortunate enough not to actually stride on some.
So, was Ian Smith wrong, or is there something else to this sad situation?
I, honestly, do not believe that it has anything to do with colonial oppression.
As a matter of fact, the town of Redcliff was owned and built by the then giant Rhodesia Iron and Steel Company (Risco), now Ziscosteel, and the company was very strict in maintaining very high standards even in Torwood township, where we resided during the colonial days – even awarding regular prizes to the best kept homes.
Therefore, where did everything go wrong after independence?
Should the new government have continued with this strict standard monitoring policy?
I strongly believe that the new government should, indeed, have continued.
However, this is entirely our fault as Black people, as much as it is also government’s role to ensure strict adherence to high standards.
Another question then comes to my mind: ‘Just how racist was the Rhodesia regime?’
I will not try to justify, defend, or even trivalise the gross injustices perpetrated on the Black majority of this country by the brutal Rhodesians, nonetheless, just how far did that racism go?
Would it be racist if those Whites who stayed in Redcliff suburb wanted to maintain their high standards, and denied me permission to reside there, as they would know that I would just mess up everything – as indeed happened?
This issue just does not stop there, as it also touches the political and business corporate landscape.
Once we, Black people, took over the political and business corporate reigns, most of us were just there to plunder resources for our own selfish gain, without a thought for the advancement of the country, community, and company.
Instead of ensuring that high corporate governance standards were maintained, we have managed to turn once vibrant country, towns, cities, and companies into nothing but hopeless embarrassments.
As much as this is our country, and can not be dictated to by foreigners – as that is how we have characterised Rhodesians, and I am not advocating for a return to colonial rule – this is an opportunity to self-reflect as a people.
Instead of rushing to scream ‘racism’, whenever this fact is mentioned, especially by Whites, should we not be focussing more on whether they are wrong or not.
As much as it is our beloved country, and will maintain its independence, but should we not be learning from such criticism of our behaviour and change our ways?
Seriously, do we enjoy – or at least, see nothing amiss with – living in the midst of utter filth, corruption, and mismanagement?
Instead of throwing that banana peel, or Chicken Inn empty carton onto the street or into the nearby bush, can we seriously not put them into the nearest rubbish bin – or if not available, keep them till we get home and discard of them properly?
Just how pressed would someone be to defecate in the middle of town in an alley, or in the nearby bush?
Can we seriously not mobilize each other to patch up those potholes in our roads, or to fix our children’s schools?
Are we saying that we can not even train our children to mend their own schools uniforms, such that they do not move around as if they live in the bush?
In Shona we call that ‘kuzviregerera’, which means a deliberate lack of self-control.
As much as this should be common sense, there is an urgent and serious need for our local governments to start focussing on issues that matter the most, such as enforcing by-laws dealing with hygiene and other standards.
If municipal police have the energy and time to be chasing around commuter minibuses, then they are more than capable of strictly monitoring how well we keep our residential areas and towns at the highest levels.
Why should unleashed dogs be allowed to roam around the streets?
These would most likely not even be vaccinated against rabies, let alone been dipped.
Before and just after independence, such dogs were impounded – and all others regularly inspected for vaccination and dipping tags and licences.
We need those high standards back.
I remember being regularly stopped by municipal police, when I was a little boy, to check if my trusty bicycle had a valid licence.
What happened to all that?
We can not afford to live like wild animals in our own country.
To make matters worse, we merely inherited most of these towns, cities, and companies – although, we bought the houses – and all we needed to do was just to maintain what was already there – if improving was asking for too much.
Or was the ‘inheriting’ part of the problem, as people are prone to mismanage something that they never sweated for to build?
As the country spirals out of control economically and politically, we also need to take a good look at the social issues, as these could just be as catastrophic.
We have talked a lot on what is economically and politically wrong with this country and its leadership – as I write extensively about that – but we also need to analyse what is wrong with us as Zimbabweans.
We are sitting on a social and health time bomb, as we fail to maintain the highest living standards.
Added to that, our actions reveal the true nature of our minds and hearts – as what manner of people are we when we find comfort in living in filth?
When we do not lose any sleep even if we plunder a town, city, country, or company to its ruin?
We can not continue as if everything is normal, when in fact the opposite is true.
Let us frankly examine ourselves, as Zimbabweans – without denial and being defensive – and critique our own mindset and behaviour, and what that says about us as a people.
I am someone who believes that the only hope for a better future starts with an honest self -inventory before I start finding fault in others, as that is exactly what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said – that we should first remove the plank in our own eyes, for us to see better the speck in our brothers’ eyes.
° Tendai Ruben Mbofana is social justice activist, writer, author, and speaker. He is available should anyone invite him to speak at any event or gathering. Please call/WhatsApp: +263782283975, or email: tendaiandtinta.mbofana@gmail.
will not try to justify, defend, or even trivalise the gross injustices perpetrated on the Black majority of this country by the brutal Rhodesians, nonetheless, just how far did that racism go?
Great article. The only paragraph I totally disagree with is the above one. To call Rhodesians “brutal” is not true.
Tendai, your racism is as obvious as our realism: You’ve referred to the people with standards as “foreigners,” and by their skin colour, so let’s be honest, you are just as guilty of the same offence as those you hate. At least those nasty, horrid Rhodies did have “standards,” they built a nation out of bush, while yours just repeatedly consume, break, and destroy. The realists of every race always knew what you would do to the place … and we told you this quite often, so no, we didn’t want you in our suburbs, nor our schools. Now you’ll just have to live in the mess you’ve made, while we on the other hand are doing great wherever we are. Perhaps if you had reached out and understood the difference between realism and racism, especially your own, we could have done something amazing together? But you didn’t, you called us names, referred to us by our skin colour and not our nationality, and blamed us for all your problems – so sadly any sympathy for your self-inflicted mess is long gone. THIS, Tendai, is realism, the simple facts, nothing racial, nothing spoken with hatred, no name calling, no mention of your colour, but when you alienated those who actually had the “standards” it should have been obvious what was going to happen. Surely?
Ian, I suspect you don’t know Tendai. I am White and know him well, and to call him racist is simply slander. His article is actually extremely realistic. But in order to criticise his comments, you had to twist what he said, and that is intellectually dishonest. Please re-read his article, this time objectively, and you will see you are agreeing with much of what he said. On another topic, yes, White people did in one way build Africa but their legacy has more than undone any good they did. It is like a doctor using a cure for one cancer, only to create a far worse one. But I fear you are blind to that.
The past is over with. if it wasnt for whites then slavery or segregation would not have ended. Blacks did not do this, and the armed war they fought was for COMMUNISM not for black rights or black freedom. What was fought for IS what Zimbabwe is today. Blacks would have been better off if whites went through that motion to change and still be in control. Whites hate living in shit, and if it means to uplift those we look down on then we will. There is more actual social historical evidence for that like the US, Europe and the UK now. But once again that liberal disease and bringing in the lowest forms of human garbage, who generationally are the result of BLACK AFRICAN RULE, burn the place to the ground and make whites feel evil to pointing that out. Racism is a communist lie, To be PRO WHITE is not the problem. Pro Black has been the problem for BLACKS and now WHITES.
Can anyone take someone who uses such a childish “handle” seriously? If you can make constructive comments about how to take Africa forward, we really would love and value your comments and would love to hear from you. Otherwise you are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Racism! What does that mean? It`s a word that black people use as a weapon to get pity. Perhaps it is because they know the truth about themselves and it`s embarrassing or too hard to handel. There was no racism in Africa except from the blacks. It was culturism. Whites want to live with their culture just as Shona tibes want to be with Shona people and don`t want to live and mix with Ndbele people. Is that not racism as well? No! It`s culturism! I am happy to read that you recognise the grave mistake the Zimbaweans made and did not understand. Now you sit with what we already knew and their will never be any fixing of the situation. It`s only going to get worse! Hear my words! Whites have been building and inventing knowledge for thousands of years. Please tell me what the black man has ever done? Nothing but devastation. Murder, rape, torture, disease. Thats why Africa is riddled with DISEASE. There are no hygeine standards. Cleanliness is not a part of an African way of life. African mothers don`t teach their children to live healthy. It`s a vicious circle going from one generation to another. Let me tell you this, whites wouldn`t mind living amongst black people if they were clean, respectful of the fellow man and his property and strive to better themselves and the community. African people are takers. They don`t give back. Only take!
South Africa is going the same way!
Blacks on the whole will not and cannot maintain the levels and standard of living found in East Asian and white countries. Try as they may there is not only an intelligence gap but a lack of evolution that prevents this. Thousands of years of ethnic separation has shown that the different ethnicity of the human race have evolved much differently and that blacks have by far evolved the least and have the farthest to go.
neqroes caint be held to human standards cuz dey allais gone fail. dey bees beasts an dass how dey gone live even if dey bees given all da human thangs dat dey thinks dey wants…….
Sadly trash and debris clutter the curb and side walks in U.S. cities where the black community reside. I have worked in these areas for many years & witnessed the filth that they are willing to live in. My maternal grandmother, who was a single mother for many years with six children, used to say that “you’re never too poor to buy soap.” No matter how destitute I have been in life, surrounding myself in a clean environment goes a long way to lifting the spirit. Every house I have lived in, I have attempted to keep it clean and up kept to the best of my abilities. I wish for the best for all mankind, regardless of race. Being given something for nothing is many times destroyed, whereas working for something makes a person have pride in it.
I have to say I thought the article by Tendai was a very brave attempt at taking a honest look at what has happened in Zimbabwe after 37 years of black rule, I was really impressed with Tendai’s honesty, it can’t have been easy and if others can be equally candid about the failings of black rule then there is indeed much to hope for. I am a liitle disappointed with the reaction of others to some of Tendai’s comments regarding white Rhodesians, I can understand their annoyance as it was at the very least poorly thought through, but the bigger picture here is that Tendai is concluding black Zimbabwe has screwed up on a truly massive scale, they have effectively destroyed a country at pretty much every level, this is a massive admission and that has to be admired.
If black Zimbabweans can stand up and make this kind of statement and white Zimbabweans have the self restraint (a big ask I know, the bitterness and resentment must be overwhelming ) to not shout back ‘we told you so’ and instead be magnanimous enough to offer to work together again, then the country may, just may have a glimmer of hope to come back from the abyss.
Blacks claim Zimbabwe is their country still? All you did was TAKE a country built by white men and rename it. You never BUILT your own country. When you say you are an “independent” African nation its a bad irony.
Great article, I respect Mbofana’s honesty. It’s ironic but over the years I have found people of black descent to be more honest on these matters than most whites. Zimbabwe bears great resemblance to Detroit, which was at one time the fourth largest city in the US and arguably the most powerful industrial city in the world. Detroit was founded in 1701 and built entirely by whites. Like in Zimbabwe, tyrannical external forces took control from the whites and handed it to the blacks. The resulting white flight has virtually eliminated white presence. There are sporadic efforts to revive the city but they will be ineffectual. Blaming blacks is silly, they are simply not capable of building or maintaining a modern society. The real villains are deluded liberal whites, guided by a small group of foreign, Marxist elites.
This is some cancerous shit that I hadn’t heard since my time around skinheads, here in the US. I am not communist, Marxist or pro white, but that Tendai is what is called an uncle Tom nigger in Americuh.
Your mistakes is that you’re analysing the white man in Africa, the one who took over land and resources to make him superior in all those attributes that you mentioned. You’re analysing a nelevated minority of the white people in Africa and calling tbem cllean etc, are thhey so much clean and smart and superior in all their native lands. Are tIs there no llverty in their native lands? Don’t even talk about disease in Africa there’s a whole lot of cancer in America than in Africa, and so yes I agree there’s more Aids in Africa, if we are intellectuals who care about reading, we would know that disease is a source of funds for big organizations and this idea of hygiene is just pathetic. When we even talk about the way some deep dark European organisations fund terror in Africa in an effort to divert loot, the way second hand products are dumped in Africa has destroyed local industry, or the way sanctions have prevented realistic trade on level ground. Africa can be better, I agree, but I’m not foolish enough to believe that since white people are not the face of leadership they are not in control of Africa. Instead they upgraded their rule to a systematic control of economies and governments of Africa. After all has been said and done, white people were not perfect leaders, they caused poverty and terrorised the black majority, black people are also not perfect leaders, but atleast we have peace. Infrastructure is good but I’d rather live in a shack than to be treated like shit by a delusional person who is equally created by the same God.
Look the Smith goverment are to blame for what has happened to this country. Firstly they knew that blacks being the majority would one day rule, they refused to train/teach blacks how to run goverment departments. If they took 6 guys and put them as deputies and showed them this is how the reserve bank opperates, this is how the economy run etc after a couple of years those guys would have an understanding. They could rotate and train another group eventually you could have a mixed goverment running smoothly with the whites still being the majotity in goverment. In 1940 blacks where kumusha herding cattle etc now today we are asking them to run Air Zim or the economy. Its a crazy ask. It took Europe hundreds of year to get where it is today. So i say if Smith thought clearly he should have seen trouble coming and put aside racism, pride etc for the future of all.
What you wrote is exactly right and the overt racism in the comments is appaling.
God has nothing to do with the position Africa is in. One Man One Vote Once and resultant dictators ARE. The Good have no power to get rid of the The Bad and the downright Ugly.
Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa along with South Africa. For those Americans who are not so good at Geography South Africa is located on the Southern tip of the African continent. (Not an exaggeration as World geography is not a leading subject in the US).
People who hurl insults at eachother here from their armchairs should be on the battlefields of Africa where wanton Black on Black killing and destruction is the name of the game.
The South African ANC government still blames apartheid for its failings 26 years down the track. Rife corruption has lead to the country being systematically stripped of wealth and infrastructure destroyed with impunity.
Zimbabwe is no better and the confiscation of farmland has caused outright starvation as is and will happen in South Africa.
Never mind, the do gooders in UK will not admit to reality and aid will pour in when rock bottom is reached, not that those in need will ever receive it.
Rather bore wells and give the people tools and seeds than handouts.
Let the do gooders go live in Communist Cuba on one bread roll and a glass of sugar and water a day, six eggs and just maybe six chicken legs a month.
Stand in line all day and night and be lucky there is something left.
Look at Africa and Venezuela how the Cubans manipulated dictatorships there. Empty shelves in supermarkets in Venezuela and diamonds from Angola as payment for fighting a war against the South Africans. Castro Inc. and Chavez enriched themselves beyond all possible belief including selling oil at well below spot prices to African countries.
Keep the people down by causing shortages, you don’t have time or energy to break the Revolution down when hungry!
The cycle goes on!!