By Pearson Mbendera
So many times I have heard African leaders blaming the west and their colonization for the woes that we are still facing right now, even though its 20 years since the last African nation (South Africa) gained its independence. Some reasons are valid, and some others are just plain stupid, it is time that we move past the blame game.
Playing the blame game just creates a victim mentality, where you are never responsible for anything that happens to you yet you still end up receiving the bad things life has to offer. Many times, victims don’t move past the things that hold them back, you will find a 50 year old man still complaining that he was orphaned, and for that reason couldn’t make the most out of life. While this may have played a part in slowing their progress, the moment you grow old and have your own kids, it is time to stop complain about the parents you never had.
Is anything happening now our fault? Have we played any part in creating the dire situation we are living in? What started the crisis, colonization, slavery and does it still continue today? These are the question we may all ask, but the answers may be just irrelevant, the only important thing worth asking is which direction we are going to take and where we would like to see ourselves in a given time period.
The late Nelson Mandela, the world leader knew what was important in moving forward. It wasn’t all about holding a grudge and making the people that had made him suffer pay for what they did to him, it was in moving forward, getting together and building the nation, in the best way possible. And right now, South Africa is a big economy, harboring many Zimbabweans who have gone out to seek greener pastures.
When there is a crisis, people don’t really care who is to blame, people want someone who is solution oriented, who can deliver the people from such a predicament. We can fight all day over these issues, but as long as that fighting will not bring food on the people’s tables, give the youths jobs, and change the economy of this nation for the better, we are doing nothing but simply perpetuating the situation we are so sick and tired of.
Right here in Zimbabwe we can blame each other for all we care, we have been playing that game and it has gotten us anywhere yet. Everything is just a mess, and pointing a figure on who is responsible hasn’t given us any solutions.
In any situation, there will always be someone to blame and it will be easy. But it will take a lot to move forward, join hands and rebuild what may have been broken. Zimbabwe right now needs men and women who want to rebuild the nation for the better, not people who are just comfortable talking about what’s wrong and what’s not functioning.
Fact is we are all to blame. We have played a part in perpetuating this situation, however small it may be. While it is easy to raise a finger and blame someone, let us choose not to; let us choose to move forward, choose to build this nation for the better.
We can either reminisce over the Zimbabwe of the past or start the work of building up Zimbabwe for the better. We can either blame each other or join our hands together, and work for making this great nation of ours, great again. The choice is ours, Zimbabwe is ours to build, and only we can decide what we will do with it.
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