Zimbabwe: Independence, Sovereignty, Exclusivity and Identity

opinion

18 April 2015 is a special day for Zimbabweans for it marks the 35th birthday of the nation-state. Like any birthday, it provides an opportunity for the living to pause and reflect on the journey travelled and to draw lessons, if any, for the future. A lot can happen in 35 years to allow anyone associated with the story of Zimbabwe to delude themselves into believing that the post-colonial personality and character of the country is independent of the totality of their actions and decisions.

It is often convenient to appropriate all the bad decisions and actions on the state actors but in reality we all cannot escape some sense of culpability. I have written before about Cecil John Rhodes and his legacy not motivated by any desire to glorify him but to recognize that, in life, he was just a man of flesh prosecuting the business of life yet his memory did not expire with his exit. His statue erected 32 years after his death has provided an excuse for people who believe that the ghosts of the past are a relevant and material factor in explaining the perceived lack of progress in transforming the inherited political economy.

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