Exiled former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo has dismissed as unwise, sentiments that Zimbabwe is yet to be independent.
Moyo said failures by consecutive Zanu PF governments since 1980 should not be confused with a lack of independence.
The former Information Minister is widely believed to be currently holed up somewhere in Kenya after being hounded out of the country by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his allies in November 2017.
His involvement with Zanu PF's defeated G40 faction put his life at risk, eventually forcing him to flee the country.
Moyo's comments were part of his Independence message, as the country celebrated 43 years of self-rule.
"One injudicious idea often heard from some political quarters every 18 April is the dead proposition that "Independence is yet to come"; "it's not yet Uhuru", so goes the usual refrain," said Moyo.
"But this is an asinine view based on a dark misunderstanding of what independence is.
"At its core, independence is the sovereignty of the people as a country or nation-state: the Republic of Zimbabwe.
"What generations of Zimbabweans do or do not do with or for their independent country is entirely another matter, whose determination is not a factor of Zimbabwe's independence, but is a factor of the capacity of each generation of Zimbabweans to deal effectively and efficiently with the pressing issues of the day.
"Zimbabwe's independence - national sovereignty - should not be confused or conflated with the generational failure of Zimbabweans.
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"Generational failure - which has been witnessed in Zimbabwe since 1980 - is not an expression of sovereignty or lack of it; rather, it is an expression of the craft incompetence [incapacity] of particular generations of Zimbabweans to find the best means for meeting societal needs and aspirations of the day."
#ZimAt43
One injudicious idea often heard from some political quarters every 18 April is the dead proposition that "Independence is yet to come"; "it's not yet Uhuru", so goes the usual refrain.
But this is an asinine view based on a dark misunderstanding of what independence...
-- Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) April 18, 2023
A host of Moyo's G40 allies are scattered across southern Africa in fear of the current regime which allegedly sent special forces to kill them at the height of their November 2017 coup.
