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Vice-President Landa John Nkomo is the embodiment of that anecdote.

He has set the bar for a challenge to leaders in Matabeleland region who have often been accused of doing nothing for their people, but choose to mourn about “marginalisation”.

VP Nkomo has overcome social barriers and immensely discouraging stereotypes that subscribe to the notion that nothing good can be done in the region, by a leader from the region.

He has built a high school in the Manqe area in rural Tsholotsho District, where he was born, that boasts of arguably the best equipped computer laboratory in the country’s southern region.

Situated about 10 kilometres west of Tsholotsho Business Centre, Landa J Nkomo High School, formerly Manqe Secondary, is set to narrow the gap of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge between rural and urban schools in the country’s southern region.

It is where the ICT revolution, which has been widely described as essential for survival in the 21st century, is expected to really take hold in rural areas and complement considerable Government efforts to ensure a cyber savvy generation.

Even his party, Zanu-PF, should take a leaf out of his book and instil in its leaders a sensitivity to people’s needs, to consolidate its empowerment programmes and gain more support if it hopes to win resoundingly in the next elections.

In fact, this is a universal formula for all political parties.

With this inspirational action, VP Nkomo’s name has been immortalised in the history of this country and should show present and future leaders what to do to shrug off the region’s underdog tag.

The late reggae icon, Bob Marley sang; Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds . . . in the smash hit Redemption Song.

Now that VP Nkomo has smashed the mental barriers that stood in the way of progress, for a majority of them are imagined, leaders from the region should take up the challenge, and remove the mental cobwebs in their path to start bringing real progress to the people.

The marginalisation myth has been debunked.

If all leaders from Matabeleland had over the years been doing what VP Nkomo has done there would be no debate about the underdevelopment of the region.

VP Nkomo has taken our leaders to school in the art of political juggling. He has used his influence to mobilise resources to achieve a hitherto unimaginable feat.

Leaders from all corners of the country and more than 15 000 people converged on Manqe to witness the marvellous accomplishment on Friday last week.

As a veteran politician, he has shown that it is not only material wealth that can get things done, but the mental capacity to have a vision and the physical willpower to network and get results.

The MP for Tsholotsho North, Professor Jonathan Moyo, also made an astute observation regarding development in Matabeleland at a Press Club meeting in Bulawayo last week.

He said leaders in the region should not sit under trees and complain about lack of development in the region, but should go to Harare where everything was happening and engage the Government of the day to bring development.

At the official opening of the school on Friday, President Mugabe was so impressed by its curriculum that has a bias towards science and practical subjects that he challenged the school to adopt an education with production system in their curricula, to equip pupils with skills for self-employment after school.

The concept of enrolling the marginalised San community who have been sheltered from most kinds of technology also dovetails with Government’s policy of recognising and empowering minority groups wherever they are in Zimbabwe.

There are also tailor-made programmes designed to capacitate the girl-child to develop herself and gain confidence as a contributor to national development.

Now that VP Nkomo has set the ball rolling, there should be no upper limit to the achievements of people in the region.

All leaders should now play their part to rehabilitate the poor road network that has been scaring off investors. The mineral wealth of the region should be exploited for the benefit of the people.

Constituents should ask their leaders in Parliament what is holding up development and vote for people who are prepared to engage meaningfully on issues, lobby and network with other stakeholders to bring progress.

This then means that next time when people vote, they should elect leaders of a high calibre who are equal to the selfless sacrifice required for the often thankless task.

Voting based on emotion alone will always prove detrimental to development as people do not stop to think about the capabilities of the leaders they are electing.

One of our own has shown that it can be done, there is nothing wrong with engaging the VP in private for useful notes on how networking can create synergies that can achieve what uncoordinated hard work can never attain.

It is essential to remember that the dinosaur, species of which were among the largest animals to ever exist, became extinct because it failed to adapt to change.

Politicians in the region should not succumb to the same fate.

According to VP Nkomo, the idea for the school was conceived by villagers in 2005.
They were concerned about long distances that their children travelled to get to school.

“There was virtually no expectation above Grade Seven. Instead of going for secondary education, our boys would go to South Africa and most of them came back home in coffins. The girls were left to be abused and become mothers at an early age. We hope all that will change with the establishment of the school,” said VP Nkomo in an emotional address at the official opening ceremony.

When the school was established in 2005, few people thought it would rise to its enormous stature of today.

Starting from a meeting by villagers led by Headman Nkathazo in 2007, the idea of building a secondary school was a mammoth task, a virtually impossible feat for a majority rural folk.

These are some of the sentiments that some villagers highlighted in expressing the enormity of the task ahead; “How can it be done? Who would provide the material? You people are just being overzealous and daydreaming. We cannot afford to do that.”

Today, Landa J Nkomo High School is a growing emblem of hope for the previously disadvantaged Manqe community.

It is the first rural school in the country’s southern region to install state-of-the-art ICT equipment.

The humble leader said villagers had built the school, but had brought him on board because of his skill at “begging”.

“I travelled all over, even outside the country to get partners to develop the school and add on to what the villagers had done,” he said.

The provincial education director for Matabeleland North, Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni, has described it as a flaming torch that has brought light where there was darkness.