Zimpapers Logo

Ranga Mataire, Group Political Editor

Not so long ago, social media was awash with a ZBC video clip of two ladies on a morning show engaged in a conversation about the impact of colonialism on the African being.

What incensed viewers were the comments made by the two presenters about King Lobengula (the last Ndebele King) and the inference to colonialism as a “necessary evil.”

On face value, the basic instinct for most people was to bash the ladies for their lack of knowledge and awareness.

However, on closer inspection, one realizes that the comments by the two ladies are reflective of a broader malaise afflicting our society, whose roots emanate from colonialism.

It reminded me of a conversation I once had with an older intellectual African brother about long colonialism and how we are all modern victims of the pervasive colonial conquest. 

The assumption is that by removing white colonial rulers, we had disconnected from colonialism and yet its impact is deep rooted. There is nothing as dispiriting as dealing with someone whose thought process has been so damaged that he/she celebrates his blissful ignorance and certainly is not aware of it.

This is the dilemma that I think the two sisters faced as they publicly displayed their sheer ignorance about our country’s history and their failure to overcome the systematic tropes, lies and stereotypes popularized by those who colonised us.

But simply blaming the two ladies is to miss the whole story. Three things must be confronted and dealt with. 

First, it’s clear there is an immediate need by the national institution to review its recruitment model. One of the prerequisites must surely be a deeper appreciation and understanding of the country’s historical trajectory. 

Individuals may need to display a high level understanding of current affairs and Zimbabwe’s historical trajectory. Recruitment must go beyond mere optics. Substance must be a cardinal requirement for individuals electing to be presenters on national television. There is a reason why the national broadcaster is closely guarded by members of the security forces 24/7.

Second, the ignorance displayed by the two ladies exposes a broader problem of our education system. While the focus on technical subjects is great, history (our own history) must be mandatory at all levels. There must be a rigorous course that deals with unwinding all the myths, stereotypes or tropes propagated by colonisers about us in the exercise of their racist colonial project.

It’s clear that some of the lies about us, including our ancestors, have been so embedded in our social fabric to the extent of them becoming the gospel truth to some. Unwinding these negative depictions of our ancestors or our way of life, must be a continuous life-long process even after normal school. This will ultimately contribute to the moulding of conscious citizens that are proud of themselves, their identity and ultimately their historical heritage.

Third, the ZBC debacle clearly revealed to everyone that in the advent of new technology, social media platforms are saturated with short content that target the gullible and impressionable ones, who take everything as gospel truth.

There is therefore a need for continuous education on the need to fact check information posted on social media or at least check with multiple sources. Vigilance must always be the dictum of daily operations in the face of information overdose.

As a nation, we are risking having a whole new generation being reared by X, IG, Instagram, Facebook etc. All these platforms have zero or nothing to do with who we are. They interpret the world in their own perspective and promote their own perception. If one is not standing on anything, chances are others may be interpreting the world on their behalf.

In the words of Professor Anthony Browder, for black people to understand the nature of the world they live in, “they must first understand the nature of the people who interpret the world for them. This interpretation determines their perceptions of reality and dictated how they now function in the world.”

We have a long way to go in decolonizing our minds, body and spirit. The starting point should be the use of Afro-centred value systems that make the study and failures of the past the highest priority. The way we view our history and the scornful way in which we reflect on our ancestors, is a result of years of mis-education and indoctrination. 

Our limited access to and appreciation of African history and culture makes us function at varying levels of awareness and personal development. We have been socially engineered to reject our past, and far too many of us appear to live in a state of suspended animation. We deny the historical realities confronting us daily in favour of narratives pushed by those who once subjugated us.

After slavery and colonialism, Africans are once again having to deal with the behemoth onslaught of cultural imperialism. Cultural products, traits in the form of movies and music are dumped on us and without the relevant historical shock absorbers, we have become poodles to this onslaught, which presents itself as superior and something aspirational. We fail to realise that every mediated information has been carefully crafted and is designed to elicit a specific response from the audience. 

As Zimbabweans and black people in general, we must be mindful of the negative images of us that have been manufactured in the media over the years. It’s not a random coincidence that our ancestors like Lobengula or Nehanda are depicted negatively in most dominant Western media. In reality, television, film and radio, social media are all powerful forces that saturate the mind and body, with sights and sounds that influence psychological, emotional and spiritual well-being. These negative effects can be managed by acknowledging their existence and learning how to neutralise their influences, especially among the younger generation.

It must not be forgotten that our ancestors were obliged by the letter of the law and force of the gun to accept the ideas, beliefs imposed on them by their colonisers. They were prohibited from expressing their own thoughts and perceptions of the world and were required to accept the beliefs and behaviours deemed suitable for them.

Our painful and sometimes unresolved memories of our past, makes many amongst us want to quickly forget our past. However, we must be conscious of the fact that no country has achieved greatness by disconnecting itself from its past. No sane people voluntarily turn their backs on their past. It is only by facing one’s past that one can accurately perceive reality and determine one’s destiny.

An English poet, Thomas Gray, once wrote in his 1742 “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” that “ignorance is bliss” but in the ancient record of African philosophy is the belief that “ignorance is sinful.”. 

We have been conditioned to live our lives in a sinful state of blissful ignorance while thinking we were actually being saved. If we are to equate ignorance with sinfulness, we would be more inclined to conduct independent research into the origins of our current beliefs and practices.

In short, we must all shoulder the blame for the blissful ignorance of our sisters, who garrulously told us that “colonialism was a necessary evil.”