LINKUNDLA: ARE WE BORN FREE?

FREEDOM must be felt not told; freedom is the act of doing any activity without fear of being arrested. Can we really say we are free today? The whites heavily oppressed the black majority and our fore fathers fought and brought back Zimbabwe to us and for that we say salute to all the heroes and heroines’ who fought tirelessly for you and me to ask another question today are we really free?

Our politicians have worked tirelessly to create a free society equally to all a free country where everyone can enjoy together in harmony but has the oppression ended? 2008 saw the collapse of our economy where the prices of basic commodities escalating, people spending nights without a meal fathers in long queues in banks waiting for the our own currency as a pay cheque. The money which could not reach the homes , the money that could not afford to purchase a 10kg roller meal ,the money that could not buy children school uniforms the money that was for transport fare only.

Zimbabwe has been up and down ,the economy fluctuating, child mortality rate dwindling and women and child abuse being the order of the day. Is this our forefathers fought for? I stand to be corrected if I am wrong. Parents flee to the whites man land to look for greener pastures, siblings ran to the south of Africa where the grass is thought to be greener,not until you arrive there, Africans kill each other because of the situation where everyone wants to survive.

This is my journey in the heart of Zimbabwe I did travel to every corner of my beautiful country so as I could get a clear picture of how people survive as they face each day of the year. The main core of a country are its industries, Bulawayo used to be the hub of industrial activity, as I travel am greeted by high rise ghost buildings signifying the once presence of industrial activity. Hustling is the order of the day. The streets are abuzz with small scale back yard source of income; some have opened their own schools, tuck-shop’s all in the name of survival.

A 12 year old child prepares their musika on the nearby road, are they born free? Living in a peaceful country is it freedom? Being born in a free independent country is that freedom? Freedom! Freedom! Are we born free?

After 2009 inclusive government everyone had their hopes of living in a free society a free environment for all. Diasporas’ came back to our native land as things were well, we got to see our uncles our father our mothers who had long gone to meet the greener land that is said to never run dry. A healthy educated society became possible. I avidly remember my form 4 days I never met this fellow called a textbook, I always saw him or her from afar held by the teacher. Things were not as they seem during those days, growing up in the dusty streets of Bulawayo seeing the rainbow nation with different people of different backgrounds encouraged me and shaped the person I am today.

I don’t come from a rich family neither do I possess supernatural powers that can make Zimsec give straight As but greater is the man I wake with – the creator of man and everything that surrounds it.

Going to school each morning and afternoon on an empty stomach, using the candle as a source of light in case electricity was cut, this has been my culture for 4 years in my secondary education. Songs echo in my spirit as I go through this book “safa saphela isizwe ooh safa isizwe sabansundu” .Each year my country celebrates independence day to celebrate the heroes who made it possible for you and I to have what we have today but I ask myself as I grew in this situation am I really independent ? Am I really free? Am I really born free as they say? Is Independence Day for others or is it for everyone in the country?

Zimbabwe is a country rich in minerals, each year we export a lot of minerals to different countries, Zimbabwe has the rich savannah soils for farming, and Zimbabwe’s climate is good for the keeping of wildlife. Year in year out tourists visit our national monuments to see what we have. I took my journey to some of the biggest national parks in Zimbabwe recently and I was the only black person besides the cleaners, rangers and animal feeders. The place was abuzz with white men and women from other countries I stood and pondered where this foreign currency is much talked about in my heyday in a Geography class going. Are we still born free?

Visiting some schools recently in our very own primate city Harare, the school has high white population the teachers are whites and the principal is a white lady. There are few black pupils, Do you think the black young man in this school has the opportunity to be a head boy I wonder yet he is born free.

Am taken back to my higher education where I stayed in some rural areas. I used to wake up each day in the wee hours of the morning around 4 am to prepare and embark on a journey that took me 3 hours to complete. I would wake up and gather firewood and water and off on my way to school. I used to carry slippers on my way to school to swop and change when am around the school. Is this the life of a born free I always hear about on my stereo?

During the summers sweating was the biggest challenge and during winter cold was my biggest fear. In all this I tried my best to look the part and be on time. On my journey in the green forests cows and donkeys knew my name as I passed there early in the morning and came back later in the evening. All this did not take me down it made me a stronger person today. Each day I covered 12km to school and 12km back home. Am I free? I did not get the chance to have a girlfriend like my fellow counter parts as my days were spent on the journey. I survived that and continued because I knew I had a purpose in this country, god had a plan for me, I kept on walking regardless of the difficulties that I was facing. The bible says in psalms 139; 16 ‘ your eyes saw my uniformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to me’ this kept me going.

Three months later I was chosen to be a prefect at school among the top children who came from rich families who were with me in the same school though there were boarders. I excelled in my school work and was chosen to be the best student in my ARTS subjects and the smartest school kid. Now I saw the work of the lord and his hand shine upon me. My mother worked tirelessly to raise money to pay for my school fees and I got a sponsor to put me at a boarding school. This was

at a later stage of my advanced level and I excelled.

The coming of iron during the stone age period is said to have brought a system of classes with the rich and the poor but I beg to differ the man who came with money brought more harm than good in our native land. As I sit here having a cup of coffee I see young children meandering around asking for help from any person passing by I see young children who should be at school wearing torn tattered clothes moving up and down looking for their next meal. Is this the equality our forefathers fought for? Are all human beings equally?

Workers endure months of unpaid salaries, while the top ranked people get away with lump some money. Children became fatherless because their parents have gone to look for money and have never dared to come back. There is high teenage pregnancy of our so called born frees because at home they cannot provide their needs and they hope the young boy might be their source to the good life. Are we born free?

I sit at my favourite place city hall in Bulawayo ,I ponder to myself what happened to Bulawayo the hub of industrial zone. As I sit people start running for their lives, everything is out of place like a Mazda 323 wheels on a tractor. A blue uniformed force of the Bulawayo city council starts to collect all the vendors’ items which were sold throwing them in their lorry. How must people survive I ask myself. Is this the black economic empowerment I always hear about? Is this the freedom we want ?

I wake up every morning to try and make a living and raise money for my university. This is back door facility in my community ,trying to raise money for my education and make Zimbabwe have the best results. Am not free at all as I hustle hard to make this a better place for you and our sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Christmas was a time of giving a time to spend with family , families are divided because of the plight of my Zimbabwe. Parents divorce day and night all because of the economical situation , children are left homeless as families fight for inheritance in order to survive. Company owners exploit workers and they lie to their workers come pay day as they come up with different stories about money and they all blame it on the government. Educated or not it is the same.

I sit with a young lady as I embark on my journey as I write this about my country and ask questions to the fellow citizens of our native land. Are they really free? She utters a heart throbbing story on how she lost both her parents in a tragic road accident all in the name of putting food on the table. This is at Gweru town and she says she is doing a marketing degree and she looks after her siblings who are at a primary school. During the day she plaits people’s hair and she gets money for her tuition and her siblings. At home her aunt and uncle are fighting for every property their parents owned. She has tried to seek help from the local police and elders of the community all her efforts are fruitless. I pause a question to you my reader. These children were born in a democratic country, a country that celebrates its independence each year but are they born free?

Is freedom to do with being able to vote when you above 16? Is freedom being allowed to marry at the consenting age? Is freedom about how I see things? Is freedom bought or sold? Are you born free? What is a born free? Does it have to do with the conditions you were born under? Kaziqunywe amakhanda ziyekwe so goes the Ndebele adage. I have toiled and worked all my life to be the next better man in my family, community, country and continent all for what! To sit down every morning and decide where I am going to look for money, I have received quality education got my diploma got my degree but here I am sitting and watching birds of the air making noise and flying from one point to another,am still seated listening to the twittering sounds of leaves aimlessly and wandering when will my applications be replied. As I sit here I listen to the croaking sounds of frogs in the nearby fish ponds asking myself am I really born free. I spent years shaping lives of others but when will my breakthrough come and finally sit in an air-conditioned office and swing on that wheeled cosy chair and say THANK YOU LORD? Earlier in my life I had the chance to work with one fellow brother I grew to admire in life, he opened a college and asked me to assist to teach one of the best subjects I agreed because I had to survive in this hardship economic situation not knowing the devil was holding a candle. Days followed another and made a month, months greeted each other goodbye and hello and I loved teaching and everything was well. The brother got married and all was well then out of nothing tension sparked. He began to exploit me, I taught a lot of people and my pocket shrunk. I continued to pray to God to give me the power to hold on and give me wisdom to teach. My students passed with flying colours and we celebrated and thanked God. I then began to see the colours of the chameleon changing slowly before my eyes. This is not a stranger but a nearby family brother who had known my mother for a couple of years.

“You are fired “he bellowed one day with his eyes wide open like a dog that has just seen a fleshy bone. I stood akimbo and baffled. I asked myself has the situation got bad that even the people that you thought you knew would do this to each other. Using the power and the wisdom given to me by God I spoke to him everything went back to normal. A year later a meeting was called, the guy was furious and breathing fire and chewing nails. The guy would wake up each day with different characters to just cause a rift from any conversation. I was exploited, heavily punished and always threatened of being fired. Is this the life of a born free I ask again? Now the question of my freedom had sunk in deeply in my veins and arteries. I asked myself is this position I have worth fighting for, am I really worth it and I heard a voice saying do whatever you do for my people who have their destiny vested upon your hands.

People enjoyed being taught by me, older women and men came and sat as they listened to this short boy teach and they loved every moment of it. The guy would give me my pay check 10 days after the month has ended ,sometimes I would be summoned at his house and be told this month there is no money ,this month I have bought this so there is no money ,this month I have paid this ,that and the other. Remember I used to wake up every day in the wee hours and prepare for my lessons and invite God to walk with me. Yes I was doing this physical but God kept me through held my hand and I did my best to teach. Each month before I used my salary I would remove 10% of the whole salary as my tithe. I invested my money in some other companies and continued with my education.

Week after week I was summoned by the brother about new rules new laws concerning my salary. Many times I could have given up but I always heard this voice it is well, this is a stage you are being refined to be the next better person I kept on going.

As I pen down this piece of work am working on my masters degree under these economic hardship, God has a reason for this in our country it is a stage that we going through all economic hiccups it shall be well. I have traveled to the north of Zimbabwe to find the answer of my title I have sailed across rivers looking for one answer ,I have flew from the second largest city to the capital city to get the answer to my question. I have had lunch on the Nyanga Mountains with youths and elders; my question is not yet answered. I have dinned with the man of the cloth to reveal the hidden word concerning freedom. I have watched our leader’s embezzle funds for the poor, the elderly and the orphans. I have sat and walked on these pavements and seen corruption and oppression. What should be done for people to be totally liberated? Where did we miss it?

Travelling to every office in my city Bulawayo I have experienced racial discrimination, doors have been shut in my face. The people whom I admired and I thought had answers to my questions have actually folded their arms and called the security just like they do in the movies. My first time looking for a proper job was in 2013 where I was first asked about my surname, really what does the job have to do with my surname? My curriculum vitae prove that am more than qualified for the job but my surname says it all- unqualified. I have booked meetings with the most influential people in my city all hope was lost when I was looked by the secretary from my head to toe and finally after a long time of waiting “the manager cannot see you find a proper dress code “ .am I really born free ? Am judged by a secretary am more than qualified than by my dressing. Is this the society we want to leave for our children?

Travelling to our neighbouring country Botswana still looking for answers as my own native land has failed to do so. Immigration officer after immigration officer wants to search my small back carrying my notepad while white men in front of me pass without being searched. These people colonised our country, these people made us to suffer as slaves in our own country. The Portuguese made our Mutapa forefathers to pay salt and hut tax. They made our grandmothers to be concubines in our own land and sold them to Brazil. Today black immigration officers prefer to treat them at a different level as compared to me the true son of the soil. Am I really born free? People are not liberated when whites continue to detect how life should be lived. Still today I never had the chance to sit down with my grandfather and listen to his folktales and teach us how to hunt and be a man. My grandfather traveled to Mozambique with other guerrillas am told he never returned till this day. Efforts were fruitless to find him and his family welcomed it and lived with the fact that he had been assassinated in Mozambique. Today I receive racial treatment when my own grandfather fought against this.

I live to see the day where my email will flood with answers on are we born frees? Black majority oppress one another like we are enemies. George Owell once penned a book entitled “Animal Farm” in his book animals are the characters and he says “All animals are equally but some are more equally than others” I leave you to ask yourself which animals are more superior than others. George Mujajati also penned a book titled ‘The Wretched ones’ in this book he reveals the plight of Zimbabwe squatters which they face everyday where the rich exploit the poor and even control our judiciary system. Is this freedom? The greatest man Adolf Hitler tried to create one state, so did Napoleon .Mussolini tried to promote child birth in Italy. Cecil john Rhodes wanted to built his cape to Cairo empire by having colonies all over. All these men never tried to find to stop oppression by one another.

As I sit here am actually singing to Lovemore Majaivana song