About cry babies...

By Ronald Moyo - opinion

Matabeleland people have a history of being accused by politicians of being cry babies, lazy or attention seekers but one has to ask if their "cry baby" nature or "laziness" is forced upon them, is justified or is a baseless social construct from the minds of the political elite.

When it comes to laziness, the youth have been accused of not taking up the opportunities given to them by the government through funds and initiatives such as the Kurera/Ukondla fund and CABS youth fund which in my personal opinion, is indeed a reality. There are however other factors that come into the picture with this, particularly the access to resources and business environment. the matabeleland region's smaller towns barely have internet facilities and resource centres and to draw up a convincing business plan that can be invested in from the top of dusty school desks of emzola in lupane or tsholotsho business centre itself will be an arduous task. When it comes to the business environment which is a sea of shut down rusty industries one will be asking a lot for a young person to manage to draw up inspiration to start a business that will thrive and "compete" with others. this is where i have to agree with the quote by Mehmet Murat idan that “The footprints of a free-minded man are always towards the forward direction.” The minds of the youth are shackled by the rusty cuffs of the industrial scrapyard that is Bulawayo, their minds are not free to picture them sitting in glassy skyscrapers, pushing their livelihood and the livelihoods of many others forward. Those who walk amongst the tall buildings of a bustling city are more likely to come up with better ideas that would make better businesses.

Let us also listen to the woes of the Matabeleland people before we judge them, what really are they saying is the cause of their seemingly never ending flow of tears and complaints from a trench where their echoes cant be heard by those lavishing above?. time and time again as a reporter and as an individual i have heard the issue of the Gukurahundi killings being raised by not only matabeleland politicians but also by colleagues, friends, people on the street and so on to an extent that without a formal baseline survey I can conclude that the Gukurahundi's wounds are still very much alive in the region and what seems to be the salt being rubbed into them is ignorance. 30 years later when the topic is brought up in rallies and residential gatherings one or two elderly citizens can be seen holding their head, walking out and in some instances, literally crying.

without delving into the details of the killings that happened in the region, one already notes that the people of the region are not only disgruntled but arguably stuck in a moment that they desperately want to move on from but no help is coming and their cries continue to go unheard. what then can end this sorrow one may ask, is this not water under the bridge surely 30 years later the youth may say... few realising that the bridge for some collapsed 3 decades ago and all they can still see is water. In other regions of Zimbabwe however, this precarious scenario is not there. Having said this, why is this issue brought up by politicians largely towards elections in their campaigns and seldom addressed during the course of their tenure in office?some questions will remain questions, some attempts at answers will remain mere attempts and some residents will just remain crying but despite being ignored some voices will always be heard