ZHUWAO BRIEF: Cyber superheroes of an imagined revolution

25 Jan, 2015 - 00:01 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

The Zhuwao Brief hopes that this will be the last instalment of this series on narratives of regime change after running three distinct threads in articles published in The Sunday Mail since September 2014.

The first focused on the phenomenon of factionalism in Zanu-PF as we moved towards the 6th National People’s Congress; whilst the second focused on accelerating Zim-Asset’s implementation.

The third thread has sought to interrogate narratives of regime change with special attention to the concept of tribalism.

It was within this context that last week’s Zhuwao Brief addressed Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities and imagined identities.

It was also very fortuitous that a certain Kerina Mujati availed herself as a case study of how emigration, media and an unquestioning mind contribute towards the imagining of alternative communities and identities.

Combining imagined community and identity with a comic and palpable inability and incapacity to comprehend and analyse issues, as well as an amazing display of ideological confusion and incoherence resulted in a spate of attacks on the Zhuwao Brief.

It is therefore gratifying that The Sunday Mail is this week running Kerina Mujati’s response.

This is occurring as the Zhuwao Brief has been challenged by none other than Professor Ken Mufuka, and when the Zhuwao Institute was invited to what was supposed to be policy debate by Sapes but turned out to be gaggle of failed politicians masquerading as academics wishing to convert the delusional ranting of a stray ass into a conflagration within Zanu-PF.

I wished my mother was around so I could share how ecstatic and euphoric I felt at being recognised for what was coming out of my mind, albeit being recognised primarily by those who disagree with my views.

Unfortunately, my elation is tempered by a sadness that was prompted by Kerina Mujati choosing to include my late mother in a dispute that has nothing to do with the late Cde Sabina Mugabe.

I pray that her dear soul continues to rest in eternal peace in the full knowledge that she prepared me well enough to be able to handle such sticks and stones.

This week’s Zhuwao Brief exposes the manner in which some delusional schizophrenics seek to position themselves as cyber superheroes in an imagined revolution.

I will start by briefly summarising the nature of the reactions by Kerina Mujati to the Zhuwao Brief with particular reference to her miscomprehension that the perspective which views being tribal as tantamount to being blasphemous and treasonous was aimed at her person.

We will then interrogate the narrative that seeks to reduce the stature and position of the President of the nation-state of Zimbabwe to a family functionary.

The article will conclude by highlighting the extensive levels of contradictions that are found in these schizophrenic self-imagined superheroes of a delusional revolution in cyberspace.

Misconstrued Charges of Treason

It appears that last week’s Zhuwao Brief may have been erroneously interpreted to be accusing Kerina Mujati of being blasphemous and treasonous.

It was part of a series on tribalism.

The references to treason were meant to re-emphasise the point made in the Zhuwao Brief of January 11, 2015.

There were various exchanges on social media on last week’s Zhuwao Brief.

The most pedestrian of which was one which appeared shocked that Kerina Mujati was “worthy of the attention” of the Zhuwao Brief.

Goodness gracious me, of course! The Zhuwao Brief seeks to stimulate thought and reflection in as many people as it can possible get to.

There is not a single person who is less worthy than any other person. Such drivel came from a self-styled political commissar who has a penchant for trying to find anything with Patrick Zhuwao on it and opposing it.

It is so unfortunate that such thinking is founded and predicated on an unconscious yearning to engage in elitist politics. However, a significant number of the comments on social media indicated three possible scenarios.

The first pointed to a lack of appreciation of the foundational aspects of that particular social media discourse.

It is possible that some of the commentators had not accessed the Zhuwao Brief or even the posts on the Facebook wall that were being referred to in the article, let alone being aware of the series on the tribalism narratives of regime change.

But they still chose to comment in the full splendour of their ignorance.

The second scenario was one in which the commentators already had a view on either the Zhuwao Brief and/or its author.

Comments falling in this category were conspicuous by the manner in which they just poured abuse without putting forward valid arguments.

These tended to border on personal attacks, some describing me as an “illegitimate bastard”. Surely, it will be futile for the Zhuwao Brief to engage such.

The third scenario revolved around focusing only on certain parts of the Zhuwao Brief and ignoring a number of issues raised therein.

Most important of the issues raised in last week’s Zhuwao Brief was the need to build on the national Constitution to initiate processes of imaging a progressive and developing national community and identity of Zimbabwe.

There was need for specific focus on providing better lives.

The main thesis was the need for Zimbabweans to ignore and discard the narratives of regime change that were forcing us, as a nation, to imagine communities and identities based on factionalism and tribalism.

Surely, for one to say that they are a member of the Mujuru Faction is inherently divisive and retrogressive.

Nonetheless, the Zhuwao Brief recognised that humans are social creatures who invariably gravitate towards shared identities. As such, the Zhuwao Brief advocates that the community we should imagine ourselves in must be the Zimbabwean national community and its concomitant national identity.

Such a community and identity are extremely easy and comfortable to assimilate. I posited that Mujati represented a loss of Zimbabwean identity that manifested itself in wistful wishes for sea-life in a landlocked country.

I understand Mujati has submitted that she retains her Zimbabwean identity. The Zhuwao Brief accepts and grants her that. The Zhuwao Brief salutes her for that.

However, the Zhuwao Brief still maintains that Mujati’s original posts on Facebook in response to a holiday picture of Mrs Beauty Zhuwao at the Dubai Mall Aquarium and Underwater Zoo are impractical for a landlocked country.

 

To be continued next week

Honourable Patrick Zhuwao is chair of Zhuwao Institute, an economics, development and research think tank focused on integrating socio-political dimensions into business and economic decision-making, particularly strategic plan ning. He can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]

 

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