The Sunday Mail
Some people are still fulminating, hyperventilating, frothing at the mouth, having chest pains and continuing to remonstrate with Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa — founder of United Family International Church (UFIC) — for daring to invite ED to grace his Easter Conference in Chitungwiza last weekend, and, most annoyingly for them, deliver some unpalatable home truths.
Most often than not, the truth is unpalatable.
In his homily, the clergyman didn’t pull any punches or take any prisoners.
He expressed his unpleasant surprise at a curious breed of Zimbabweans that continues to interminably whine, whinge and sell the narrative that this sacred country is a failed State trapped in a permanent state of regression, when consequential projects of every size, shape and scale — talk of the US$1,5 billion Hwange Power Station expansion project, the US$300 million Beitbridge Border Post modernisation, and the US$600 million Harare-Beitbridge Road, among others —are springing up all around them.
All this they continue to ignore; worse, pretend they do not even exist.
Somehow, all the doomsday prophets, armchair critics and backseat drivers continue to see is doom and gloom.
“The ability that our people have to see what is not there and not be able to see what is there is a manifestation of a fallen nature,” diagnosed the prophet, adding: “We will cry and demand that you give us roads, but by the time you hand over that to us, we look at something else we don’t have. It’s a manifestation of a fallen nature.”
He, as Bishop Lazi often does, also agonised at the realisation that Zimbabwe is now afflicted by full-blown plague of career whiners and whingers who permanently dwell on social media, where all the rent they need is simply a smartphone, computer or laptop, to post their not-so-smart and toxic opinions.
Unlike the old media, which had some guardrails and strictures to winnow and sieve poisonous ideas and views, new media — dominated by social media platforms — only requires data bundles and an electronic gadget for one to access, share, broadcast whatever and whatsoever they might want under the guise of net neutrality.
What these platforms have actually managed to create are heterogeneous communities where the innocent and impressionable members live side-by-side with paedophiles, perverts, trolls, dimwits and scum of every hue.
But a huge signal that there is something wrong in these new latter-day communities is the mere fact that the popular culture that often defines them is pornography, violence, trolling and controversy, which often sells and trends.
It’s pathetic!
Makandiwa, therefore, unsurprisingly opines: “The problem with being a critic is that criticising can develop and eventually become a passion, and from being a passion, it eventually becomes a commitment, and it then becomes an occupation.
“My heart bleeds a lot when I look at the next generation drowning every single day in this situation, in this quagmire called social media.
“No one can ever convince your children that having access to a smartphone doesn’t mean that you have access to smart thinking.
“That is why sometimes we say the things we say. Having access to the Internet does not mean you have access to wisdom. Every man now has his own opinion.
“I am encouraging you my brothers and sisters to focus and look at what has been done so far … Whether the devil likes this or not, these things are happening …”
Loaded!
What, however, got critics and opposition political party supporters riled and worked up was Makandiwa’s message to ED: “Even if you desist from campaigning, let the works speak for you. I cannot look at such a road and remain quiet.” Kikikiki.
ED works
You see, pretending that something does not exist does not make it non-existent, wearing high heels will not make one any taller, and putting on mascara and lipstick on a frog, including adorning it with even the most colourful of attires, will not make it beautiful.
It’s incredible to pretend not to see all the major milestones ED has achieved within the shortest possible time and under very difficult circumstances.
Such blindness is clearly spiritual.
Matthew 13:13-15 is particularly enlightening: “This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
“In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”
Pretending that ED is failing and has failed, does not mean he is failing and has failed.
As whiners and whingers continue mouthing off, he continues to assiduously work to achieve the lofty goals he has set.
And true to what Makandiwa said, if he doesn’t campaign, his achievements will campaign for him. Well, it won’t actually be the first time for ZANU PF to do such a thing.
In 1980, particularly after February, in the period preceding voting for Independence between February 27 and February 29, Cde Robert Mugabe, who was the candidate for ZANU, took the decision not to campaign outside Harare after he survived an attempt on his life on February 10 — the second in four days —when a bomb detonated as his three-car convoy was ferrying him to an airstrip in Masvingo after a rally at Mucheke Stadium.
He won the elections regardless.
But believe Bishop Lazi, ED, being the political thoroughbred that he is, will definitely campaign for another term to fully carve out his vision as Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping did after taking over the reins in 1978.
He is a man on a mission.
Quite helpful for his campaign, his manifesto for next year’s elections is now overflowing, not with promises and rhetoric, but fulfilled promises.
You might have heard just a part of it in his Independence Day speech in Bulawayo on Monday.
For those who might have missed it, this is how it will read before the 2023 polls: Lake Gwayi-Shangani — completed; Chivi Dam and Water Treatment Plant — completed; Marovanyati Dam in Manicaland — completed; Muchekeranwa Dam (former Causeway Dam) near Marondera in Mashonaland East — completed; Beitbridge Border Post modernisation project — completed; Hwange Power Station expansion programme (to add 600MW to the grid) — completed; Harare-Beitbridge Road — completed; new Parliament building — completed; Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport — completed; et cetera, et cetera.
So, who can argue with such an astoundingly impressive feat and record?
When future generations later reflect on ED’s legacy, they will have an inexhaustible list than cannot even fit on a Jewish Torah scroll.
From now until next year, watch the space.
Miracles are happening in the countryside through devolution if you care enough to look and listen. As Bishop continues to say time and again, many are beginning to notice and grudgingly acknowledge.
Over the past week, there were two revealing reports that went largely unnoticed, but are nevertheless critical to appreciate tectonic shifts currently underway in local politics.
You might want to read the glowing research by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) and its development partners, which essentially cheered the breath-taking progress made by the Second Republic thus far.
You might also have missed the recent report by the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI) titled “Deterrent of the Zambian Precedent in Zimbabwe”, which in part ominously warns that “if ZANU PF manages to maintain its growth trend,” as observed during the recently held by-elections, “it will completely knock out the opposition from its strongholds.”
What the opposition must fear the most must be the transformative projects that would have been completed by the ZANU PF Government by the time the first ballot will be cast next year.
It’s a frightening and unnerving prospect if you are in the opposition.
That’s why you now see some parties that were initially belligerent and claimed they did not recognise the current Government are now avidly frolicking at national events to be noticed. Kikikiki.
They are also now open to dialoguing with ZANU PF. In fact, they now solely cling on the hope that somehow the economy will implode and give them a fighting chance through an irate urban vote.
Its hopelessly hoping against hope.
Life will humble them.
They just have to look at the signs, which are not looking good for them.
Bishop out!
