LEAD President Christmas message

LINDA Masarira and the LEAD family says Merry Christmas Zimbabwe.

Growing up in a Christian family and community Christmas was one of my most cherished holidays. As a young girl growing in Harare we knew that Christmas was a very eventful event. It was not only the new clothes that mattered but the festivities and visitations. It was a tradition that we visited friends and relatives in and around Harare or went “Kumusha.” That was my favourite part because the travelling and seeing new places was captivating. Harare as a city also proffered on us a fair share of entertainment. The lit streets and the Christmas carols were quite an attraction. 

Who am I kidding? Those were good days. Yet gone are those days. It’s surprising what bad government and foreign interference can do to a people’s lifestyle. I find it very difficult to wish you may fellow citizens a “Merry Christmas.” It sound like an insult. I know a lot of us cannot even afford the traditional loaf of bread let alone a Christmas Chicken. I know the majority of us wish to travel to visit friends and relatives but cannot afford. For those of us in the cities it’s really a Dark Christmas without ZESA and water. My heart is heavy but my spirit is with you, especially the workers. My advice is that do what you can to celebrate life this Christmas but do not overspend otherwise January will be a more serious challenge. For those who have that little please lets share with our neighbours who do not have. The birth of Jesus continues to remind us as a people that we are not alone. The God of heaven has not forsaken us despite the failing of us the earthly rulers. To those who are travelling please arrive alive. To those who are partying please exercise restraint and avoid orgies and reckless partying. For our brothers and sisters coming from the diaspora my message is simple. We welcome you and love you. You are doing a great job in subsidising not only your families but the nation. May you join us in the spirit of Christmas and remember to reserve some money for your return trips. 

Lastly may I invite the nation to unite in the spirit of Christmas. Let us put aside the political polarisation and share bread in love. If only the love of Christ inspire a spirit of selflessness among all our political leaders. 

Thank you 

Together we can.

Reflections by Linda T. Masarira

We are forced to fight for a better Zimbabwe. Freedom does not come on a silver platter. They lied to us that education is key. Here we are educated and jobless because they changed the lock of the door by their corrupt ways, now we have to take back our country and create a brighter future for our children so that when they finish learning they will have a door to open with their key. I made a personal commitment that I don't want to leave a legacy of failure when I die. I don't want to be known as a cruel mother who failed to create a better future for her children and future generations to come because she was afraid of a mortal man who was abusing her rights. 

We are losing a generation to drug and substance abuse whilst most people are fixated in politics. I am the woman who is going to ensure that we clean up Zimbabwe. 

•Drug Cartels must fall

•Fuel Cartels must fall

•Land Barons must fall

•Cash Barons must fall

•Economic Saboteurs must fall

•Incompetent, unethical and corrupt public officials must fall

•Polarisation must fall

Fear is a demon that holds you back from being great. Fear is a demon that keeps you in bondage of poverty, joblessness and helplessness. We were all born great. Step up, be counted and selflessly do something great for your country. We have more that unites us than what divides us.

Today I choose to be the:

•Peacemaker

•Unifier

•Voice of reason 

Stop asking what Zimbabwe can do for you and start doing your best to make Zimbabwe great again. Complaining and lamentations will not solve the crisis in Zimbabwe. Speaking negative about Zimbabwe and cursing your land will not solve the problems in our country. Unity of purpose will fix the crisis in Zimbabwe. 

We were all made in the image of God and born to conquer. Today invoke the conquerer in you. Stop limiting yourself. Prove yourself worthy to be Zimbabwean by being part of #teamZimbabwe. 

As a TEAM we will do what is best for Zimbabwe and it's people. 

Phakama Sisi, Phakama Bhudhi!

Arise Woman, Arise Gentlemen, let us rebuild Zimbabwe! 

#TogetherWeCan 

Simukai Ambuya, Simukai Sekuru Tivake Zimbabwe.

#TikabatanaTinokunda

Decolonizing the African Mindset

Do you ever wonder why Africans, irrespective of where they are in the world, are the oppressed, the bottom wrung, why Africa is poor and will continue to remain so comparative to Americas, Europe, Asia or Middle East?

The answer is complex but it is also very simple.  

Knowledge. 

Basically, knowledge systems and how they generate everything and more importantly, how they create and maintain power.

Those systems that create ideas, that generate k on how to solve the millions of human problems generate and maintain power globally.

Our problem is that we are existing on borrowed everything. 

Borrowed philosophies.

Borrowed language. 

Borrowed religion. 

Borrowed governance and political systems. 

Borrowed morality. 

Borrowed economic structures. 

Borrowed technology. 

Is there any technology that has originated from us?

How about how we speak?

Our clothes. 

Our moral reasoning. 

I can guarantee that almost everything you consider valuable to you today has not originated from your people. 

We are primarily consumers of other people’s ideas, other people’s knowledge systems, other people’s political and governance structures, other people’s economic structures, other people’s religions, etc

We will always be enslaved by what we borrow.

Anybody who exists on borrowed everything cannot by design implement anything better than those who originated it and have perfected it for years decades or even hundreds of years.  

The solution: we have to be producers. Producers of knowledge so powerful that other people have no chance but adopt it to solve their problems. 

We can shout slavery for 1000 years and plead with other people to recognize our humanity but that will never change the power balance. 

The only solution is to build systems that create, systems that originate solutions for our problems and the world’s problems. 

Every single place on this earth has resources, but it is knowledge that determines how resources can be exploited for the betterment of the population the center of knowledge production determines who benefits from the resources. 

The best solution, the most efficient, will always be adopted by other people, and that adoption always means the adoption of all the underlying assumptions of that knowledge system including its culture.

Let's change in the coming decade. Let's make it the African decade. 2020 to 2030 let us recreate Africa, decolonize mindsets and make Africa a first world continent. 

#TogetherWeCan make Afrika great again 

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira

African at Heart