Upgrade your status in 2020

No matter what your new year resolution is.....

The type of people in your life have a lot to do in your journey of life. Never start a new year without screening the people in your life. 

Evaluating them will let you know who to upgrade, downgrade or totally terminate. 

Always remember not everybody deserves the front seat to participate in the movie of your life. 

Anyone who is not adding any value to your life shouldn't be in the front line of your life. The dream of a sadist is for every body to be miserable in life. 

Those who cannot see greatness in their own life, will never see anything good in your own life. Whoever sees or treats you as an option doesn't deserve to be a priority in your life. 

Never put temporary people in the permanent place of your life & don't be afraid of removing the wrong people from the right place of your life. 

If its your life then its your right to choose who you walk with in this journey called life. Be bold to take any decision concerning your life. 

If they call it pride tell them its class. 

Lions don't mingle with cats.

#SundaySensation by Linda Mambokadzi wekwaMasarira

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

LEAD President speech to Young LEAD

The world is experiencing an unprecedented “youth bulge.” People under 35 currently represent about half of the world’s population - in some developing countries, including Zimbabwe, the figure is 60%. Over the next decade, billions of children will transition through adolescence into adulthood yet the world is doing little to embrace and include them into the socio – economic progress of the world. It is disheartening to note that many young people in the developing countries are locked out of the benefits of globalization, experiencing underemployment in casual labour in the informal sector or hazardous and abusive work.

In Zimbabwe youth employment crisis has reached intolerable dimensions evidenced by higher unemployment, lower quality jobs and rising social, economic and political marginalization. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned of a potential ‘lost generation’ made up of young people isolated from the world of work altogether. This unfortunately has become a reality in Zimbabwe. The bulk of the so called born frees have never enjoyed the virtue of formal labour so as to meaningfully contribute to the development of this country. By implementing sound, decent work policies, Zimbabwe can take advantage of the youth bulge and translate it into a dividend that promises better economic and social outcomes for young people. The sad thing though is that our current political and business leaders lack the will power to promote such sound intergeneration convergence policies mainly because of corruption watered by deep rooted greed and selfishness.
Sovereignty, which implies the power to rule without constraints and is associated with the nation state, is at the heart of governance. The prime objective of very government is to ensure and safeguard national sovereignty. Every government has, as part of its mandate, to develop risk management strategies which involve adopting comprehensive and systematic approaches to deal with the factors causing political risk. Among the major drivers of political risk is a growing yet economically redundant youth. According to the national youth policy of this country, “the government's vision acknowledges empowerment of young women and men so that they can realise their full potential as individuals, as members of communities, political and social action groups, and youth organisations and as key to the development of Zimbabwe.” The Policy seeks to empower the youth by creating an enabling environment and marshalling the resources necessary for undertaking programmes to fully develop youth's mental, moral, social, economic, political, cultural, spiritual and physical potential in order to improve their quality of life. This appears to be a high sounding document, yet as is typical of our country little is being done to put it into effect.

LEAD believes that a number policy and programme should be fashioned and prioritised to enable youth empowerment across all sectors of the Zimbabwean life.  Youth employment, and access to skills and jobs, cannot happen in isolation from supportive development policies ranging from political participation to economic involvement. International institutions and protocols have called and are still calling on governments to “achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, as well as a focus on high-value added and labour- intensive sectors” and to “promote development- oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-,small-and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services”.

This calls for empowering youths and programme partners to advocate for the right economic and financial strategies. It is also necessary to encourage coherent education and training frameworks that align with labour market demand. Furthermore, policies and regulations must acknowledge the specific needs of marginalised groups and keep the emphasis on human and labour rights protection including the provision of safety nets/social protection, especially in informal economies. Good practices resulting from a youth employment programmatic intervention should be institutionalised into government-supported or market-based systems to facilitate sustainable replication or ‘scaling-up.
At any age, possessing solid basic skills in numeracy and literacy is fundamental to the acquisition of further vocational skills training. Especially with out-of-school youth, it is crucial to provide foundational skills in ‘bridge programmes’, combined with life skill interventions to renew youth’s taste for learning. This way young people are empowered to become responsible workers, active citizens and agents of change in policy-making and social dialogue, ultimately supporting students in their transition towards independent and productive adulthood. The delivery of foundational skill trainings should be provided in all types of formal and informal education and training schemes including second-chance education, technical and vocational training, apprenticeship frameworks and enterprise development training. For adolescent girls and young women, life skills delivered in secured, collaborative and learning exchange spaces can build confidence, advocacy and leadership skills.

LEAD advocates for youth employability programmes which acknowledge the scarcity of wage work opportunities in many Zimbabwe. These programmes should equip youth with the mind-set and skills needed to become self-employed rather than ‘wait for a job’. Political, business and civic players in Zimbabwe should offer context-specific career guidance, mentoring and coaching services to youth throughout an employability programme and beyond. Vocational counselling and professional support also need to be aligned with youth’s aspirations/capabilities as well as actual skills demand, in order to generate durable decent work outcomes for young men and women. The provision of adequate labour market information and advice and regular coaching is an imperative for harmonious adolescent development towards balanced adulthood (particularly for young women who need to balance additional choices around their productive vs. reproductive future).

In conclusion, It is our responsibility to ensure that we resolve these issues that I  have reminded you of. I am determined to serve my party for my country. It can only be possible if we realize the importance of team building and team work as we go. Together We Can Lead.

Thank you.

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira-Kaingidza
LEAD PRESIDENT

What LEAD stands for as the Alternative political party in Zimbabwe

We are pan Africanists and defenders of human rights that are in the context of Afrika and our constitution. We exist and advance, defend and promote the fundamental rights of the Afrikan people. As a party we prioritise focusing on Social and Economic Development. We believe a lot of politics has been done and we need to accept the call for delivering on the specific necessities of this dispensation.

As Labor, Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) we have SEED as our Manifesto which is Sustainable Empowerment and Economic Development (SEED). Our focus is mainly the economy. An economy that transforms the lives of workers from mere receiving of wages and salaries into shareholders in all cooperations that employ them. Workers must not have just pensions on retirement but posterity which can be passed on to the 10th generation.

Our Philosophy: The Afrikan Way

_Because Africa we are being told to import America’s democracy... its not easy...its working in America because that is how America was founded..they have been perfecting if for over 200 years. Africa we have our own characteristics and founding values, if we build a system based on our own values, culture, characteristics we will do well jus like China, China has always emphasised on implementing “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” they are doin well, Putin did that in Russia after Yelstin tried to import American democracy afta the fall of the Soviet Union and it was chaos all over until Vladimir Putin... Africa we only need to identify our characteristics and our founding values and culture then design our own democratic system based on those fundamental principles and we are good to GO...but unfortunately anyone who tries to push foward that idea is then considered a terrorist by those western imperialist._ Muamma Gaddafi

We lack IDENTITY as a people. A conglomeration of all things and do not know why things are not working for us as Africans. Without defining who we are means we going nowhere very fast. Thats why its not easy for our people to feel a sense of belonging in Africa. We are a fragmented society lacking a rallying point. For example being Zimbabwean means lots of different things to different people in Zimbabwe. Yet in USA their freedom carter recognises: all men were created equal, is guaranteed the right to freedom and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is a rallying point for everything American. What do we have as a nation or as Africans?

LEAD is a pan Africanist party pro economic development that seeks to make reparations for past wrongs and unite the country and build a nation with a common shared vision and identity. We resist racism white supremacy and capitalism which is an intricate part to it. We do not believe in being dominated by the West or begging policies and receipt of conditional AID and FDI that threaten our sovereignty. If ever foreign investment is to come it has to be welcomed from our position of strength and not of weakness or begging.

LEAD has the courage to be different. It might seem to be a mammoth task to bring forth a new political culture in Zimbabwe. We are committed to ensuring that Zimbabwe moves out of the culture of politics of patronage, personalities and populism and moves in to issue based politics that will transform Zimbabwe in our quest to ensure sustainable human development and sustainable economic growth.

Linda Masarira
LEAD President

Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats

https://youtu.be/vsu0TjvArsc