I plead with all of us to make every effort to maintain a mindset that leads us to UNITY this year and for years to come. I plead that we venture into projects and agendas that will unite the people of Mthwakazi. I plead that we evaluate every initiative that we engage in this year to see if it is uniting or creating dis-unity amongst our people. If we are honest with ourselves, in this self-evaluation process, we will know if what we have engaged ourselves is for or against Mthwakazi. We have everything to gain than to lose if we choose this direction. We have lost so many opportunities because of this one factor. What have we got to lose by our willingness to give up just one or two things in order for Mthwakazi to become one force? Is it a name, a post, an office, reputation, popularity, money, business venture, following, credit or praise that we are not willing to give up at the expense of unity? Must we hold on to that one thing at the expense of the development of Mthwakazi? If we honestly evaluate ourselves, we will find that so much would have been accomplished by now had we understood this fact and had we made a commitment to this fact. One may ask, “What have we accomplished by choosing to go our own way?” We have accomplished some things alright. However in the scheme of things, is it possible that more could have been accomplished by now if we knew how to rally behind one another. We have everything to lose if we do not embrace this truth. We have future generations to blame us if we do not make this our Modus Operandi in 2012. Mthwakazi must have a mindset change. We can no longer afford to be the laughing stock of our communities. We can no longer afford to be viewed as a people who do not know how to get their act together. A united people can never be defeated. If we accept that defeat should be the status quo in our midst, then I encourage that we continue to operate as we have. However, if we are tired of being a defeated and powerless people, then let us be willing to give up some in order to win many. We will discover that we will give up so little in relative terms compared to what we will gain in the long run. Let us not live in the now, but remember that actions of today will generate consequences that we will pay for generations to come. A progressive people are those that engage in projects that are long-term in nature.
I pledge to do the best I can to foster unity within my area of influence. We all have our sphere of influence and it does not matter how small. I kindly ask that we join hands in this effort. Unless we understand the power of unity as a people, our individual efforts will not get us anyway. Unless we learn to engage in a process of self-evaluation in true honesty in determining if our efforts are for personal gratification or for the benefit of the masses, then we are deceiving ourselves when we proclaim the former and yet our objectives clearly spell out the latter. We must clearly understand that the people of Mthwakazi are not stupid. Whether we are talking about uGogo out there eTsholotsho or uKhulu eLupane, to the young person in our living rooms that we do not give a chance to speak out, they can see if our efforts are for the benefit of the masses. There are some in our midst who also think they are the best that God ever created on this planet and only their efforts will take us to the Promised Land. I will tell you there is no one person that has an answer to our liberty and freedom We each have a piece of the puzzle, and unless we understand the process of putting the jigsaw puzzle together, we will never, I repeat NEVER see the land that we speak and dream of. Let us face reality bakithi. We will not always get along. We will face differences. We will fight and disagree in some cases on petty issues, and in others on significant ones. Unless we learn the art of getting over those differences and focusing on the main cause, we will remain victims in all capacities. Let us learn to stop licking our wounds and playing pity parties. We must remember that whilst we continue to lick our wounds, Mthwakazi continues to procreate and we will lose yet another generation. Must Mthwakazi stop procreating? How many generations do we want to lose before we wake up? Let us also learn to acknowledge when we are wrong and have wronged others. It is a sad thing that we have been victims of our oppressors and yet we remain victims due to our inability to work together for the common cause that we speak so loudly and passionately about. We are our own critics and oppressors in many respects. This I believe is the biggest challenge we must learn to overcome. 2012 is the year I declare Mthwakazi will make strides to overcome this challenge. 2012 is the year Mthwakazi will make a conscious decision to look within and see what power Mthwakazi has within its walls.
Let us learn to recognize and appreciate those who are doing something. Let us not be so quick to find fault. We must change our mindset. Why are we so quick to identify the negative and NEVER the positive? Whilst we are maintaining this mind set, we must be willing to accept constructive criticism as well. Arrogance is the chief destroyer of any individual. Thinking we know it all, is a serious delusion. No one person knows it all. When we are criticized, we must be willing to learn from it and move on as a better and improved people. There are also those who like to criticize for the sake of doing so without any substance. For those, we say, please do all of us a favor and SHUT UP. The noise you make has created enough damage and please get out of the way of those who are trying to do something and I repeat, PLEASE SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF THE WAY. Whilst we are entertaining your unfounded criticism, one more child is going without education, one more young person is losing an opportunity to start a business, one more business is shutting down in our beloved City, one more seat in our Council chambers is being snatched by the oppressor, one more job is being lost to the outsiders in our region, one more young lady is being captured through the disguise of marriage, our language is being suppressed either in the media, or in the schools where less and less qualified Ndebele teachers are being allowed to teach our children, the revenues generated from our City are being used to develop the rest of the Country, whilst our City is sitting in ruins, whilst our industrial sites has become a ghost town. . I can go on and on. If you have the answer, why don’t you show us and lead the way instead of criticizing those who are trying to do something. Again I repeat if you do not have anything to show for what you have done to take us closer to our freedom, PLEASE DO US A FAVOR AND SHUT UP.
I kindly appeal to those of us (me included) in the Diaspora. Whilst we are enjoying the comforts of the western world, whilst we are taking our children to the best schools, whilst we have access to the best medical care, let us not forget the children of Mthwakazi, who are still in our beloved country and neighboring countries who are just as deserving of the same opportunities granted to us. I am not overlooking the fact that not all in the Diaspora are leading comfortable lives. Please understand me. We can all tell stories about the struggles we have experienced at one time or another. Now that this is clarified, let us not forget that every single year several hundreds of our school children are graduating from our ill-equipped High Schools (which do not have the funding to teach Math and Science subjects nor the qualified teachers required) and cannot gain admission to the only University that was built for them. What sort of motivation does a child like that have when they know their future is doomed before they even start school? How do you stay motivated in an environment like that? What about medical care? My God just the thought of our people not having access to medical care, should give up sleepless nights. Can we just wake up to this reality and ask ourselves the question, “Did God grant us the opportunity only for us to concern ourselves about our immediate families or is It possible He allowed us the opportunity so we can as the Joseph in the Bible do something to save the masses?” This is food for thought as we ponder on UNITY. Yes I do understand that there are those who say unless our political plight is resolved, our efforts are futile. To ensure that I understand clearly, are you saying that unless we are able to gain our political freedom, we should allow that one child’s future to be doomed? We should allow a whole generation to miss out on opportunities because we chose to do nothing until our political freedom is achieved? You mean to tell me that within the current environment and with its limitations, there is no way we can help one school, one hospital, one business? You must be kidding me. Are we so lacking in creativity that we have allowed ourselves to be paralyzed whilst we have people on the ground who have found ways to get these things done and all they need is the support from those of us in the Diaspora? Let us please work together.
The factions that continue in our midst are only causing us to be a laughing stock to the rest of the world. Let us look at ourselves in the mirror and honestly weigh our efforts to see if they are leading us to unity or further dissention. We do understand there are those who could care less if their efforts are leading to this level of separation. They have resolved within themselves their agenda is for them alone and yet outwardly state it is for all. In due course we shall find them out. My appeal is to those who may not be aware that their actions have and are leading us to further destruction. I appeal to you, to please help us in this effort. Other nations have found ways to work together, and what stops Mthwakazi from doing so? We have become our own enemies. We cannot even trust each other, and until when will we continue to accept such an anomaly? Who ever allowed themselves to believe the lie that Mthwakazi people cannot be trusted? Why have we allowed ourselves to fall for such deception? We are the most conservative people, the most dependable, the most loyal, the most unwavering, the most consistent, and yet we have allowed ourselves to believe the lie. My goodness gracious, when are we going to wake up and see how we have fallen into the trap of the oppressors? When are we going to see ourselves for who we are? Do we need someone else to tell us who we are? Is that not foolish thinking if we are honest with ourselves? Besides God Himself, no one can know me as much as I know myself. So why would I believe a lie from someone else about who they want me to be? No one can change who I am or who you are unless you or I let them. No one can change your value system unless you let them change it. Just think about it. It is sad that even those that have received the opportunity to escape from the atrocious treatment of the oppressor continue to behave as though they are still bound. It is like the eagle that grew with chickens and continued to think it was a chicken. When given the chance to fly, the eagle continued to see itself as a chicken. It is time to fly eagles. It is time to flex your wings. It is time to explore the unchartered territories. YES WE ARE EAGLES AND WE ARE GOING FLY.
In our effort to seek for unity, we shall deal very kindly with those who are making an effort to ensure we become a unified force. This is submitted on the behalf of the silent majority.
Mthwakazi must unite in 2012. That must be our goal. Nothing will stop us if we can achieve this goal. I mean absolutely nothing.
Mamkwa!
We are now heading for 200 years with Ndebeles suffering since they have been on the run from Tshaka in 1820.
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F/b correspondents report