TODAY, Zimbabwe is a hotbed of the emancipation struggle. This struggle is between those who have for many years been exploiting Africa’s natural resources and using the people of this continent as their tools and as their slaves; and those Zimbabweans who, after realising their weakness and exploitation, decided to take up arms against white colonial settlers in order to liberate, not only their generation but all the future generations of this country.

These are the people we count as national heroes today and they make the foundations of this great nation, the Rock House, or Zimbabwe.

Theirs was not only a bitter liberation struggle, but it is a continuing struggle towards total empowerment of the black Zimbabwean: at times it is a silent struggle, occasionally it explodes like gunpowder, as we saw with the land reclamation revolution, and at times the successes and gains achieved by the people slip away.

However, the resolve is a matter of principle and it will never slip away.

This is not only the history of Zimbabwe, but also that of Africa since 1956 when African states began to obtain flag independence. Since that year many legitimate African governments have been forcefully toppled and new governments established, popular leaders were assassinated in broad day light and replaced by pliant puppets of the West, from the rise of Joseph Mobutu in Congo at the expense of the murdered revolutionary, Patrice Lumumba, the rise of puppet–turned rebel (against British masters) Idi Amin in Uganda at the expense of the deposed socialist Milton Obote, all the way to the rise of Blaise Compaore in Burkina Faso at the expense of the brutally murdered and morally upright revolutionary Thomas Sankara.

Today, Zimbabwe is divided politically between supporters of the party that has among its membership the surviving heroes of the liberation struggle, and is the vanguard of the gains of the liberation struggle, Zanu-PF, and those who support a new generation of politicians who today proudly partner neo-colonial governments in Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and the United States — countries that authored slavery, colonialism and imperialism in Africa.

These are a new crop of politicians who prefer to call themselves "pro-democracy" cadres, and they belong to the MDC political factions, mainly the one led by Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC-T.

In Zimbabwe, the broader perception of the political spectrum is that of sovereignty and patriotism on the part of Zanu-PF and human rights covered treachery on the part of the MDC-T in particular.

Nathaniel Manheru explained well these political dynamics in his incisive Saturday piece last week and this writer will not dwell much on it.

The role and duty of Zanu-PF is to spell out the aims of the Zimbabwean and the African Revolution, and to identify the enemies thereof, in order to set up policies and strategies which will ensure that the revolution is safeguarded and consolidated.

This is no mean role, and the call to defend this revolution is no child’s play, but wrestling against mighty principalities and powers.

The MDC-T specifically prides itself in the Western-sponsored role of promoting civil and political rights, and they believe that the liberation and emancipation of Zimbabwe in that regard can be achieved through funding from the West, the same way the armed struggle for independence was supported by Russia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and China.

The MDC-T agenda in politics is not the subject matter of this essay, suffice to say it is an agenda that rests on and scoffs at the blood of assassinated and murdered African heroes like Chris Hani, Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Herbert Chitepo and many others. In the context of the legacy of the fall of colonial empires in Africa, quisling political parties like the MDC-T are a very sad story.

This essay is about interrogating Zanu-PF’s guidelines on guarding, consolidating and advancing the revolution of Zimbabwe.

The Tanzania African National Union, a sister liberation movement to Zanu-PF, noted in 1972 that "revolutions are quick social changes, changes which wrest from the minority the power they exploited for their own benefit (and that of external exploiters), and put it in the hands of the majority so that they can promote their own wellbeing."

This is the principal guideline that Zanu-PF should always observe. The majority must have an opportunity to promote their own wellbeing. Zanu-PF has not fared too badly in wrestling power from colonial minorities, but the party cannot honestly boast of having succeeded as much in handing over that power to the majority.

The opposite of a revolution is a counterrevolution: that is, quick and sudden changes which wrest power from the majority and hand it over to a minority with the aim of stopping the progress of the masses. This minority could be made up colonially, racially, ethnically or politically — it really makes no difference.

The greatest aim of the African revolution is to liberate the African, just like the greatest aim of the Zimbabwean revolution is to liberate the Zimbabwean.

This kind of liberation is not sent from heaven, it is achieved by combating exploitation, imperialism and neo-colonialism. Nor is liberation brought by specialists or experts. It is the majority of the masses that is being humiliated, robbed, exploited and oppressed who are the experts and specialists for this kind of liberation.

This is why land reclamation was best executed by the masses of Zimbabwe, and not by some land specialists and experts from the world’s renowned universities.

There is no nation in the world that can teach Africans how to liberate themselves. Like TANU realised back in 1972, Zanu-PF must continue to realise that the duty of liberating ourselves as black Africans lies with us, and that the necessary expertise will always emerge during the course of the struggle itself.

Gordon Brown was recently in Uganda calling himself a "community leader" after disgracefully losing his political leadership of the UK earlier in the year. He intimated his desire to see Africa play a central role in shaping the economic affairs of the world, and he also said Britain and other Western countries must help Africa realise its central role as a vastly resourced continent.

That must have been good news to liberalists and those who associate freedom and democracy with Westernisation. However, it is perilous for Africans to expect or hope for the West to help our continent move into a central role in the running of economic affairs in the world.

We have diamonds in Africa and the diamond industry is estimated at US$30 billion, US$8 billion of which lies in the extraction of the gems. The rest lies in processed diamonds. The West will assist Africa to be experts at extracting these diamonds, while they retain the monopoly of cutting and processing the same diamonds.

How then does Africa become central to the diamond industry while controlling only 14 percent of that industry — regardless of having a monopoly over the diamond resource itself?

The reality of the African situation at the moment shows that there are no people in any African country who have achieved the stage of total liberation. Africa is still a continent of people suffering greatly from the weakness inherent in being exploited and humiliated.

This is why revolutionary political parties in independent Africa like CCM in Tanzania, ANC in South Africa, Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe, Swapo in Namibia or Frelimo in Mozambique, are still in fact liberation movements.

The CCM is facing stiff pressure from the West for its new Mining Bill that among other things, seeks to empower a Mining Authority to ensure that locals benefit from the exploitation of Tanzanian minerals. Western aid worth $2,7 billion has already been cut in protest to the new law.

The ANC might have wonderfully hosted the 2010 soccer World Cup, but the land question is still burning in South Africa, control of mineral wealth is still a burning issue among ANC cadres, and the role of the black South African in South Africa’s national economy is a hot issue among the people of that country.

Zanu-PF may be celebrating the irreversibility of the land reform programme but the mining sector is still under the control of aliens, the repossessed farmlands are yet to be fully utilised to capacity, and the party has grudgingly accepted Western funding for the country’s constitution making process — a dicey decision akin to allowing a calf to suck from a lioness.

Swapo still has to regain Namibia’s mining industry and Frelimo in Mozambique has been opening up to capitalist expansionism on very lenient terms.

For the generosity, Mozambique has graduated from a war-torn country blown to pieces by a US-sponsored civil war to what the West now views as an "emerging democracy".

The African revolution, whose aim is the true liberation of the African, is in conflict with the politics of imperialism, neo-colonisation and capitalist expansionism.

The object of neo-colonialism and imperialism is to ensure that Africa’s wealth is used for the benefit of the capitalists of Europe and America, instead of benefiting the African countries themselves. Therefore, participating in the African revolution is participating in the struggle against imperialism, and this is what revolutionary political parties like Zanu-PF must be made of.

The African revolution is a continental cause, and the Zimbabwean revolution is a national cause.

Those narrow minded people who view Zimbabwe’s revolution as a limited enterprise that rewards only a few vocal political activists together with powerful politicians must realise that a system that rewards only a minority is called a counterrevolution and not a revolution.

Zanu-PF cannot boast without shame if the power the party wrested from colonial masters has been handed over only to a minority of the Zimbabwean people.

This is why the guidelines to being a vanguard party must be a matter of public information.

Taking power from an oppressive minority is not in and of itself a revolutionary move, not until such power is successfully handed over to the oppressed majority.

It is only such transfer of power that can make the liberation legacy left by our departed heroes a worthy cause. With such transfer of wealth and power, we can proudly afford to attach real meaning to the Heroes Day.

Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium and Spain will continue to confront Africa’s prospect for total emancipation because all they seek to do is to maintain and continue the legacy of colonial privileges.

For Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and others like Nigeria, the imperial enemy is Britain, albeit in collaboration with the US and others, and it must be part of the African foreign policy to acknowledge the realities of the hostilities of former colonial masters.

The responsibility of revolutionary parties is to serve the masses, and their various institutions, in an effort to safeguard national independence and to advance the emancipation of the masses.

Revolutionary parties need to outline the national goal, in Zimbabwe’s case the empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans.

But the charting of objectives and policies does not by itself constitute good leadership. Leadership means organising the people so that the same people can see the value and benefit of the party — benefits for their own aspirations and not for the selfish ends of a few elites.

The party must have structures to supervise the implementation of party policies. There must be ways to ensure that the party actively supervises the activities and the running of its implementing agencies. Leadership entails reviewing the results of implementation and this is why a review of the land redistribution programme cannot be avoided. It can be deferred but can never be avoided.

It is a revolutionary party’s duty to ensure that it assesses the effects of the policy implementation undertaken by its agencies. It is important that the party ensures participation by people in devising solutions to challenges and problems affecting their lives and surroundings.

Zanu-PF must always remember its revolutionary origins and for the party it must be forbidden for a Zimbabwean leader to be arrogant, extravagant, contemptuous, or oppressive. A leader from a party such as Zanu-PF must by definition be a person who respects people, scorns ostentation and shuns tyranny.

A leader from Zanu-PF must epitomise heroism, bravery, and must be a champion of justice and equality.

There should be no room for vindictive characters in the leadership of a revolutionary party such as Zanu-PF.

As we remember the national heroes that founded this great nation of Zimbabwe, it is incumbent upon the party that housed these heroes under the armpits of ZANU and ZAPU during the armed struggle to ensure that the cause for which our heroes died is not betrayed.

Just like TANU and the Afro-Shiraz Party united to become Chama–Cha Mapinduzi in January 1977, Zanu and Zapu united to form the vanguard party called Zanu-PF in December 1987.

CCM has not betrayed the cause of its founding fathers and neither has Zanu-PF. But the legacy of these heroes can only be glorified if the revolution to which they committed their entire lives remains unbetrayed. A revolution must always be a friend of the people, the home of the people, the hope of the people, and the epitome of national mass aspiration and vision.

This is why a party of Zanu-PF’s calibre cannot centre its ideology on first generation rights like civil liberties and political rights.

This is a party that thrives on a revolution that transfers material benefits from a minority of oppressors to the majority — a party of second generation rights like land, health, food, clean water, education, and social welfare.

The priorities for both Zanu-PF and the MDC formations are clearly coming out in what the parties are emphasising in the outreach programme for the new constitution.

Tete Sabina Mugabe; Rest in Eternal Peace. The Mugabe family’s resolve to fully emancipate the people of Zimbabwe against mental and material slavery will never be betrayed.

Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!

Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in Sydney, Australia and can be contacted on Wafawarova@yahoo. co.uk or visit reason@rwafawarova.com or visit www. rwafawarova.com

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