There's no neocolonialism but our own ineptitude

When an African country declares independence, it means freedom and hope for some; despair, fear and death for others. The one certain thing is that no-one can escape the changes it will bring. - John Gordon Davis in Hold My Hand, I'm Dying.

I read with trepidation that Job Amupanda of the Swapo Youth League praised Zanu-PF and Robert Mugabe for standing against neocolonialism.

It's sad because the only neocolonialism in Africa today is self-imposed. We run to the US, UK, China, Russia and Europe asking them to enslave us.

The only neocolonialism in Africa today is our ineptitude to run our lives. We fuck up everything we lay our hands on. We have laid cities to waste. Our economies are down-under because of our idiocy.

We have driven our people out of the continent into self-imposed slavery. Today most African countries rely on money sent home by people in the diaspora. This is how we have brought neocolonialism unto ourselves.

Just recently, African leaders scrambled to go to the US to meet and shake Barack Obama's hand. Obama did not come to Africa, we went to him.

So this talk about Zanu-PF and Mugabe standing firm against neocolonialism, especially for me as a Zimbabwean who feels the pain of it, is wrong.

It was good that land was taken but still who benefited? 99.99% are Zanu-PF. Still they are taking away more farms after laying to waste others.

Zanu-PF and Mugabe are not standing firm against neocolonialism. They are standing firm on Zimbabweans tolerance. On our sweat. Our focus on making the best for our families. Our fears. Doubts.

The war Zanu-PF is fighting is not against any foreign power but its people who have to do without some of the most basic stuff. It is fighting a war against the sick who find themselves abandoned in hospitals without any medicine. Hospitals manned by nurses who do not know when they will be paid.

The war Zanu-PF is fighting is against the students who should be getting grants to go to university but have had to rely on parents who are struggling to make ends meet.

The war Zanu-PF is fighting is against the workers who earn so little and work under very difficult conditions.

The war Zanu-PF is fighting is against the jobless whose hopes of ever earning a decent wage evaporated years ago.

The war Zanu-PF is fighting is against its own principles. It is a revolution that has eaten its children. A revolution that is busy eating its own children.

This is not about the west or the east. The war today is on us. Ourselves ruining our countries. For sucking our economies dry. Corruption.

Just think about the amount of gold and diamonds that is being smuggled out of Zimbabwe and other African countries by senior politicians. Think how far that gold and diamonds can go in making the lives of all the people comfortable.