President Robert Mugabe's 2015 State of the Nation Address

President Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

The story is told of the (improbable) encounter between five blind men and an elephant (possibly sedated). Whatever part of the elephant each person came across became his view of what an elephant was really like. The one who held the trunk thought it was a like a thick rubbery hose, the one who held the leg thought it was like a tree trunk or pillar, while the one who held the tail thought it was like a rope. 

The story does not explicitly say this but I assume they all agreed that it was an animal. I hope they did. It is the same with our recently delivered State of the Nation Address. We must all agree that the state of affairs in Zimbabwe are not ideal at all. But, beyond this agreement, we can become like the 5 blind men and highlight different things in the address owing to our 'contact,' prejudices, world views, and levels of understanding. Thus, I beg to differ with anyone who has ever uttered, written or thought that the State of the Nation address was a pointless exercise.

What President Mugabe mentioned almost in passing in this speech, is for me the fundamental issue. He mentioned the fact that the security services have ensured that there is peace and security in the most trying of circumstances. Everything must build on this foundation of security. A passage by John Stuart Mill is instructive as to how impossible it is to achieve anything where there is no security. I am well aware that security has since been broadened to include economic, climatic, personal and political security in the 21st Century, but still, all these aspects of Human Security depend on there being peace in a given territory.  

Applying "Swarm Theory" To Zimbabwe's Re-Development Agenda

This concept above by Ben Zweibelson for the Canadian Military Journal (CMJ) illustrates how a traditional hierarchical organisation works. For our purposes, development projects should be done at the tactical level without necessarily being directed from the operational or strategic levels.  

The dimensions and implications of "Swarm Theory" are elegantly explained in this article here, and could easily be applied to Zimbabwe's re-development agenda - provided there are sufficient dedicated adherents. I have taken the tenets of Swarm Theory to mean, for what I have in mind, Zimbabweans using their talents and expertise to develop their rural areas relying neither on foreign sponsored NGOs nor State funds/approval. There are excellent reasons for this approach which I will list in later instalments when I come round to explaining the feasible prospective projects. For now I must list the hurdles this course of action must encounter.

Swarm Theory, for all its elegance and promise, must falter on the differences observed by Thomas Hobbes as to why the selfless cooperation that occurs in the animal kingdom cannot be replicated in human affairs. He noted; "Some man may perhaps desire to know, why mankind cannot do the same (Swarm behaviour). To which I answer, first, that men are continually in competition for honour and dignity, which these creatures are not; and consequently amongst men there ariseth on that ground envy and hatred... Secondly, that amongst these creatures, the common good differeth not from the private, and being by nature inclined to their private, they procure thereby the common benefit. But man, whose joy consisteth in comparing himself with other men, can relish nothing but what is eminent. Thirdly, that these creatures, having not (as man) the use of reason, do not see, nor think they see any fault, in the administration of their common business: whereas amongst men, there are very many, that think themselves wiser, and abler to govern the public, better than the rest; and these strive to reform and innovate, one this way, another that way; and thereby bring it into distraction."

Heroes And Heroines Of Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle

Mbuya Nehanda - The Heroine of Chimurenga I and our inspiration in Chimurenga II.

Cecil John Rhodes and his Pioneer Column came into present day Zimbabwe in 1890 and set themselves up as the overlords of Zimbabweans, having duped King Lobengula into signing away this role to them. They then displaced the black population from their land and enacted racist laws which further disenfranchised blacks in all spheres. This carried on for nearly a hundred years, until after an armed struggle - Chimurenga II (1966 to 1980) - Zimbabwe gained its independence from this servitude to foreigners.

Of course, the colonial settlers and their descendants have, from time to time, tried to present themselves as having been welcomed as saviours by the black population. This lie is easy to dismiss because they arrived in 1890, under false pretences, between 1893 and 1896 there was already an armed revolt - Chimurenga I - by the blacks, as the white settlers' pretence was discovered. The leader of Chimurenga I - Mbuya Nehanda - was executed by the whites, but not before she prophesied the coming of Chimurenga II with these words: "My bones shall arise!"

Video: A Short And Accurate History of Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle.