It’s so easy to oppress an impoverished nation

Who remembers this quote by late Soviet dictator Josef Stalin?

“This is the way to rule the people. Did you see how that chicken followed me for food, even though I had caused it such torture? People are like that chicken. If you inflict inordinate pain on them, they will follow you for food the rest of their lives.”

That is the most important lesson all dictators and oppressors learn should they want to succeed in keeping their own citizens captive without significant resistance.

Any tyrant or oppressor who ignores this basic concept does that at his own peril.

However, for the ‘tortured chicken’ to follow around its tormentor for food, there has to be the existence of one crucial truth.

The chicken has to have no way of providing for its own needs, particularly food.

It is not self-reliant and can not sustain itself.

In other words, it is poor!

Its only hope for survival is from the tormentor himself, who provides it this most vital means of livelihood.

As such, instead of the chicken resisting and even moving far away from the one inflicting upon it so much pain, it, nonetheless, has no choice but to follow him around in order to receive food.

In spite of having read this quote by Stalin numerous times before this morning, it hit me particularly hard.

I was listening to the morning edition of the state-controlled ZBC television news when they flighted an event by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.

This was a ‘cook out competition’, whereby hundreds of cooks from across the country had been gathered for the announcement of the winners.

There was nothing particularly outstanding about this event – since these have been held in various places in Zimbabwe.

What captured my attention, though, was a statement made by one of those invited to address the gathering.

She urged those in attendance not to view these cookout competitions by the First Lady in political light but rather the opportunities the participants had to travel to foreign lands.

I was floored!

So, these people are supporting and taking part in an event organized by the same ruling elite that has authored their own poverty and suffering purely so that they may have the chance to travel to other countries?

That gels very well with the words of Stalin!

Due to their impoverishment, Zimbabweans are prepared to ignore the misery those in power have caused them, in the hope of getting what they can not provide for themselves.

They are ready to not only support but to even defend those who are looting billions of dollars each year of our national resources for their own enrichment whilst leaving millions of ordinary Zimbabweans languishing in poverty.

As long as they are given things they can not afford to provide for themselves, then that is alright. 

That is why it is so heart-rending watching hundreds of poverty-stricken Zimbabweans made to dance and cheer for food aid, agricultural inputs, and other handouts from the same people who have made them suffer in the first place.

Had our national resources not been pillaged by a few in power and their cronies, no Zimbabwean would be so desperate for handouts, even from their own tormentors.

Let me add that when I talk about the poor, I am not limiting this to the stereotypical man who is finding it difficult to buy a loaf of bread.

No!

The poor in Zimbabwe take on my shapes and sizes.

It can be that well-known personality who will not use his influential position to be the voice of the voiceless simply because he is hoping for a flashy car (or has already received one) from the ruling elite.

The only reason they choose to keep quiet or even actively support the ruling elite is because these personalities can not afford to buy their own posh vehicles.

We also have those who were given farms by the regime.

They, too, elect not to hold the government to account in fear of losing their pieces of land.

Had they been able to purchase their own farms, surely would they be so quiet in the face of the injustices authored by those in power?

What about cabinet ministers and those holding top government positions – who also elect to sing for their supper as they glorify President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa?

Are they not doing so simply because of the need to either secure or keep these high positions?

Do they genuinely believe that Mnangagwa is the right person to lead the country?

So, why do they not say something?

Well, simply because these people, too, are poor.

If they had the capacity to make their own monies without patronage from Mnangagwa, they would be at the forefront of calling him out.

Poverty in Zimbabwe is by design.

The ZANU PF regime is deliberately impoverishing the nation.

The Mnangagwa administration has no plans and interest whatsoever in improving the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

What motive is there in making our lives better when that would only make us more independent as we cease being dependent on them for our survival?

Who would attend Auxillia’s cookout competitions or support ZANU PF when they do not need anything from those in power?

In fact, an economically empowered nation would have rebelled against this regime a long time ago.

What is only stopping this from happening is our poverty.