By Daniel Chigunwe
The notion of independence, freedom and sovereignty is very rooted in the literature of African writers. The attainment of independence by black people from the colonial white man is a history that is retold, re narrated with a high sense of African pride.
Among all these African writers I find one outstanding and unique character, writer and artists- Dambudzo Marechera – with striking perceptions and views on this critical idea of independence.
A letter to Samantha is one other piece of work that Marechera explains the complicated nature of independence, blackness and pities the half-backed intellectuals and academics who fail to implement the full stages of freedom attainment process.
“Many erroneously think that it is getting independence that is the most difficult stage in the freedom attaining process” writes Dambudzo
In his letter Marechera compares the attainment of independence to having a baby, “It is like having a baby…it is raising the baby that is the trickier part since you have to nurture the baby into a young adulthood”.
He bemoans and lambasts the idea of independence so boasted about by the so called nationalists’ governments;
“Many nationalists and even academics are irredeemable victims of colonialism whether consciously or unconsciously. They don’t realize how entrenched the problem is in their make- up like DNA. They achieve what they call independence (from what?)” wrote Marechera to his white girlfriend Samantha.
Zimbabwe is one among other African nations that have attained independence (like having a baby) but it has been trickier for the nationalists’ fathers to nurture the baby into a young adulthood.
Inheriting the nation from the hands of the colonialists in 1980 our government has failed to discern this critical stage in the freedom attaining process.
“Change flags and national anthem but fail to establish new home-grown societies based on their cultures, values and norms”
Though having attained independence Zimbabwe has failed to establish a country with a very sounding political-socio economy, only to succumb to the ravages of incompetent half-backed, shrewd and hypocrite intellectuals, academics and ministers who have no notion of true independence.
This month Zimbabwe celebrates and remembers the gallant sons and daughters of the soil who watered the tree of this independence.
However, let the message be communicated that their hopes, dreams, wishes and desires for this beloved ancestral home have not been fulfilled and forthcoming.
The independence that came with their hard fought battle has not been fully realized, nurtured and little has been done to raise the baby into a young adult.
In his letter Marechera visits many issues that are incomplete to the knowledge of both the white and black man. Among others, his view of the idea of the African pride, extreme consciousness of blackness and freedom.
He however warns the leaders, “…many leaders in power think their subjects are blind to their excess in urinating on people’s rights. They think we are castrated till we rise up and unmask their hypocrisy or demand for justice”.
