Europeans wanted to give me a European name so that when I die I go to heaven via Europe- Zimbabwe MP says

HON. MUDARIKWA: Thank you Madam Speaker, I want to thank the mover and seconder of the motion.  The motion we are facing has a historical context where we were oppressed as Africa for over 500 years.  The historical element where we were oppressed really also requires a lot of education, even when Hon. Members are elected, they must come for orientation to understand where Africa is coming from.   During the slave trade, there were some Africans who were slave hunters and during the  rise in African Nationalism, in Congo, there was Morris Tshombe, they killed Patrice Lumumba; that concept, that desire to be associated with our colonizers, that desire to be associated with Europeans does not come out of many of us very easily.  It was from the political side to the religious side. I remember when I wanted to be baptized they wanted to give me another European name so that when I die, I go via Europe to heaven.  I said no I will remain Simbaneuta Mudarikwa. We went through a very difficult time; even those who were taken as slaves had to be baptized first.  The first ship that took slaves across the Atlantic Ocean had a religious name.

All those things compounded on the minds of our people; you will have a person who has no direction, Bob Marley says a person who does not know his role as a patriot of a country is a cabbage in the society.  A cabbage lives for four days then the next thing it is rotten.  This is the situation we are facing.  Our education syllabus requires to be overhauled so that our people can understand where we are coming from.  We live in a very difficult situation even when we go around the way we speak English, some speak English more than Prince Charles.

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What I am trying to say is, even the country of Zimbabwe, how it came about; it was a property of Cecil Rhodes.  We were ruled by a com pany for 34 years.  Cecil John Rhodes with his BSAC (British South African Company) was in charge of this country, Zambia and Malawi. So that process of being owned by a particular company has some Cecil John Rhodes’s ideology in the mindset of some of our people.  We had a difficult situation as Zimbabwe and after 34 years of being ruled by Cecil John Rhodes, we then moved into a situation where colonialism was now instituted through different institutions and had to deposited in the minds of our people. The concept of people running away from Zimbabwe going to other countries and saying please give Zimbabwe sanctions is criminal.  The Patriotic Act must come in as soon as possible.  It is criminal in the sense that sanctions were even issued outside the United Nations.  The sanctions were issued outside the United Nations.  Sanctions were issued outside the normal, United Nations as a convention. The 1945 Convention of the United Nations does not allow our country to go to another and issue illegal sanctions. So it is something that is criminal and it must be put to an end. This is the type of politics and in political language it is called politics of discontent.  Let people suffer, and then they will uprise. The nation is not moving economically whilst we are cutting ourselves into pieces.  So, it is very important that we realise the importance of managing a country.

As Parliament, we make laws for the good governance of this country.  So, there are people who want to be out of Zimbabwe, the laws must be put in place; those people must never be issued with passports.  We cannot have such a situation whereby one bites the hand that is feeding them.

Mr. Speaker, the element of finance, the element of money going round and being abused for different political parties – the Government of Zimbabwe has done very well by creating the Political Parties Finance Act where political parties that have done well are given money by the Government.  So, why do you want to look for money outside when you are paid on the basis of the pro-rata performance of your political party?

Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to thank you for allowing me to contribute and also thank Hon. Members, they were silent when I was contributing because when I am contributing, I am a former Minister and I have value in what I say.

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