By Mthokozisi Mabhena
AS we commemorate and celebrate the legendary ZANU Chairman, Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo, we must never forget that for centuries, others have tried to define us, to strip us of our essence and reduce us to mere tools for exploitation. Cde Chitepo, a stalwart of our liberation struggle, spoke against this injustice. His words, laced with both anger and wisdom, serve as a reminder that the colonial project was not just about the taking of land but about the erasure of identity. He clearly explains that the idea of the ‘native’ was constructed not to acknowledge our existence but to deny our humanity. It was a label meant to keep us in the shadows, to make us doubt ourselves and to make us believe that we were incapable of greatness.
Today, we must reject these shackles of history and reclaim the narrative of our own self-worth fuelled by the words of Cde Chitepo. It would do us, as a people, good to constantly revisit Cde Chitepo’s speech. In simple words he explains the whole colonial approach. In easily understandable words he tells us how to be called a ‘native’ stripped us of our heritage, reduced us to something that existed only in relation to the settler’s ambitions. Africans were seen as obstacles or resources, never as human beings. This way of thinking was not accidental; it was systematic. The entire machinery of colonialism was designed to make us feel inferior, to make us look at ourselves with doubt and to make us grateful for whatever crumbs of recognition we received. But we are not merely the subjects of someone else’s history.
We are not just the wood that is chopped down or the minerals that are extracted. We are the owners, the heartbeat of our land. Seemingly effortlessly, Cde Chitepo delivered this message. And we must ask ourselves: What does it mean to be Zimbabwean today? It is not enough to live in a land that bears our name if we do not also reclaim the confidence that was stolen from us. For too long, we have measured ourselves by standards that were defined for us. We have been told that intelligence speaks only in English, that progress looks only like Western skyscrapers and that success is measured by how far one can distance oneself from his/her roots. But the truth is, our strength does not come from mimicry. It comes from our ability to build upon our own knowledge systems, to honour the traditions that sustained us for centuries and to innovate in ways that speak to our unique realities.
The great civilisations of Africa, from Great Zimbabwe to the empires of Mali, were built on the ingenuity of our people. They did not wait for external validation; they thrived because they understood the wealth of their own cultures. One of the most insidious legacies of colonialism is the way it made us question our worth. Even today, many of us still seek approval from those who once oppressed us. We celebrate when our work is recognised abroad but hesitate to support our own artistes, writers and intellectuals. We view local innovations with scepticism while embracing foreign technologies without question. This mindset is a betrayal of the very struggle that won us our freedom.
Self-confidence is not arrogance. It is the quiet assurance that we have within us everything we need to succeed. It is the refusal to shrink in the presence of those who once sought to diminish us. It is the understanding that we do not need permission to be great. If we continue to doubt ourselves, we will always remain dependent, waiting for others to tell us what is valuable and what is possible. Cde Chitepo understood that true freedom is not just about removing the colonial rulers but about changing the way we see ourselves. We must teach our children that their history did not begin with colonialism. They must know that Africa has given the world science, mathematics, philosophy and art.
They must learn that their languages are rich with wisdom, that their traditions are valuable and that their potential is limitless. If we are to honour the legacy of Cde Chitepo and others like him, we must be the architects of our own destiny. We must build industries that reflect our strengths, create policies that prioritise our people and establish economic systems that do not rely on external approval. Our land must work for us, our resources must benefit us and our talents must be nurtured for the good of our own communities. Africa is not poor. Zimbabwe is not poor. We have been made to believe that we lack when, in reality, we are overflowing with wealth both material and intellectual.
If we begin to see ourselves as capable, as deserving and as equal to any other people on this earth, then we will unlock the true potential of our nation. It is time to stop looking at ourselves through the eyes of those who never wished to see us thrive. It is time to stop justifying their racist statements by living lives that conform to their low expectations. We must not only reject their definitions of us, but we must also create new definitions that honour our truth. Our dignity is not negotiable. Our intelligence is not up for debate.
Our worth is not something to be proven to others — it is something we must know within ourselves. When we stand firm in our identity, when we believe in our abilities and when we refuse to be diminished, we are already victorious. Let us be driven by the words of Cde Chitepo. Let us not be complacent.
Let us not wait for others to affirm what we should already know. We are a people of greatness, a people of vision, a people of strength. Cde Chitepo is evidence of all that, of who we are. The future is ours to shape and we must do so with confidence, with conviction and with an unwavering belief in ourselves – just as Cde Chitepo ably delivered his iconic 1973 speech in Australia.