The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
THE above title ran in The Patriot of March 29 – 4 April 2019. Quite a scintillating headline! The first part is a statement supposedly of fact while the second part is an intriguing question.
The statement of fact is evident and undisputable, but the question creates more questions than answers.
First there is enough V11 evidence that African culture is under siege. There is no doubt about that. Not only in Zimbabwe, but the whole continent of Africa! Africans continue to say black is beautiful but hate being black. Their daughters and wives and even girlfriends, continue to buy skin-lightening creams. Skin-bleaching has become fashionable. Morality has become unfashionable, marriage a serious joke, and divorces a matrimonial game!
To-date, many Africans including Zimbabweans still do not have a national dress code. Not that I am advocating national dress. . . no no no, far from it! I am saying it precisely as it is…Zimbabwe has no national dress. Look at the young African girls and boys who are tomorrow’s leaders, mothers and fathers. They are the seed of African customs, traditions and beliefs. . . an embodiment of African cultural values.
Look at their dress and language; nothing resembles African culture or ethnic pride. The African girls ( mothers too) wear European or western sexy denim bum shorts, shoestring tops and cropped turn ups, tattered leggings and all of it, to resemble the European girls and women they see and admire on television. Almost every girl, beautiful and ugly, young and oldish, budding or in full bloom, wears trendy cargo pants, pocket bootlegs, sexy fit lows and boot-cut jeans.
The boys are not spared the Hollywood celebrity craze and fashion madness. They wear trousers so low they remind you of one going to the toilet. They are into ear-rings heavy neck laces, now have joined the girls in wearing tattered jeans, denim or not. The hair-cuts are so weird you are reminded of some of the funniest birds found in the forests of Africa. It is sad. It is interesting at the same time.
Together these young fashion-crazy girls and boys wielding expensive or are they designer cell phones, celebrate songs with dirty lyrics. . .explicit about sex and encouraging narcotic drug consumption. . .songs proud about sexual violence and other forms of violence. They have converted sex from being a God-given privilege, from being a sacred, highly respectable, private and pleasurable preserve for married couples to a mere Olympic sport or game.
On their own young boys and girls have no problem indulging in sex-sport that attracts cheers or jeers from peers. . .a public spectacle. Trade prostitution does not happen in beer halls and brothels alone as used to be in the olden days. The best of this moral decay can today be seen in schools, colleges and universities most of which have turned into Sodoms and Gomorrahs of today. True, African culture is under siege.
Back to the question, “…will traditional leaders preserve it?” Another question answers this question best. If they failed when youths were still human beings, how can they succeed now when they (the youths) now exist and thrive in an animal kingdom?”
In other words, “If youths have lost respect for adults, including their parents and church leaders for whatever reasons, that is a story for another day, how can they listen to the chiefs and respect them?”
True, Government has not lost regard for the role of traditional leaders. . .and chiefs still have a voice in society and even at state functions. True, the welfare of traditional leaders is also taken care of by Government. Yes, this shows that not only are they important in their communities but also to the nations. But this does not however mean that the chiefs are important to the youths who continue to distance themselves away from an antediluvian lifestyle, thoughts and philosophies.
If they are traditional leaders, fine, “let the chiefs lead tradition,” Zimbabwean young boys and girls say, “We are 21st century young boys and girls, nurtured by a modern lifestyle, characterised by ice-cream and pizza, Google and the Internet, child rights and freedom from cultural servitude. The chiefs can sit in their dares (traditional courts) hearing cases about witchcraft, stupid forced marriages and avenging spirits without lawyers but illiterate igwes. . .that is their business, not ours.’’
What does all this mean? It all means that traditional leaders can no longer impact on the thoughts, the rights, hearts and minds of the youths in society today. The question, “Can traditional leaders prevent the siege of Africa culture?” therefore is now misdirected. In its place the relevant question could be, “Can radio, television and the social Media prevent the siege of African Culture?”.
This is what now controls the behaviour of our future leaders, mothers and fathers, not chiefs or sabhukus. While all of us still respect their role, and I hope this is correct, obviously government still does in a significant way, youths who are supposed to be the conduit of African value systems have nothing to do with traditional values and their custodians. Listen to the music they compose, play, dance to and listen to! Have you ever seen them dancing? Look at their dress! Listen to their language. . .whatever it is English or Shona! Imagine what is stored in their expensive cell phones!
If radio, television, social media, newspapers and magazines, do not reflect traditional values, yet these are the school of life for modern youngsters, how can we continue to look for answers from traditional leaders? The social distance between youths and chiefs or sabhukus, cannot be overlooked in the matrix to get answers to salvage African cultures from siege. Tough, unfortunate, but the hard truth!
