I must say there is something to be admired about the Vendor invasion of the Central Business District. There is something about it that reminds me of the "Fast Track Land Reform Program". After all, Harare used to be a market place for all back in the day - back when Chief Harawa used to rule these lands (Historians help me here).

You see, we overthrew the oppressors from their thrones, tore down their flags and hoisted up ours. We were happy. We all safely huddled behind the placard labelled Independence, sang songs and drank booze for decades, the war was won.

Well, if our freedom was won, why do we still suffer oppression? You see, some of us, it is alleged, are born "free". If I don't feel free, then I'm supposed to being 'born free', that can only mean some battles were won but the war is not yet over.

You see, when we deposed the foreign oppressors from the throne we made one mistake.

I will nicely wrap this up at the end of this article.

We made the mistake of fighting against our oppressors, when instead, we should have been fighting against the oppressive system. It would appear like the oppressors simply changed shifts in running the oppressive system over the decades. Where we had pale skinned sacred cows, we now have dark skinned sacred cows which are not to be touched.

When we deposed the foreign oppressors from the throne we made one mistake. We did not destroy the throne.

We were too bogged down with the Independence hangover we did not even see ourselves rise to occupy these empty thrones. We took over First Street and the rest of CBD. We infiltrated the leafy green suburbs, grabbed commerce by the horns. We mastered the oppressor's language.

You see, we became the overloads, and we became the new tools of the oppressive system designed to benefit only those who operate the control rooms of this economic hegemony. You don't even need to know the meaning of the term "hegemony" to know that it's bad, it just sounds like some creature from the underworld.

Hegemony.

It kind of sounds like Kanda Bongo Man's "Hindemoniii". I digress.

Anyway.

The common man does not understand why he is not allowed to set up his money traps in the heart of CBD where the cash strapped citizens patrol. They also want a piece of that.

Their cry is:

Why is the CBD sacred? We are all black aren't we? Why is it that some blacks are now more special than others and are given special preference to operate in the most profitable part of the city?



Why are we being chased away from the rich alluvial soils of First Street? Why are we being pushed and packed into enclosed Vendor "Reserves" with rocky ground, where our hard work yields less? Why are we being chased out of the CBD?

That is why they are rising to claim what they innately feel is a right. Their uprising is the silenced voice of our ancestors who went against guns with knobkerries, yearning to be truly free.

In this system, the sweet nectar of freedom wrought by Independence is not cascading down to the common man, that is why he has stepped up to the plate where the nectar is, and you chase him away. As who? The new overlord? Black on black oppression.



The system is oppressive and we are fighting hard to restore it to it's full oppressiveness.

Our children dream of running the control rooms of the economy, so that they can benefit from this beast of a system. Our children try so hard to master the language that is used to run this system, a foreign language, and look upon those who do not know it so well, as inferior.

We toil; get loans and mortgages, at times do shady deals so we can move and live in the leafy green suburbs, far from cries of the common man.

It is funny how we hold such people in high regard as society. That's how bad it is.

Africans, let us appreciate, for a moment the fact that our colonisers were also colonised. In all the existence of their civilisation, they have never known freedom like we know it. All of Europe was colonised by Rome. Where Rome learnt her tricks. Nobody knows. Some say it's from the great harlot Babylon herself.

The strategy was the same; they had their rifles behind their Bibles, swords behind the scrolls. The Romans stole Christianity from the Judeans and corrupted it to their end. This might mean that Christianity as we know it, is not in it's purest form. But that's a story for another day. Again, I digress.

In all the existence of their civilisation, they have never known true freedom.

They cannot design our freedom for us.

Their systems cannot be copy pasted in our African society.

In a continent where whoever controls trade and food shortages can indirectly control where the voters place their X's. Democracy should be approached with caution.While we are happy to choose our own leaders, some unknown entity has already chosen our options for us, already dressed up one to appear like a saviour for their benefit.

Their solutions are not necessarily our solutions.

Africa must wake up.

The solution for Africa is Africa.

Let us design our own solutions, relevant to our needs. Our own system.

Let us destroy the systems of oppression. Let us destroy the thrones.

Let us design a nation where all people have an equal right to the nation's resources and potential.

We know freedom.

Let us simply be...

Better humans.

27 years couldn't cage a revolution, 21,000 deaths couldn't erase a revelation. Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.


Together we can make this work!

I wish you success.

The Secret Pathways to Lasting Success Part 2: Universe of thought

Well, when I said brain what I really mean't was mind. The brain is an organ but mind is activity, you can't touch the mind, you can't see it. The mind is a Universe of Thoughts.

So what does universe of thoughts mean? Are you saying I can see thoughts with a telescope or something?

Not exactly. A universe is a system, and a system is the confusion that hits you when you pop open the lid at the back of your wrist watch, or the bonnet of a car, I know most  guys won't admit it but yeah, that's a system. A set of different parts that work together and depend on each other, you get what I'm trying to say.

That's what your mind is like, a system of thoughts, a universe of thought, I like to use the word universe, it sounds cooler. So where am I going with this? The only way to have any real transformation in your life is to change the thoughts in your mind.

Look at it this way, lets say you have an old worn out shoe, so you go to the guy who sits by the bridge repairing shoes and tell him to put a new sole on it, and he does. So you see your shoe with a new sole but the worn out leather is now looking out of place, so you go back to the shoe repair guy who sits by the bridge, and you ask him to put a new leather skin on your shoe, and he does. So you happy now, new sole and new leather, well technically it's now a new shoe, but yeah, your old shoe has become new!

That's how you change your thoughts. Fire all the thoughts that don't promote your success and employ new ones that do. Before you know it, you will have an entire staff of new employees fired up to make the company of your life very profitable.

If a certain department of your life is not working out, find out which set of thoughts are in charge of that area and fire them and get a better team on board in that department. It's simple, isn't it?

The only problem you might encounter in changing your thoughts is that you may be associating certain thoughts with your identity, and you think that's who you are. And maybe your underlying hidden fear will be to lose track of who you are if you change those thoughts.

For example some people are so used to a life of pain and hardships that they cannot imagine themselves without pain and hardships. Their system of thoughts will shoot down any good opportunity coming their way, it will make them late for that job interview, it will get them to delay in sending that quotation, it will make them forget their partner's birthday. The very kind of thought system that needs to be fired.

The truth of the matter is you are not your pain, you are not your situation or circumstance, you are not your thoughts, neither are you your past or your future ambitions. You are not your likes or your dislikes, you are not your personality, those things are NOT what defines you. You can totally change your thoughts, and even your entire character (if necessary) without losing who you are.

That's because you are existing life, that's who you are. You can change your name and still be you, change people you spend time with and still be you, change your complexion Michael Jackson style, you can even change your sex and still be you. Think about it, we always say your hand, your body, your heart, your brain, your mind...but..who is the owner of those things? Can you see them? Can you touch them? See, you are existing life, untouchable and eternal.

You can change your universe of thought and get one that makes you happier and successful, one that makes connections with the right people, people who build you; one that doesn't show up late for business meetings; one that is faithful to the one you love and sees all the value in that one; one that... you get the idea.

Always remember that any thought that you hold in your head for long enough will always seek a way of outwardly expressing itself. Thoughts become thinks, what a man thinks so he becomes.

Transform your Universe.

I wish you success.