The ongoing debate on social media, where many Zimbabweans express nostalgia for Rhodesia, is as controversial as it is revealing.
For a nation born out of a protracted liberation struggle that promised emancipation and prosperity, the sentiment that “Rhodesia was better” is both unsettling and deeply tragic.
However, a closer examination of these statements reveals that they are not about yearning for the return of colonialism, nor are they romanticizing life under Rhodesia, which was undeniably oppressive.
Instead, these sentiments are a scathing indictment of the ZANU-PF government, the self-proclaimed liberators, who have spectacularly failed to deliver on their promises of freedom and prosperity.
This phenomenon draws uncanny parallels to George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
In Orwell’s allegorical novel, the animals overthrow their human oppressors, only for the new leaders—the pigs—to become indistinguishable from the humans they replaced.
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Zimbabwe’s post-independence trajectory mirrors this betrayal of revolutionary ideals.
The promises to end oppression, foster equality, and deliver prosperity have been replaced by inequality, corruption, and repression.
Frantz Fanon, in his seminal work The Wretched of the Earth, foresaw this tragic irony.
He observed that “the liberation of the nation is one thing, and the liberation of the people is another.”
Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, but the economic liberation of its people remains elusive.
Fanon also issued a stark warning, noting that “the bourgeoisie, which is the inheritor of colonial power, will seek to maintain its privileged position and thus become an obstacle to the development of the nation.”
This has played out in Zimbabwe, where the ruling elite has not only maintained but expanded its privileges, amassing unimaginable wealth while the majority of citizens languish in poverty.
These realities were also foreseen by Dr. Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, affectionately known as “Father Zimbabwe,” who lamented in his autobiography The Story of My Life: “The hardest lesson of my life has come to me late. It is that a nation can win freedom without its people becoming free.”
Zimbabwe’s current state is a far cry from the optimistic promise of independence, when the country was described as the “jewel of Africa.”
With its fertile land, well-educated populace, and vibrant industries, Zimbabwe seemed poised for greatness.
Yet today, over 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty datum line, with half earning less than $2.50 a day—a figure classified by the United Nations as extreme poverty.
The nostalgia for Rhodesia among some Zimbabweans stems not from an affection for colonial rule, but from a sense of betrayal and relative deprivation.
During Rhodesia, the colonial government ensured functional infrastructure, healthcare, and education—though these services were limited to a privileged minority.
One could have never dreamt of anyone, whether Black or White, sleeping on the floor in a public hospital due to a shortage of bedding.
Today, over 2,000 women die annually from cervical cancer, in a country with no functional cancer machines, while another 2,500 perish during childbirth due to inadequate facilities.
Zimbabwe’s largest hospital still operates with a single maternity theater built in 1977 during the Ian Smith regime.
The economy was stable, and jobs were available even to a significant population of Black Zimbabweans.
My own mother and father were a general nurse and school teacher, respectively, whose salaries afforded them a very decent livelihood.
In stark contrast, our nurses and teachers today cannot even afford to buy a house and have been reduced to renting a couple of rooms.
Zimbabwe’s roads today are riddled with potholes and the industrial sector has collapsed.
This comparison is not about justifying Rhodesia’s racial oppression, but about questioning why life for ordinary Zimbabweans has become so unbearable under their supposed liberators.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s decline lies in the corruption and mismanagement of the ruling elite.
Despite the nation’s vast natural resources—including minerals, fertile land, and wildlife—these assets have been plundered rather than utilized for the public good.
Scandals such as the missing US$15 billion in diamond revenue and billions of dollars unaccounted for in public funds, as revealed in Auditor-General’s reports, illustrate the scale of the problem.
Today, communities residing in regions with vast mineral deposits are wallowing in abject poverty, yet billions of dollars being earned through the sale of diamonds, black granite, gold, platinum, and lithium, amongst many others.
At least during Rhodesia, such communities thrived, where mining companies developed these areas by establishing well-resourced towns with decent housing for workers, good hospitals and schools as well as numerous amenities as sports facilities.
Today, once-thriving towns like Redcliff have been turned into ghost towns as a direct result of the looting and mismanagement at state-owned enterprises, such as ZiscoSteel, which were run into the ground.
Corruption at state-owned enterprises like ZESA has also crippled essential services such as electricity supply, plunging the country into nearly daily power outages lasting up to 18 hours.
The corruption and mismanagement surrounding Zimbabwe’s land reform program stand as one of the most damning indictments of the betrayal of the liberation struggle’s ideals.
At the core of the war for independence was the equitable redistribution of land—a promise that resonated deeply with a population that had suffered decades of colonial dispossession.
However, rather than fulfilling this noble objective, the program became yet another tool for enriching the political elite at the expense of the masses it was meant to uplift.
Millions of British pounds pledged under the Lancaster House Agreement to fund an orderly and fair redistribution of land were misused, with little accountability for how these funds were allocated.
Instead of creating a broad-based agricultural revolution that could benefit the majority, the most fertile and productive land ended up in the hands of top government officials, ZANU-PF loyalists, and military personnel.
A stark example is the reported ownership of 21 farms by Bona Mugabe, the daughter of the late President Robert Mugabe.
If the offspring of a president could amass such an extraordinary number of farms, one can only imagine the extent of land hoarding by other members of the ruling elite.
The broader statistics paint an even grimmer picture.
Out of the controversial land redistribution program of the 2000s, only 23,500 Zimbabweans benefited from A2 commercial farms, while 360,000 were resettled on smaller A1 smallholder plots.
When measured against an estimated rural population of 5 million, this means a mere 7.12% of Zimbabweans received land, leaving 92.88% landless and confined to the overcrowded and under-resourced communal areas that had been their colonial inheritance.
This glaring disparity underscores how the program was manipulated to serve the interests of the elite while neglecting the overwhelming majority of ordinary citizens.
This gross inequity reflects a betrayal of the liberation struggle’s fundamental goals.
The revolution was fought to dismantle the structural injustices of colonialism, but the outcomes of an independent Zimbabwe suggest that the new political class merely replicated the oppressive systems they overthrew.
The dreams of equitable distribution of resources, rural development, and national prosperity remain unfulfilled, with the majority of Zimbabweans left to struggle in poverty while the ruling elite thrive on ill-gotten wealth.
This tragic irony serves as a stark reminder of how far Zimbabwe has strayed from the ideals that inspired its fight for freedom.
These failures have eroded public trust in the government and left many Zimbabweans questioning how a nation so rich in resources can be so poor.
Beyond economic hardships, the psychological toll on Zimbabweans has been devastating.
In the 1980s and 1990s, young people aspired to become doctors, engineers, and business magnates.
Today, many dream only of affording basic necessities like school fees and meals.
This shift represents not just economic decline, but a stunting of the collective imagination.
When people grow up in an environment where poverty and failure are normalized, they lose the ability to envision a better future.
Fanon noted that colonialism stunts the imagination, but post-independence misrule has had a similar effect.
The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has become indistinguishable from the colonial oppressors they replaced.
They live in mansions, drive luxury cars, and enjoy overseas vacations, while ordinary citizens queue for water, and struggle to afford basic essentials.
This betrayal is encapsulated in the government’s recent actions, such as spending millions on luxury vehicles for officials while civil servants are expected to survive on below poverty salaries.
The contrast between the lives of the elite and the suffering of the masses underscores the tragic reality that the liberation struggle’s promises have been abandoned.
For Zimbabweans to reclaim their country, they must first reclaim their ability to dream big.
This begins with recognizing that the current state of the nation is not inevitable—it is the result of deliberate choices made by those in power.
The liberation struggle was not fought for the benefit of a select few but for the freedom and prosperity of all Zimbabweans.
Achieving this requires a second revolution—not one fought with guns, but one grounded in unity, courage, and an unwavering commitment to justice and accountability.
The ongoing debate about whether Rhodesia was better is not a call for the return of colonialism.
It is a desperate plea for the promises of independence to be fulfilled.
Dr. Joshua Nkomo, Frantz Fanon, and George Orwell have all warned us about the dangers of unaccountable leadership.
Zimbabweans must take these lessons to heart and demand a nation where every citizen—not just the elite—can live with dignity, hope, and the ability to dream big.
This is not a call to romanticize Rhodesia, but a call to question why the sacrifices of the liberation struggle have not translated into better lives for the people.
Zimbabweans must remember what independence was for and hold their leaders accountable to the ideals of justice, equality, and prosperity that inspired the struggle for freedom.
Only then can Zimbabwe rise from its current state and reclaim its place as the true “jewel of Africa.”
● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
