Community Activism

The death of Mr. Mungoni, a social and community activist in Mzilikazi suburb invoked a lot of thoughts in me about activism in general in Zimbabwe. Mr. Mungoni was the chair of the ‘F’ square residents association and a retired pensioner. He dedicated much of his time after his retirement from active service to community activism and promoting social unity among residents of ‘F’ square and Mzilikazi suburb in general.

Two important questions arise from this scenario as to why advocacy and activism still lag behind to day in Zimbabwe. Is it because as Zimbabweans we live issues of serious advocacy and activism to the period after we have retired from active work? In most instances people retire from active work at the age of 65 years. A follow up question immediately springs to mind, if we leave it that late, are we going to be active enough to lead social justice campaigns? Or is it simply because we do not care, or is it because of the repressive state apparatus that we fail to engage on some of the important processes that are at times meant to keep those in power knowledgeable about the real issues that affect as people at the grassroots.

The second aspect relates to the way young people view community activism with disdain. Is it because we are pre-occupied by other important issues as young people or that we simply do not care or we are faced with a difficult situation in that, senior residents simple do not want young people to partake in community leadership.

Whatever, the reasons might be, it is my firm belief that as young people we should be active participants in community activism. Community activism has more benefits as compared to any other form of activism. Some young people have resorted to e-activism, but as we might all be aware, in Zimbabwe and much of the developing world this form of activism has brought little success since most ‘citizens’ of the global south have largely remained information poor. The Late, Mr. Mungoni pioneered a number of important programmes aimed at community development in Zimbabwe. Of note and most recent is the clean-up campaign. Uncollected garbage was collecting at various sites within the suburb due to months of failed collection by the city of Bulawayo. Mr. Mungoni and other community leaders mobilised residents to claen up the suburb. In 2008 and early 2009, ‘F’ square was faced with electricity blackouts which were due to the malfunction of ZESA sub-station, Mr. Mungoni once again was at the forefront of liaising with ZESA for the rectification of the problem. Some of you might be saying so what is the big deal anyone could have done, wait a minute, in the plush suburb of Sunninghill it took the former minister of Information to liaise with ZESA for the rectification of a power fault in that area. We all read about it in the press!