Fraud is reeking and rioting past their noses. Don’t they feel
the stink? Those shrewd fighters and thinkers choose what
battles to fight or to ignore. Is that all you can say, really?
That sounds euphemistic, if not completely cowardly
and charlatanistic to say they choose the battles to fight.
One can be forgiven for questioning their neutrality. Or is it?
That sounds exotic or questionable to say they are straddling
issues, they support the corrupt and the greedy, plus the noble idea
of a free, fair, prosperous and peaceful Africa! You call them what?
Pan-Africanists? Interesting. Even those who hypocritically fail, to first
take the log out of their own eyes so that they can see clearly in order
to take the speck out of other distant and deceiving outsiders’ eyes!
If they are elusive, silent or reticent about critical issues of justice
development and democracy in the nations of their birth but are vocal
and vigorous on the global stage about how unity is central to economic,
social, and political progress, and the upliftment of people of African ancestry
across the world, don’t they know that charity begins at home or that a bird cannot
fly with broken wings? That a person who does not sweep their own doorstep, should
not sweep the neighbor’s yard? That if there is no enemy within, the enemy outside
cannot harm you? Doesn’t one need to tackle and rectify one’s personal issues first,
before one helps or disciplines others? Can one effectively help or take care of others
if one is incapacitated? Can a dirty hand teach the other hand to be healthy?
How does a muddy or filthy hand clean another? What, then can you say about
some so-called “Pan-Africanists” who become suddenly reserved, restrained
or unwilling to effortlessly share their thoughts, feelings, or personal views
and ideas on vital issues of justice, sleazy and vanity bedeviling and tearing
apart the economies and citizens of their nations, but are brave, keen and quick
to lambast others from other countries or continents? Why neglect home affairs?
Thuggery, violence and corruption. It is within their rights to condemn colonialists.
What about some connected, contemporary Africans who make colonialism look
innocent because of the gravity of their crimes around justice, progress and greed?
Why are they tight-lipped on these vital domestic problems and atrocities? Choosing
their battles wisely? Do you subscribe to such hypocrisy? I think Africa deserves better.
Ndaba Sibanda’s trilogy titled The Birds That Never Learned To Fly will be published in 2026.
