During President Robert Mugabe’s reign, millions of Zimbabweans sought economic refuge in countries all over the world. Most of them migrated closer home to the neighboring states of Southern Africa including Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Eswatini.

When President Mugabe seized white-owned farms he inadvertently stepped into a hornets’ nest. The punishment was swift. Economic sanctions were promptly effected to paralyze the Zimbabwean government. It was a move designed to make the ordinary citizens hurt. And it did. They took the brunt.

The situation was dire. To the extent of some of them wishing their hard earned freedom away…and reverting to the colonial days. At least then, they reasoned, they had the basic necessities for their families. Africans outside of Zimbabwe were aghast at the thought. But they were not the wearers of the pinching shoes.

No one cared about the rights of the millions of African citizens in Zimbabwe. The focus was on the handful of white farmers dispossessed of stolen land. Their human rights supposedly ranked higher, and had been grossly violated.

The manipulative western media went on an illusion of truth overdrive to spin a deceitful narrative against Mugabe – presenting him as a ruthless and mad African dictator. They just stopped short of branding him an illiterate. He had 18 degrees, 11 of them honorary. The vengeful onslaught stooped as low as stripping him of 3 honorary degrees from the UK and American universities.

The entire world, including Zimbabwe citizens, received the well-spun media narrative as gospel truth. And made it their point of reference in their “insightful” analyses. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.

The rest of the children of Africa joined in the ridicule. Forgetting that they were mere pawns in the whole game which was stacked against their favor. Laughing at Mugabe…calling him names…not knowing they were really laughing themselves out of their rights. And condemning themselves and future African generations to sustained social and economic inferiority and doom.

Mugabe was effectively isolated. Upon his demise, his legacy was caricatured as that of a failed, scorned and despotic African leader. Yet this was one of the most educated and brilliant statesmen. His only crime was to attempt to right a historical injustice against his people, whose land had been stolen from them by the colonialists. A familiar story across the continent.

The message to the other African governments was crystal clear. Tow the line or else. If you dare take back your land, your birthright, we will make a living hell of your country. No one said this out loud though. Appearances must be maintained at all costs.

The cornerstone of the architecture of Zimbabwe’s fall was the social, economic and political disenfranchisement of its citizenry. Mass exodus ensued. The refugees bore and raised their families in foreign states – children who now identified as citizens of their countries of birth. With no attachments to Zimbabwe – save for the stories they were told by their parents and grandparents.

This is Zimbabwe’s Lost Generation. And a sizeable number of them are soaring to great heights in their adoptive countries. Scattered all over the world, they have defied the odds to develop a formidable human capital base. They have emerged as strong forces with extensive networks and formidable economic might. Collectively, they simply are a force to reckon with.

Sequestered in the hills of Botswana lies a small village – Mogoditshane – where a little girl of the lost generation was born to a migrant couple from Zimbabwe. As is customary in some parts of Africa, an old lady known to the family came to visit, bless and ‘hold’ the new baby. She named her Naledi, literally meaning Star, in Setswana.

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Excerpt From Naledi’s Story: ‘PILLARS OF AFRICA:  They Dared To Dream’ – Compiled & Written by Sheida

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