MATERIALISM is the belief that having money and possessions is the most important thing in life.
A lot of people in our society have become self-centred and are preoccupied with acquiring as much money and wealth as they are able to lay their hands on, but are out of touch with those values that bind our families and communities together.
In Zimbabwe and most of Africa, prior to the adoption of western values, materialism and individualism were viewed as harmful and not promotional to the traditional values and beliefs.
Such practices were not tolerated and those practicing them were regarded as social misfits.
Natural resources were communally owned and traditional leaders were custodians of all wealth, shared equally among all citizens.
Today Zimbabwe has been invaded by the spirit of corruption, materialism and individualism, where a few people who are in positions of authority are amassing money and material resources just for themselves.
This is evident in most spheres and sectors of our society, where corruption has taken root and dangles its ugly head in violation of the citizen’s rights to a descent living.
In the 1880s and 1890s the white settlers intensified their fight for materialism and colonial control in this country, with heavy resistance by the local population. Battles that were fought left a lot of people dead; the settlers, led by Cecil John Rhodes who later changed the name of the country to Rhodesia, took control of the country and started mining and farming in the best soils of the land.
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What is important to note is that the colonialists came at almost the same time as the missionaries, with the first mission station in Zimbabwe being established by Robert Moffat of the London Mission Society at Inyathi, Bubi, in 1859.
The missionaries displayed characteristics that viewed life from a communal point of view, with biblical teachings and prayers being directed at the well-being of the communities as opposed to materialism.
This made missionaries to be eventually accepted by the locals, with some missionaries joining the struggle to fight materialism and colonialism. They helped address the poverty gaps created by colonialists, in their craving for materialism. Hospitals and mission schools were some of the institutions that the missionaries established, where local people could easily access.
On the other hand, the colonialists developed structures that gave them total access to all wealth, disregarding resistance from nationalists and traditional leaders. Laws were enacted that allowed individual whites to gather as much wealth as they could for themselves, leaving communities in abject poverty. This is how poverty was created in this country.
The years that followed saw the establishment of a colonial regime and the intensification of individual ownership of wealth by settlers and the advancement of materialism.
In the 1950s, nationalist movements organised themselves for physical confrontation with settlers, following failure of positive outcomes from negotiations to settle the colonialists’ forced occupation of the country.
In the 1960s and 1970s, with the desire to advance African values embedded in the spirit of ubuntu/hunhu, sons and daughters of this land took arms, fought and defeated the settler regime. Ubuntu/hunhu is the character of African communities that value humanity and good character as a symbol for advancing respect for the oneness of people, whilst shunning self-centredness and materialism.
It is a character that the liberation movements desired to achieve, maintain and cherish for the future generations to come. Self-centredness causes a lot of destruction in our efforts to lead meaningful lives. Self-centredness causes people to value themselves more than others, thus viewing those who are different from them as not worthy of a descent living.
Materialism and self-centredness are acquired behaviours that are neither inborn nor inherited. They result from people’s faulty view of human life. It is noted through history that some people view the world as a place which has to provide them with unlimited material things.
While it is important for every living human being to have access to material things which are fundamental to life, people should at the same time search for those spiritual values which make life much worthy and enjoyable.
Ubuntu/hunhu requires not only the awareness of oneness, but also the willingness to identify and accept conditions for the creation of a united human race. One paramount condition is the fair distribution of the earth’s resources.
Ubuntu/hunhu is founded on love and tolerance – love for life and tolerance for our racial, tribal and cultural differences. If we love one another, then we are sympathetic to the plight of other people. To lead complete and happy lives, we have to love those things and human qualities which help us discover ourselves as a God created human race. Human beings who lead lives without love are destructive to the unity of humankind. Without love we do not preserve or let alone respect life.
Feeling of sympathy and understanding for the others disappear when we do not have love. The world is witnessing a lot of acts of suffering and fatal destruction of life due to lack of love. It is an unfortunate reality that science and technology are both used to create more hatred among people. Billions of dollars are spent finding new ways to kill human beings.
Meanwhile, millions of innocent children are dying of hunger and disease while on the other hand the world is spending about three million US dollars a minute in arms of war.
Thousands of the world’s highest skilled and intelligent scientists spend their time developing new means and effective techniques of killing humankind.
Yes, science and technology has brought us closer by bridging and making distances among nations non-existence, but we still have big economic, racial and cultural gaps. Love, true friendship and genuine solidarity is one technology which the world still has to discover.
We all have a role to play in this area – no matter where we are in the world or what we do in life.
Obadiah T Moyo Contacts : 263 773 064 320 or 263 715 341 465 (mobile). Email : [email protected]
