Unity should never be about a nation blindly following a leadership even when it goes astray, Mr. President

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

On Thursday, during the launch of the 2026 National Culture Month celebrations in Bulawayo, President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a clarion call for citizens to protect the country’s unity and maintain peace. 

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He warned against the dangers of division, positioning national cohesion as the bedrock of our progress. 

On the surface, the call sounds noble. 

Unity is, indeed, a virtue that societies strive to cultivate. 

However, in the Zimbabwean context, we must ask a critical question: is this call for unity a genuine invitation to collective national development, or is it a rhetorical shield designed to protect a leadership that has lost its way?

Unity should never be synonymous with subservience. 

It should never be about a nation blindly following a leadership that has gone astray. 

To demand unity while simultaneously dismantling the foundations of a just society is a paradox that the people of Zimbabwe are no longer willing to accept.

We currently find ourselves more divided than at any point since our independence. 

This chasm is not the result of a citizenry failing to embrace peace; it is the direct consequence of a ruling elite’s singular obsession with self-preservation. 

We watch as the powers-that-be push to extend their stay in office through highly controversial constitutional amendments. 

Even more damning is their blatant disregard for the legal requirements of a national referendum—a safeguard explicitly mandated by our supreme law when such amendments serve the interests of the incumbent.

When leaders prioritize their own power greed over the sanctity of the constitution, are we, as a nation, expected to fall in line in the name of unity? 

Are we truly meant to look the other way while the supreme law of the land is brazenly violated, all for the sake of an artificial, state-sanctioned harmony? 

Silence in the face of constitutional erosion is not unity; it is complicity.

The dissonance between the government’s rhetoric and the lived reality of the Zimbabwean people is staggering. 

Over 80 percent of our nation is currently cast into poverty, with nearly half of our population trapped in the clutches of extreme poverty. 

Yet, in the corridors of power, we witness an unashamed looting of national resources as the ruling elite grow wealthier by the day. 

Are we expected to turn a blind eye to this opulence while our hospitals—the very institutions meant to preserve life—crumble? 

Thousands of needless deaths occur every year in these underfunded, under-resourced facilities, which lack the most basic medication and lifesaving equipment. 

Are we to ignore this state-authored carnage, again, in the name of preserving unity?

Unity does not materialize from thin air. 

It is not an ethereal concept that magically descends upon a nation. 

It is a tangible outcome that must be cultivated, and the primary onus for this cultivation falls upon the shoulders of the leadership. 

A government that expects its people to be united must, first and foremost, lead by example. 

This requires fairness, justice, and an unwavering adherence to the rule of law. 

Without these pillars, any talk of national unity is nothing more than hollow propaganda.

In truth, the suffering, subjugated people of this nation are more than united. 

They are united by a shared realization that their poverty is not a stroke of bad luck, but a deliberate policy outcome. 

They are united in their fatigue and their frustration. 

The ruling elite are acutely aware of this, and their fear is palpable. 

Is this not the reason they dread a national referendum on extending their tenure? 

Is this not why they tremble at the prospect of a secret ballot in Parliament regarding these constitutional amendments? 

They fear the people because they know they have betrayed the people.

Unity is a two-way street. 

It is a social contract, not a one-sided demand. 

If the leadership genuinely desires a united Zimbabwe, they must move beyond the rehearsed speeches and into the realm of concrete action. 

Unity is not built through the arrest of dissenting voices or the stifling of political opposition. 

It is not built through a state-controlled media landscape that denies the oppressed a platform to voice their grievances.

Instead, unity must be earned through a sincere, visible, and unwavering commitment to the rights and dignity of all Zimbabweans. 

It is built when a government respects the constitution, accounts for the national wealth, and ensures that the public healthcare system serves the people rather than being neglected while the elite seek care abroad.

We want a united Zimbabwe—but we want one that is united in purpose, in justice, and in progress. 

We refuse to be united in silence while our country is hollowed out from within. 

If the leadership wants to talk about unity, let them start by leading with integrity. 

Until then, the call for “unity” will remain exactly what it appears to be: an attempt to mask the distance between a straying leadership and a long-suffering, yet increasingly resolute, public.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08