‘Truth Telling - Moral Implications’
Fr Peter Paul Musekiwa SJ
Africans to look at ourselves again and
intolerance being the cause for many
T
know that we ought to be proud of our
African societies’ failure to democratise,
elling the truth has moral
ancestors and the wealth of knowledge
it has equally been the cause of many
that they built for us” (Rukuni
conflicts since the 1950s and in our day as
society. Zimbabwe has been saddled by
Mandivamba, Being Afrikan, 2007,
well.
6). The encouragement in the words of
In the case of Zimbabwe, it seems that the
Professor Rukuni as quoted above should
cause of our quandaries is compounded.
vibrate the positive frequency and raise
Our problems are a combination of both
the spirit of a longing for an authentic
intolerance from both within and outside
self-expression for us Africans. We need
the country, and lack of truth telling,
to examine our national conscience
which are in my view two sides of the
as Zimbabweans with regards to truth
same coin. For instance, since the year
telling and its moral implications.
2000, the ZANU-PF led government has
The general problem that one sees
blamed all the calamities that bedevil
in our society today is intolerance.
the country on the sanctions imposed
media instigated violence.
James L. Gibson in his article Political
by the United States of America and its
Intolerance in the Context of Democratic
allies in the West against individuals and
In his book entitled Being Afrikan,
Theory, describes intolerance as the
companies that belong to the governing
unwillingness to put up with disagreeable
ZANU-PF party and others who support
ideas and groups (Gibson L. James,
the activities of that political party
Political Intolerance…2013). Besides
financially. However, the government
implications on the actor and on a intolerance, corruption, misgovernance and misinformation, depending on the side of the political divide that one stands. We all have a role to play to enhance communicate truthfully regardless on the media through which we do so. There is no need to weaponise the media to foment intolerance. Countries that have done so have experienced a terrible loss of life through
Professor Mandivamba Rukuni emphasised that one of his objectives for writing the book is that he “wants us as
Mukai - Vukani No.78 | October 2020 |
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