Outspoken and the future of Zimbabwe
POVO: what are your thoughts on the state of the nation and the future?
OUT: I don't know where the nation is going man, half the time I don't even understand what Zimbabwe is.
POVO: You're here, and I am sure you don't have to be here, you could be anywhere
OUT: I want to be here
POVO: Why? You must have some kind of hope, or you have seen light at the end of the tunnel?
OUT: If you look anywhere under the face of this earth, there is not a single place where there are no problems. Some are man-made. We find ourselves in certain situations that you could learn from. With the situation we faced here, I have always questioned money, growing up. You don't go to work so that you can have $15 or whatever at the end of the day, you want food on the table for your family, to be clothed and sheltered. It was a nice paradigm shift for those that saw it. That money is not of worth but wealth and that is just of material things. For me that was a nice time to actually learn, and say yeah I did have a point when I was arguing you don't want money for moneys' sake. That’s like a means and it also makes you refocus like you need to work in order to live not to be in a situation where you live in order to work. Don't be a slave to material things. I appreciate a lot, because there is a lot of realness in Zimbabwe still. I grew up with a whole farming background close to nature even up to now. I appreciate realness. When I perform I perform in front of flashy lights and big crowds and stuff. But when it’s all said and done it’s just clean air and healthy eating. It is a state of mind or a feeling that you have to the place that you are now. It takes more than geographical borders, national flags, anthems and governments which is why it is valid for someone who is in the UK to say he is Zimbabwean, even though he hasn’t been to Zimbabwe for the past 40 years. So there are all these different takes on what Zimbabwe is, and what it is to you. I consider this to be my family. Whenever you go out there you are just visiting. I can't see myself living anywhere else. And I love my family too much to be too far away from them. Right now we are like 30kms away from each other. For me that’s too far. I don't know if it’s about a light at the end of a tunnel or creating that light, or chilling in the tunnel. I am just here.
POVO: What’s your take on the Zimbabwean environment?
OUT: It pains me man because it goes back to the dollar and the illusion of wealth. Going back to our house where we grew up, my father would wake up at 5am every Saturday morning to water the orchard. He is the influence behind my love for nature and you could tell by the results that nature took care of our family. You can feel energy when you walk in nature; there is a sense of safety. If you do look at these people that say that they are all for the environment- multinational corporations that cut down natural habitation and shove palm trees that are out of place, you can tell it’s just like shoving a plastic plant in your house. It may be beautiful but that is not natural because it is about embracing real. When you chop down it’s not just a tree that you chop down you also destabilize the ecosystem. If you look at the profits made, they need to chop down more trees in order to survive as opposed to the benefits of investing in what is naturally there. If we look at animals and nature we see the symbiosis that is there. How they work around each other. Then we turn around and say we are the advanced species.
But most of our thought is borrowed from nature. We don't appreciate it in its totality and people actually need to take time to reflect on nature. The way people throw trash around is because you can't place a claim to where you are. Once you make people realize that they own the communities they live in, they take better care of them. So if you have that state of mind that your house does not extend to the walls that you imprison yourself in, and it’s not your job to clean up the streets then, you have to clean up your state of mind first before you clean up the streets. If you describe your life growing up to a child right now they would think that you are lying. There is this nostalgia to it I think that adds to the pain. That’s when you like 'My children might not get to appreciate what I had to appreciate' but then a lot of people say 'that’s life' but I don't think it is. That’s death!.
