BY CHELSEA MUSAFARE
FASHION model and entrepreneur Taropafadzwa Mudzingwa, popularly known as Dr Nash says citizens should not only focus on the economy, but reclaim their African identity in order for the country to move forward.
Speaking to Standard Style last week, Mudzingwa said the first step was to know the spiritual values that defined Zimbabwean in the past to help deal with local problems.
“We have to understand ourselves as Africans and Pan Africanists first for us to be able to deal with our own problems,” Mudzingwa said.
“We have to know who we are and where we came from. People must have knowledge of how our country became to be called Zimbabwe and who fought for it.
“They have to really understand the purpose of the liberation war and who was leading the war by that time and that is our spirit mediums.”
Mudzingwa views Western Christianity as something that is disruptive to the African traditional way of life and has caused dilution of culture in the country.
“In terms of culture, Zimbabweans are diluting our principles. Our culture is our religion which is associated with African Traditional Religion,” he said.
“After the colonial period, people did not revert back to their own cultural beliefs as they started practicing what the white settlers taught them.
“People could not even find time to assess whether this whole white concept was true or not. We can note how these churches are busy robbing people of their money and also how they are splitting.
“People are familiar with western culture which they have read in the Bible and they do not even know their own culture.
“They have to understand that these two things do not mix, that is your culture and religion as they contradict each other.