Reimagining the African dream

Munashe Mutasa, Unisa LLB student and The African Dream author

Writing a book about the challenges of Africans has been a childhood dream for Munashe Mutasa. The 24-year-old student is doing his fourth year LLB degree with Unisa and recently published The African Dream. In his book, he speaks about the daily challenges emanating from colonialism and shares ideas on redeeming Africa's renaissance.

"The African Dream is the recognition of the full potential of Africans without compromise by the west," explains the young author. However, he contends that realising Africans' true identity is insufficient as the African dream grapples with achieving unity and developing Africans.

According to Mutasa, the African dream embraces African intellectual thought and explores further indigenous knowledge systems. He explains: "An African dream is an ideal which promotes equality, freedom, and respect for black people and can be achieved by radical young Africans." He also shares the obstacles young African authors face in publishing their voices around the continent. Hence, the lack of support and no confidence in African writers taught Mutasa to believe in himself and his ideas. "I learnt that people will only believe in you once you have achieved something, not during the process of working on it," he notes.

Childhood memories

Born and bred in Harare, Zimbabwe, Mutasa moved to South Africa in 2015, where he completed his high school at Sir Isaac Newton College. Although his primary level was done at Budiriro 2, he moved to Glen View 1 High to complete forms 1 and 2 in Zimbabwe. He remembers his childhood memories full of dreams and hopes of becoming a lawyer one day. At a young age, he noticed the injustice targeted at unprivileged Africans. "I recognised how the Zimbabwe system criminalised innocent citizens because of their poor backgrounds." He adds: "So, I promised myself that I would become a lawyer and be the voice of the voiceless."

Growing up in Zimbabwe gave Mutasa the courage to have an inquisitive mind. He is a critical thinker who constantly asks questions about the system of governance in his country. Moreover, as the third born in a family of seven, he feels he has to be a good example to his young siblings. Though he is from humble beginnings, he highlights that his home was loving and supportive. "Being in a position where my parents had to struggle to afford our basic education gave me the desire to speak about the injustice faced by underprivileged people so that every child can be afforded an opportunity to learn freely," says Mutasa, who is also the founder of the African Legal Students Association and Justice Chapter (ALSA & JC) among many African oriented associations he is involved in.

One of the reasons that inspired him to write the book is that he grew up in a country where real democracy and political freedom never prevailed. Another reason was that South Africa, the country he moved to and settled in, had vast land that still belonged to the minority. He adds that the normalised capitalism and xenophobia in South Africa prompted him to reimagine the dream of African revolutionaries and visionaries like Kwame Nkrumah, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Malcom X, Marcus Garvey, Fred Hampton, Chris Hani, and many others.

Sharing Unisa's vision of Africanisation

The African Dream (Book)

Mutasa says registering with Unisa was motivated by the African history the university upholds. "I believe and share the same vision with Unisa about Africanisation," he says. He also appreciates the affordability of tuition fees and how the university empowers students from low-income families by giving them access to tertiary education.

"Ubuntu is the foundation and pillar of attaining genuine Pan-Africanism and black solidarity," says Mutasa, who believes the concept can help identify and resolve Africa's problems. "Without Ubuntu, the future of Africa and Africans is a blur," he says. He adds that a capitalist system does not fight black people; instead, it opposes the principles and values of black people. "Once people are separated from their core values, their whole future is compromised. This oneness is an understanding of the interconnectedness of all life —The future of Africa depends on Ubuntu," he argues.

A chapter in the book titled The Rise of Academic Capitalism: A Preliminary on Entrepreneurial Universities and its Impact on a Black Child's Future was inspired by his academic journey. His views originate from the Worldwide Financial Crisis of 2008. He says most higher education institutions worldwide have changed their financial practices to focus on the bottom line. As a result, he sees many universities taking the route of academic capitalism. He remarks that the heart of an entrepreneurial university views academics as producers of capital, not as educators, students as consumers, not learners, and business accreditors and non-governmental organisations as valued business partners.

He further writes about the implication of academic capitalism on black students. "It is turning African universities into enterprises competing for capital accumulation and businesses into knowledge producers looking for new findings that can be turned into patents and profitable commodities," he notes. "Therefore," he continues, "it is widening the gap between the rich and poor." Mutasa strongly believes that this system robs the working class of the little they have. "The spiral cost of higher education remains a concern for us tertiary students, with public subsidies at low levels," he argues.

Another chapter of his book, among many others, zooms into patriarchy and the abused African girl child. Mutasa says he had to touch on the topic because it has much greater concern for the continent's growth. He says, "As a young man who came from a mother's womb and has three sisters, it is in my best interest to protect them from any harm." He continues, "I see it as an issue of greater importance to acknowledge and value the role of women in the family, community, and nation-building projects." Lastly, Mutasa says he is working with academics from different African universities to place The African Dream book in libraries for all African students to access.

* By Lesego Chiloane-Ravhudzulo, Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement