Reclaiming the Meaning of Borrowed Power: A Time for Zimbabwe’s Choosing

By Tinashe Mpasiri | 24 October 2025 – In his stirring message titled “Reclaiming Our Nation, Restoring Our Power,” Tichaona Mupasiri reminds Zimbabweans that sovereignty does not belong to a party, a president, or an institution, it belongs to the people. His words are a timely reminder that citizenship is not a passive status, but an active responsibility.

When one pauses and reflects on his message with a sober mind, it becomes clear that the true promise of independence and democracy is not far-fetched. It lies in a simple yet powerful truth, that public office is not a throne, but a temporary assignment of trust. The power that public officials wield is not their own; it is borrowed power from the citizens who confer it through the Constitution.

Every councillor, every Member of Parliament, every minister, and even the President himself, is bound by a moral and legal obligation to uphold, defend, obey, and respect the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the supreme law of the land. To forget this principle is to undermine the very foundation of the republic.

Centuries ago, the English philosopher John Locke articulated the same principle that underpins all modern democracies. In his Second Treatise of Government, Locke wrote that “Government has no other end than the preservation of property.” By “property,” Locke referred not only to material possessions but to the entire scope of a person’s rights, life, liberty, and estate. He went further to assert: “The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.”

In other words, government exists not to dominate the governed, but to protect what they collectively own, their rights, their freedom, and their dignity. If government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, then citizens retain both the right and the duty to question, to hold accountable, and where necessary, to replace those who abuse that consent. Power is not inherited; it is entrusted. And trust, once broken, must be withdrawn through lawful means.

More than half a century ago, Ronald Reagan, in his timeless speech “A Time for Choosing,” declared that “If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.” His warning was not only against foreign threats, but against domestic complacency, the kind that allows unaccountable power to grow while citizens look away. His message resonates deeply with Zimbabwe today: freedom must be guarded not just from tyrants, but from apathy.

Mupasiri’s message is therefore more than political commentary, it is a civic awakening. It challenges Zimbabweans to look beyond personalities and parties, and to return to the principles that make a republic work: transparency, accountability, and renewal.

The constitutional promise of term limits, public scrutiny, and institutional independence are not bureaucratic formalities. They are safeguards against the erosion of liberty, the modern expressions of Locke’s warning that unrestrained power is incompatible with freedom.

To reclaim our nation is to restore this balance. It is to remind those in power that their authority exists only so long as it serves the people’s good. It is to revive the culture of constitutional patriotism, where fidelity to the law is greater than loyalty to any individual.

Ultimately, as Mupasiri aptly concluded, “the highest office in the land is not the Presidency, it is Citizenship.” This is a truth we must never forget.

Zimbabwe does not need louder politicians; it needs conscious citizens, men and women who understand that democracy lives or dies in their daily choices: to question, to participate, to hold accountable, and to protect the rule of law.

As Reagan once said, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.” Zimbabwe, too, stands at that crossroads, between freedom and fear, courage and silence, hope and despair.

That is how we preserve our freedom.
That is how we honour those who sacrificed for it.
And that is how we, as a people, truly reclaim our nation and restore our power.