9 good international image. The list of achievements could go on and on. These were the years of promise, the years of hope. 1.2 YET SO MUCH DISAPPOINTMENT: WHAT ARE THE SOURCES? Despite the above gains, in 2005 Zimbabwe celebrated its Silver Jubilee in the grip of disappointment and depression. A number of things had either gone wrong or had not been put right within the first 25 years of our independence. Our nation is desperately in need of a physician, and that physician is none other than us the people of Zimbabwe. Treatment always begins with a correct diagnosis of a malady. We are not seeking to blame any one person, party or group. We are all as much a part of the problem, and must therefore all be a part of the solution. We must honestly face the sources of national disappointment so that we as a nation may have the determination to collectively seek appropriate remedies. We look back to the first 15 years of our independence with pride and thankfulness, but also admitting that it was not all rosy. But what went wrong until we got to where we are? The following are some of our weaknesses and failures which in our view have contributed significantly to our disappointment. 1.2.1 Lack of a Shared National Vision Lack of a shared vision has been at the root of our political crises since 1890. During the colonial era Zimbabwe was monopolized by a few. Since then the country continued to be a fort, or laager protecting some against others – a minority against the majority or the majority against the minority. In this sense, Zimbabwe has never experienced the spirit of comprehensive social solidarity. As a nation we have never really experienced what it means to live in harmony and how to handle democratic processes in the political, social and economic spheres. The accommodation of different opinions and diversity of cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds continues to elude us. 1980 was the year Zimbabwe was supposed to be shared by all. Yet we have continued to think and act in our old ways, jealously protecting our old narrow turfs, privileges and keeping old enemies. Some of us are so used to the old enemies that we do not want to give them up. We do not know what to do without them. Where these enemies have withdrawn or disappeared, we continue to reinvent them. We are in a spiritual crisis because we have attempted to think and live in our old ways in a new world. Zimbabwe must embrace all who desire and deserve to live in it. We needed to cultivate non-partisan State structures which would be accessible to and protective of all Zimbabweans. We needed to develop a political culture of tolerance and respect of all. Yet by the end of 2002 Zimbabwe was already disproportionately dominated by party-politics and political violence. It is now deeply polarised on party-political lines. These tensions and polarizations threaten the existence of any sense of national common good and nationhood that