Lifting Hidden Self-Imposed Sanctions

 

 

By Chiyedzo Josiah Dimbo, Ambassador of Hope

Africa often cries out about sanctions imposed by outsiders. Yet, there exists a more devastating kind of sanction—hidden, self-imposed sanctions. These are not enforced by Washington, London, or Brussels. They are inflicted by ourselves when we abandon African Traditional Religion (ATR) and embrace foreign faiths that strip us of our identity, dignity, and divine favor.

The greatest tragedy of colonialism was not simply the loss of land—it was the loss of the African soul. By kneeling before foreign ancestors and neglecting our own, we voluntarily cursed ourselves. We placed our lineage under embargo.

The Theft of Morality

We are told that morality was gifted to the world through the Ten Commandments. Yet those same principles—“do not kill, do not steal, honor your parents”—existed in ATR long before Sinai. To pretend otherwise is to rob Africa of its moral authority. Christianity did not bring ethics to Africa; it only rebranded what was already ours.

The sanction here is cultural theft—Africans live as if their ancestors never knew morality, while outsiders claim ownership of laws they borrowed.

The Curse of Ancestral Betrayal

In ATR, your ancestors are your protectors. They carry your blood, your name, your destiny. To forsake them and worship Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not humility—it is betrayal. It is like abandoning your mother to kneel before a stranger’s mother.

The result is a curse: Africans become spiritually orphaned, begging for blessings from a foreign court that owes them nothing. This is the spiritual sanction—a self-inflicted drought of protection, identity, and progress.

Colonization of Time

Africans once observed Chisi—sacred rest days aligned with ancestral rhythms and the land itself. But missionaries replaced this with Sabbath or Sunday, synchronizing us to foreign calendars.

Thus, even our weeks were colonized. Chisi became “pagan” while Sunday became “holy.” This is the psychological sanction—Africans despising their own systems while glorifying imported ones.

Wisdom from the Ancestors

A Shona proverb warns: “Tisarase chiri mumaoko nekuda kuombera.” (Let us not throw away what we hold in our hands while clapping for what we beg for).

Yet this is exactly what we did. We abandoned ATR—the inheritance in our hands—for Christianity, a religion introduced with the Bible in one hand and the gun in the other.

Even more painful is this rhetorical question: “Ko seyi tichifarira kuombera midzimu yevasina mabvi vakarehwa neSekuru Chaminuka” (Why do we bow to the ancestors of the kneeless ones who were defeated by Sekuru Chaminuka?)

If our prophets and spirits once defeated foreign powers, what madness drives us to worship the spirits of the defeated? That is the identity sanction—a people exalting their oppressors while lowering their own champions.

Breaking the Sanctions

These hidden sanctions are not eternal. They can be lifted. But first, we must admit the truth: the worst sanctions on Africa are not external but internal. They live in our choices, our worship, and our self-perception.

To break them, we must:

Recognize the theft of our moral authority.

Repatriate our loyalty to our own ancestors.

Reclaim pride in African Traditional Religion as a system advanced, moral, and sufficient.

Conclusion

Africa does not need to beg foreign gods or ancestors for recognition. Our liberation will not come from kneeling before the altars of the defeated. It will come when we restore communion with our own roots, our own spirits, and our own sense of self.

The sanctions that weigh heaviest on Africa are not written in Brussels—they are written in our hearts and minds. Until we lift them, we remain our own jailers.

Africa’s greatest embargo is the one we signed against ourselves.