THE Zimbabwe we want is a country characterised by the total and non-negotiable freedom of every citizen, be they black or white, unhindered by any political party that might happen to be in government.
Quest Column,Vince Musewe
It is my contention here that, just like there was never total freedom of the black man under Ian Smith, so will we never be totally free under a Zanu PF government. We will only be free when we demand it and we will only demand it when we decide that enough is enough and that we are not Zimbabweans by some favour of Zanu PF or does Zimbabwe belong to Zanu PF.
It was Eric Arthur Blair (famously known as George Orwell and author of the books Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four), who once said “All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.”
Zanu PF will only see a future that coincides with their wishes, which are not necessarily aligned to ours. We must, therefore, stop kidding ourselves that they will be the creators of a new Zimbabwe we want.
The most grossly obvious facts, which are unwelcome, are that the social and economic system created by Zanu PF over the last 35 years is not working and will never work. This is simply because it is not based on total economic and political freedom.
In fact, the disappearance of Itai Dzamara, who is still unaccounted for to this date, is proof to us that we are not free in our own country. Zanu PF is not based on freedom but on oppressionof the will of the masses.This is regardless of the so called constitutional changes and the suggested political reforms we seek.They continue to carry on as if they own us, as if we are idiots who know nothing but being slaves to their whims. That is exactly how the colonialist treated the black man until we refused to be treated so. We must also refuse to be treated so by Zanu PF.
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I continue to attend many debates on what is necessary for fundamental change in Zimbabwe. I am always amazed at the half-hearted measured attempts by some amongst us to try and ignore the political crisis and explain our situation away, as if there is some normality within it.That is a shame.
It is not normal for us to have to ask for permission from a partisan police to be free to associate and speak our minds as we wish in our own country. It is not normal for us to pay our taxes while they are used against us and we do nothing about it. It is not normal for us to seek peaceful change in our own country and still get arrested and maimed.
It definitely is not normal for a country blessed with so much and yet its people are poor or have to go to other countries to make a living. It is abnormal for thousands of our citizens to still wake up and go to work and not get paid and be threatened when they ask for what is due to them.
The most grossly obvious fact that is being ignored because it is unwelcome is that, Zanu PF no longer represents the aspirations of hopes of millions of Zimbabweans as was the case during the armed struggle and in 1980. This organisation no longer deserves our faith and trust to create the Zimbabwe imagined not only by us young progressive Zimbabweans, but by thousands who perished during the struggle, while those who were lucky to survive must watch in disgust.
The reality is that, no amount of money poured into this system, as created by Zanu PF, will result in any progressive development until we have a new political leadership.
I find it ridiculous and preposterous for anyone of us, and this includes those within Zanu PF, to stand up and claim that we are not responsible for creating the circumstances that we are now facing in our country. I find it shameful that anyone can wake up in the morning and go to work to defend an oppressive system, which is worse than the colonialists.
Zimbabweans actually hate themselves so much and have a low self-esteem, that they are now complicit in their own abuse, which is meted out to them daily by the police and politicians who are pretending that we live in a normal society. How can a sane man wake up to go to work to merely throw spikes at kombis or to chase vendors from the streets? How can a sane man or woman wake up each morning to put up roadblocks to extort money from drivers and we all accept that as normal?
I find it utterly preposterous that some of our youths would put their lives in harms way to defend the very system, which has repeatedly shown them that they have no rights or dignity in their own country.
Yes we will never be free under Zanu PF because we have allowed them to abuse us. We have allowed them to oppress us just as the white man did under colonialism, if not worse.
We, therefore, have nobody to blame but ourselves. Change will only come to Zimbabwe when we accept the responsibility to make the change we want to see happen. It will not come from the oppressor.
●Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on [email protected]
