PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s unwarranted acerbic animadversion against Evan Mawarire, at Charles Utete’s burial, left me in a complete delirium of topsy-turvy.
GUEST COLUMNIST MUTSA MURENJE
I was left with the impression that the man is determined to drag our beautiful country to his dishonourable political grave. The writing is on the wall, the dictator is going. He is being pressed hither and thither and there can be no doubt that the desideratum is to intensify our pressure against the cornered dictator. In my opinion, it is Mugabe’s continued resistance to change whose time has come that will result in his political demise.
We remain wholly committed to our only desire to be governed well. We will not allow ourselves to be dominated by one man as if we are a monarchy. Zimbabwe is our country, all of us, and we have equal shares. We have the right to determine our country’s destiny. Stifling political dissent to amass wealth at our expense is against the spirit of the liberation struggle, it is against democracy. The country has passed a vote of no confidence in Mugabe’s leadership and we expect him to step down to allow us to function, as we did before, when this country was delivered to us from colonial oppression.
It is palpably clear that Mugabe has lost it and has no idea of what he is doing. His being fretful, unreasonable and wrong-headed at a time like this is an indication of his Laodicean and cavalier approach to matters of national importance.
It is being unpatriotic suggesting that your political opponents do not deserve to live in the country of their birth. I have no other citizenship apart from that of Zimbabwe and I don’t expect that one will lose their citizenship just because they are opposed to dictatorial tendencies in their leader.
If you aren’t accountable to your people, then to whom will you be responsible and accountable? We have a responsibility to vote for leaders, but our right to remove them from power is equally important. That’s the very reason why there are term limits. As things stand, 2018 is quite a distance.
There won’t be any country to talk about if things are left the way they are. This is the reason why the people have had enough of dictatorial governance.
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72% of our people live in chronic poverty and only 11% of our children have access to adequate nutrition.
A single individual has dominated the politics of our country and thus deprived many of us of the future that we deserve.
The majority of Zimbabweans generally agree that the current crisis that the nation is facing is essentially one of leadership. It is becoming increasingly felt that Mugabe and his Cabinet colleagues have been in office for far too long to govern in a transparent and accountable manner.
They have clearly run out of ideas on how to solve the many economic, social and political problems that confront Zimbabwe. We expect Mugabe and his incompetent Cabinet to make way for younger Zimbabweans who comprehend the basic workings of a modern State in a globalising world.
We are extremely aware that the socio-economic constraints that the country is experiencing are a function of problems at the political level, that is mismanagement of political affairs.
We have had successful protests against the Mugabe regime in recent times.
Our victory signalled to Mugabe and his party that unless drastic measures are taken to arrest the situation, their stranglehold on political power will end in an embarrassing manner, hence the resort to public intimidation of peaceful protesters and citizens with genuine grievances. Hiring of unemployed and vulnerable young people to demonstrate against the protests will not result in money in our national coffers.
After marching against the protests, they will still not have food, money to send their children to school, access to basic health care, let alone savings and investments. It’s high time our young people refused to be used against their own people.
What we are fighting for will benefit all of us, including our oppressors’ children. I have fervent belief in the fairness and moral rightness in how governments recognise and support the basic human rights of all people. Our society should strive for economic (distributive) justice.
We need fairness when it comes to apportioning and distribution of economic resources, opportunities and burdens. Mugabe and his Cabinet are concerned only about their own rights and no longer possess a sense of responsibility for others and society in general.
Unpatriotic citizens must fall! Mugabe and his Cabinet must fall! We need to remind our oppressors that: “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” (Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the American Declaration of Independence).
I have noticed that the war veterans have joined the masses in their fight against oppression. This is a positive development.
War veterans spearheaded the fight against the opposition, civil society and white landowners. The rule of law was effectively suspended in order to enable them to harass, beat up, rape and murder people who were perceived to be supporting the opposition, or resisting forcible land redistribution. The consequences of these actions are what the nation is experiencing today and will continue to do for the foreseeable future.
They should, therefore, clean their mess, there is no other way to go about it. As Alfred Adler, the famous Viennese psychologist, observed: “It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others.
It is from such individuals that all human failures spring.” In conclusion, differences exist in all countries and at every level of society. They arise when we believe our interests are incompatible.
Differences, however, aren’t a negative phenomenon and/or negative force. They can be an essential component of immense creativity, social change, development and progress. Differences, without doubt, are a necessary component of human interaction.
They remain a natural expression of our perpetual struggle for justice and self-determination. After all, “All that the downtrodden can do is go on hoping. After every disappointment, they must find fresh reason for hope.” May God help Zimbabwe! The struggle continues unabated!
