In yesterday’s NewsDay, the front page had one of the most poignant pictures of the protests that engulfed Harare on Monday.
NewsDay Comment
A protester stood on a damaged police helmet, probably symbolic of how Zimbabweans have decided to stand up and face one of the institutions that symbolises their oppression.
We do not advocate for violent protests, particularly that destroy infrastructure, but at some point people will snap and there would be no telling what they do.
Each violent protest gives the State, which has more machinery than any of the demonstrators, an excuse to use brute force to crush dissenters and there can only be one winner in all this.
The police have no choice but to take orders; however, they are seen as the face of the people’s oppression and their actions will only draw resentment.
However, in anger and in frustration, Zimbabweans should be advised that peaceful protests and dissent are the best way they can convey their message to this government that they want change in the way they are governed.
What angers Zimbabweans more is the seeming indifference by political leaders to their obvious plights.
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Information and Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services minister Supa Mandiwanzira can provide all manner of Cabinet authorities to show that his purchase of an expensive car was overboard.
The question is not about legality, but about the morality of his actions. It is morally reprehensible that a minister can get approval to buy two vehicles worth $200 000 from a government that is failing to pay workers on time.
It makes even no sense when the same Mandiwanzira haughtily tells civil servants to be patient in waiting for their salaries, when he alone can spend so much on a vehicle.
It is the sense of unconcern that is angering the people, who with each day realise they have less and lesser to lose.
The protests and the violent confrontations with the police are a sign that Zimbabweans are tired of politicians “who do not know about their sores … but oppress them”, to paraphrase scholar, Noam Chomsky.
The picture on our front page yesterday, and several shared in the newspaper and online are representative of a population growing weary of the way they are governed by authorities seemingly apathetic to their plight and have decided to take matters into their own hands.
That image and many more will travel around the globe and will reveal Zimbabweans’ frustrations and crystalise people’s resolve to fight what they deem as oppression.
It is a pity that it has got to this level, but the people are tired and yearn for a better life.
As long as the government is apathetic to people’s concerns, allows this economic decay and responds with brute force to Zimbabweans’ concerns, the people’s spring is inevitable.
