I HAVE been opposed to the Zanu PF establishment for close to two decades. My opposition to President Robert Mugabe, his party and the government he leads is a direct result of his misrule or his proclivity towards harming, hurting and bullying innocent, powerless and defenceless citizens. This is a position that will not change anytime soon, if ever it will.
MUTSA MURENJE
Like Martin Luther, I feel this way: “I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen!”
What I see is determination by the ruthless dictator to not only destroy what remains of our country, but to also make sure that whoever takes over after him will have serious challenges reconstructing our material lives.
This is not the way to govern a country. We have already been through a lot and this is not the kind of life we expect in a sovereign and independent country. It is our patience that is now running out. We cannot allow lawlessness and dictatorship to continue ruining our lives.
We, Zimbabwean citizens, have an obligation to right the wrongs and excesses of the Mugabe regime. We cannot allow you, Your Excellency, to continue as you please. We have reached our saturation point. At 92, Mugabe has had all the fine things that long life could give, but most of us cannot afford even a single meal, let alone decent housing, affordable education and accessible health care. For these and other reasons, Mugabe’s time is up. He has caused enough damage and committed serious atrocities against us, we cannot afford to continue with him, not at 92 years old.
I have reached a critical phase in my academic life. As a research student and one whose interest is in dealing with human subjects, I have serious ethical considerations to make regarding my treatise. It is in this context that the subject of this piece is framed. I would, naturally, have loved its Latin equivalent: “Primum non nocere”, but I believe the English equivalent: “First, do no harm”, is apt. The late Masipula Sithole impressed his brother, who is also late, Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, by saying he wanted to become a lawyer when he grew up.
However, Masipula got scared when the late Zanu chairman, Herbert Chitepo, uttered a few jurisprudence words in Latin. Masipula admitted that he couldn’t deal with the Latin bit and so he privately gave up the idea of becoming a lawyer. I have yet to give up the idea of becoming a lawyer myself. I still dream of becoming a human rights lawyer even as I grapple with my doctoral disquisition. I love the Latin bit.
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Drawn from the field of medicine, and in response to flagrant violations of human rights and the inherent need for protection of human subjects, the central tenet of research ethics has been the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere”, or “First, do no harm”.
This oft-quoted idiom is approximated from the ancient Greek Hippocratic Corpus, Epidemics: “The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future-must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm” (Hippocrates, Book 1, Section 5).
In pari materia, I believe it is a legitimate expectation of the governed that their government will do good and not harm. It is a fact of life that Mugabe and his regime are responsible for our chaotic socio-political circumstances, fear, and threats to our individual and family security.
We have suffered community violence, persecution, and loss during Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina and other electoral-related atrocities committed in the name of ruling eternally. Some of us are separated from our families and are facing an uncertain future. These are the various ways in which we have been violated and harmed.
The current establishment has failed us, it has failed Zimbabwe. The Zanu PF leadership has failed to offer any positive, creative alternative to the crisis bedevilling our country. As for Mugabe, he has done himself and our people a great disservice. Our political discontent, especially as young people, is an indication that we are part of the history which is reshaping our country, replacing a dying order with modern democracy.
Our message is very simple. None of us is angling for chaos and mayhem, neither are we interested in partaking in violent demonstrations. Violence has never been part of our struggle although we have been its biggest victims.
Zanu PF is dead and needs to be reminded about its electoral promises and the diurnal economic struggles that our poor people face. Growing political dissent, expressed through demonstrations, is not in any way a distraction. This political pressure is necessary to help institute the requisite political and economic reforms that will improve the performance of the national economy and the well-being of our people.
We have always attached importance to the land and all other resources our country may have. White Zimbabweans were dispossessed of their land, which land is now being held by black Zimbabweans. The expectation is that those who got the land will produce enough for national consumption and the export market. Minus drought, what other justification is there for not producing enough food when “land is the economy, and the economy is land”?
Is it not surprising that countries in the region, such as South Africa, Malawi and Swaziland, have also been affected by the drought, but they do not seem to be complaining the way we do? Can we honestly keep talking about illegal sanctions from our erstwhile colonisers? What I believe to have derailed policies of socio-economic empowerment is dictatorship. The untold economic hardships that we keep scapegoating Western countries for are a result of our own making. You are hurting us, Your Excellency. Zanu PF is hurting the economy.
It is disingenuous, therefore, Mr President, to accuse the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) of seeking to tighten illegal sanctions and hurting the economy so severely as to cause disaffection among the people. The disaffection already exists and this has been caused by misrule.
If it weren’t for the violence of the Zanu PF regime and the brutality of Mugabe’s government against our people, then we would be a happy people. I am not sure how you, Mugabe, will respond to the challenges in the coming days. But whenever you do, “first, do no harm”. The struggle continues unabated.
May God help Zimbabwe!
