Many people saw last week’s the country wide protests as the
beginning of a revolution that will not stop until Mugabe and his Zanu PF
cronies are finally driven out of their offices. These people’s disappointment
with the poor response to calls for a follow-up protest yesterday and today 14
July 2016 is palpable.
“After years of complaining about bad
governance, corruption, a decaying economy and general joblessness, it seems
some people are so inebriated in their misery that they cannot do anything to
lift themselves out of this mess,” wrote Newsday Comment.
“The
leakiest excuse for some people was that if they stayed away from work they
would miss out on the crumbs they get on a daily basis, a somewhat flawed and
worrying logic.”
Come to think of it there is a logic in why
the Zimbabwean people are already tired of the protests before they have accomplished
anything; they are weary of taking part is revolutions that deliver nothing in
the end.
“The mass actions that have been called
recently are not about spearheading some selfish political agenda, but are
about Zimbabweans demanding an end to corruption, finding solutions to the
economic malaise and about guaranteeing a future for this and the next
generations,” argued the Newsday comment.
Everyone can see the
common cause now just as we all did before independence or in 2008 when
millions risked life and limp to vote for Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC
friends. It is what happened after the white colonialists were driven out of
power that concerns the people because Mugabe and his cronies took power and
instituted a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime denying the people the
freedom and human rights they are dreamt of.
MDC was elected on the promise they would delivery
democratic change, the party had five years in the GNU and still failed to get
even one reform implemented. Not one!
It is all very well to say people should come out and demand
an end to corruption, etc.; what is there to assure them they are not being
taken for a ride again as happened in 1980, 2008 and on countless other
occasions? Nothing!
What the people out there should understand is that they
have been their own worst enemy and no one. Back in 1980 they failed to
understand that it is the duty of the people to elect a competent government
and to hold it to account at all times. Mugabe denied their freedoms, rights
and human dignity and granted himself dictatorial powers to do as he pleased.
It was the people’s duty and responsibility to stop him and they did not.
When it was clear that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends
were wasting GNU time when they should have been implementing the reforms; the
people should have cracked the whip, they did not.
It is true that the people had no clue what their powers and
duties are in a healthy and functional democracy; they still have no clue what
these are to this day. It is equally true that the people did nothing to get
Tsvangirai to implement the democratic reforms because they had no clue what
these reforms were back then during the GNU.
The disastrous reality of the rigged July 2013 elections
should have spurred the people to find out what these reforms are about by now,
one would think. Sadly most people still have no clue what the democratic
reforms agreed with SADC in 2008 to ensure free and fair elections are about.
The country has exactly two more years to the next elections
and not even one democratic reform has been implemented. Not one! So it is
almost certain Zanu PF will once again blatantly rig the next elections.
It is all very well for people to go out on the streets
demanding an end to corruption, “We want our $15 billion back!” read one
poster, etc. but as long as Zanu PF remains in power and not accountable to the
electorate through free, fair and credible elections then corruption, looting,
etc. will continue.
Understanding
what the democratic reforms required are demands a bit of effort on the part of
the voter nothing more because they are after all common sense and not rocket
science!
“French philosopher, Joseph-Marie comte de
Maistre famously remarked that every nation gets the government it deserves,
quite an apt statement to describe Zimbabwe,” wrote the Newsday commentator.
Well Monsieur
Joseph-Marie comte de Maistre was right there, we have this corrupt,
incompetent and tyrannical Mugabe government complete with its coterie of corrupt
and incompetent opposition parties and deserve nothing better.
Until the people understand their role in a healthy and
functional democracy is to understand the big issues of the day, only those who
do understand the issues will cast a meaningful vote and hold those in power to
account; there is very little point in their taking part in street protests and
expect change in their lot. Those who are calling on the masses to join in the
street protest would do better and explain why this would not be yet another
futile waste of time as happened so many times in the past!
ReplyDeleteThe failure to stop President Mugabe from becoming a tyrant he is today is something this nation has lived to regret for we have paid dearly for it in treasure and human lives. This nation now bears the scar of this dictatorship that will shape our destiny for generations to come.
We had the greatest chance to end the Mugabe dictatorship during the GNU it is really sad that the chance was wasted.
Yes we deserve Mugabe the tyrant and Tsvangirai the village idiot. The whole world would be laughing at us if this was not such a tragic story of human suffering and deaths!
@ Mechavio
ReplyDeletePovo are protesting the worsening economic hardship including lack of jobs, the collapsed health service, etc. This Zanu PF tyrannical regime has denied the people their freedoms and their basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.
"Povho realise they cannot be used by people who are fully paid by foreign embassies while they stand to lose earnings, particularly the informal traders of Zanu PF," you said.
This is typical Zanu PF mentality, having denied povo their freedoms, human rights and their very humanity it is no surprise that the regime is refusing to acknowledge that povo have any human feelings such as suffering and anger much less capable of expressing these to the world be it verbally or physical by street protests. If they should they should do so it must be because of the influence of some foreigners putting words into the mouths and instructing povo to stage street protests; povo on their own would never ever say or do such things because that is a human strand and povo are not humans!
Well believe it or not povo are human beings and they are on the street protesting because they are suffering and they will continue to protest until the regime hears them! In the end, the regime will hear them!
This regime has not only deny us on basic freedoms and rights now it is denying us our humanity too. The regime does not believe we are human enough to suffer the anguish of being unemployment, hungry, sitting in the dark with no electricity or water, etc. The regime expect us to just suffer in silence, we are not allowed to cry or shed tears!
DeleteYou are making the reform process more complex and confusing than it need be. You want to dissolve the Zanu PF regime and replace it with various task forces, for example; on what legal basis? We are in this mess because of Zanu PF's lawlessness and throwing out the constitution, such as it is, is not going to make things better but worse!
ReplyDeleteFollowing the violent elections of 2008, all the political parties of the day agreed on the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the next elections were free, fair and credible. Mugabe signed the GPA on behalf of his party Zanu PF, Tsvangirai on behalf of MDC-T, etc.
Not even one of the democratic reforms were ever implemented hence the reason why the 2013 were not free and fair. We need to go back to the 2008 GPA and implement all the re-forms and then hold fresh elections.
This Zanu PF government cannot deny that none of the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA were implemented.
Zimbabwe's present economic and political problems stem from the country's failure to hold free, fair and credible elections and thus produce a government that has the people's mandate to implement the tough economic reforms and has the confidence and respect of the interna-tional community and foreign investors.
Yes we need to act but we should not waste time re-inventing the wheel. We already know what the root cause of our problems is – failure to hold free and fair elections – and SADC spelt out the solution for us in 2008 – implement the democratic reforms. We should focus on getting the reforms implemented and then holding fresh elections!
It is not just a possibility that this economic crisis will delivery no lasting change because no meaningful reforms would have been implemented even if a golden opportunity was there to implemented such reform; the possibility is a certainty. There is not even one of the opposition leaders much less these social network leaders who has one single coherent idea what needs to be done here.
ReplyDeleteThey all want to lead and yet they have no idea where they are going. The fact that the followers themselves are used to follow blindly and will do so again and again does not help the situation.
Still, even for those used to this rat race type revolution full of promises of the moon on a silver platter but always delivering hell on earth; the futility of it all must get to you sooner or later.
In 2008 people risked life and limp to get Tsvangirai and his friend into power all for nothing as we know. Now MDC want the people to do the same as the party promises "robust" demos. They are desperate to be seen and so remain relevant there is a real danger of them fueling mob rule for selfish political gain!
Tsvangirai has done nothing about implementing the reforms but now he wants to be see at every street demo! He will never implement any reforms if he got into power it will be just another rat race with no end result!