“A Republic of Matabeleland or Bloodshed: my reply," wrote Nomazulu
Thata.
"We have spoken on several occasions about the marginalisation of
Mathebeleland and that we demand the reburial of mass-shallow graves in this
region. We demanded too that those who lost lives and livelihoods should be
compensated as such. We also demanded devolution and a referendum to determine
the willingness of the peoples of this region if they really need a cessation
from the mainland Zimbabwe.
"It appears as if we the peoples of Mathebeleland are denied of the
voice to say what we want. These Mthwakazi parties have the say on us. These
are mostly men-dominated that will determine our future, fate and destiny
behind our backs. Whether we want it or not, Mthwakazi will cessed from the
mainland Zimbabwe. According to me that is fascism."
Zimbabwe is not the first country to have suffered from decades under an
incompetent, corrupt and brutal dictatorship. And, I dare say, it will not be
the last country to do so. Dictatorships, by their very nature are very
wasteful and the Zanu PF dictatorship is renowned for its criminal waste of
material and human resource.
The waste of resources has resulted in poverty and Zimbabwe is today the
poorest nation in Africa and, naturally, the people are unhappy with the
regime. And to maintaining its strangle hold on power the regime has resorted
to brutal oppression, fuelling the mistrust and resentment.
It is this deep seated mistrust and resentment that has fuelled
infighting and the break-up of nations post the fall of the dictatorship. Look
at Yugoslavia post the Tito, Iraq post Saddam Hussein, Libya post Gaddafi,
etc., etc. There is a real danger of Zimbabwe become another Iraq or Libya post
Mugabe and Zanu PF.
In a country where unemployment has soared to nauseating heights of 90%,
where basic service such as supply of clean water and health care have all but
collapsed, where 3/4 of the population are living on US$30 or less per month,
etc., etc. the argument that one region has done better than the other is
untrue.
What the people of Zimbabwe should aim for post Mugabe and his Zanu PF
dictatorship is to build a free, just, prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe.
I agree with you Nomazulu, those now threatening to shed blood unless
they get want they want - what they really want is absolute power and will kill
and kill again until they get - are fascists. They are no different from Mugabe
and his Zanu PF thugs - they murdered over 20 000 innocent civilians during
Gukurahundi to establish the de facto one-party dictatorship and have murdered
over 10 000 since to retain it.
In the last year alone Mnangagwa has shot dead 7 in August
2018 and a further 17 in January 2019 for protesting the rigged elections and
soaring cost of living respectively. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs rigged
last year’s elections, they have no mandate to govern the country, they are
illegitimate and they must step down.
All our effort must now focus on forcing Zanu PF to step down so we can
implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship and
replace it with a healthy and functional democracy. This is our last chance to
achieve peaceful and orderly change. Violent street protests or worse will
bring change but it could turn the country into another Libya!
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power until 2023 the party will rig
those elections and extend its ruinous and tyrannical rule. We, the people,
will have no one to blame but ourselves.
It will be a great tragedy if Zimbabwe should finally get rid of this
incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship only to have yet
another incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical regime. We made a serious mistake
of allow Mugabe to take us down this ruinous path we must not allow this to
happen ever again. No, never!
Thank you very much Nomazulu for your courage and vision in standing
against dictators, thugs, fascists, etc. in all their various disguises. We
want peace, liberty and an end to the madness that has destroyed our nation and
rob our people hope and self-respect. Appeasing dictators like Mugabe and Mnangagwa
has not guaranteed peace and freedom as we can see and we will be very foolish
indeed to make the same mistake again!
@ Hupile
ReplyDeleteIt is against the background of the elections that were held last year which gave the mandate to ZANU PF to rule Zimbabwe. The election was highly contested. Mnangagwa won with 50.8% of the vote to Chamisa's 44.3%, giving him the majority needed to avoid a runoff. MDC disputed the election, then they filed a court case but unfortunately the court upheld ZANU PF victory.
There are some things we can agree to differ over and are others it is insane to differ! Mnangagwa and Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections that is well established fact.
“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards,” stated the EU Election Mission final report.
The elections were so flawed and illegal ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake.
The trouble with some people is that they are so naïve and gullible they believe anything they hear. Zanu PF and ZEC told them Mnangagwa won 50.8% and they believe it. When you do not know who was on the voters’ roll, who voted, how many times some people voted, etc., etc., etc. because there is no verified voters’ roll the declared result do not mean anything!
There was a reason why the regime saw to it that the process was not transparent, nothing can be traced, nothing can be verified, etc., etc. It was no accident! After 39 years of the same accidents it beggars belief that anyone would still belief this was an accident!
The only sure way to stop Zanu PF rigging the next elections is for the regime to step down now to allow the implementation of the democratic reforms. Zanu PF is illegitimate and it is folly to allow it to remain in office till 2023.
“President must solve the Zimbabwe's crisis or face humiliation in the 2023 elections!” How naïve! If Zanu PF is allowed to remain in power until 2023 the party will rig the elections, again!
Gukurahundi is one of the darkest chapters in post independence Zimbabwe, proof that we are incapable of self-government. It will be unforgivable if the country was to be dragged into yet another dark chapter.
ReplyDeleteWe must not be fooled by those who are pretending to seek justice and closure on Gukurahundi but are instead seeking to further their own selfish political agenda. What Zimbabwe must do is make sure the truth behind Gukurahundi is uncovered and those behind these murders are punished and a message is send to all adventurers that dragging the nation into a war for selfish gain will not go unpunished!
Gukurahundi was a military operation designed to wipe out PF Zapu and clear the way for a one-party Zanu PF state. The late Dr Joshua Nkomo admitted this himself in a BBC interview at the time. Mugabe got his wish when the two parties signed the 1987 Unity Accord to pave the way for the de facto one-party state that has ruled the nation with an iron fist ever since.
ReplyDeleteThere are some people who want to change the narrative to make Gukurahundi a tribal military operation and they want to insist some tribes have benefited from the one-party state at the expense of others in terms of development. This is just mischief and damned lies.
The great Chinua Achebe advised that one should never fight a war of blame. Mugabe's Gukurahundi was austensibly against the dissidents but that was only a cover as the over 20 000 innocent civilians killed showed. It was a war of political dominance and therefore must be rightly condemned.
Those now itching for a fight are doing so for selfish political gain and are using the Gukurahundi massacre as cover by lying about what the massacre was about and therefore they too must be condemned. The last thing we want in Zimbabwe is to take up the tribal wars from where our forefather left off when the whiteman came!
Gweru City Council has introduced water rationing, amid indications that Gwenoro dam, is now left with only three months’ water supply.
ReplyDeleteGwenoro dam supplies water to Gweru urban. The development has seen suburbs such as Mkoba 19 and 20 going for months without water.
This is sad, this will add to the mountain of problems these people have to deal with every day! And all because of decades of Zanu PF corruption and incompetency. This is not going away, indeed the economic meltdown is getting worse, and the only way out is for Zanu PF to step down so the nation can finally implement the democratic reforms – the cure to the rigged elections.
If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 the party will rig those elections and the madness, the economic meltdown and the heart-breaking human suffering and deaths will continue! We, the people, will only have ourselves to blame for this!