Why the hate? Why the anger? Why the malice?
By Obert Gutu
The level of hate, anger and malice is simply astounding. The vile and toxic language that is routinely used defies all forms of human decency. We are caught up in this conundrum of heightened intolerance, disrespect and vulgarity. Brother has turned against brother and sister has turned against sister.
This is now a mumbo jumbo spectacle of tongue – lashing and hate- filled malicious slandering and lewd propaganda. Zimbabwe is on a knife edge. All caution has now been thrown to the wind as the struggle for political supremacy and economic dominance has entered the home stretch.
It is now dog eat dog. It’s now gloves off as the moment of reckoning is fast approaching. Where to Zimbabwe? Which way are we heading towards as an otherwise civilised nation? Is it all doom and gloom? Is there any logic in this madness?
We want to build a Great Zimbabwe and as such we have to dismantle the spirit of hate, anger and intolerance that is permeating the nation; across the political divide. Zimbabwe is our beloved country and we all of us are obliged to be patriotic, respectful and indeed; tolerant of different and sometimes, opposing political and religious views and convictions.
It is simply not feasible to build a great and progressive nation on a foundation of anger, intolerance, hate and malice. There should be unity in diversity. We cannot afford the idiotic luxury of lambasting and publicly humiliating those amongst us whom who think are our enemies and political adversaries.
There can be no homogeneity of ideas and political views in any nation. It is simply impossible to adopt a one – size -fits – all approach when you are dealing with human beings. Human beings are very unique organisms; each one of us with a perfectly distinct set of fingerprints even if we are otherwise identical twins. Thus; any attempt to package all Zimbabweans into one political envelope will be as unwise as it is bizarre and impracticable.
Zimbabwe is at a historic turning point; make no mistake about that. We have now reached a defining moment in our national political discourse. Going forward; Zimbabwe will never be the same again. The generation of yesteryear nationalists is now reaching the tail end of their political careers.
Much as this generation might want to hold onto political power and appear to be defying the whims and fantasies of mother nature; the long and short of it is that Zimbabwe has now entered a completely new phase in our national political tapestry. We shall be witnessing a lot of political re- configuration and re- grouping in the not too distant future.
Trust me. By the time we hold Election 2018, the political landscape will be so very different and complex from what it is at the present moment in time. This is typical of dialectal materialism. Nothing remains in an unchanged state forever. That’s the way it is and indeed; that’s the way it is always going to be.
Whilst the national economy continues to be on life support in the intensive care unit; the ruling party seems to be apparently lost in a maze of endless political factional bickering and mudslinging. Of late, we have witnessed a complete abdication of governmental responsibility. In the ruling party; things have completely fallen apart; the centre can no longer hold.
To all intents and purposes, the ruling party in Zimbabwe has effectively split into at least two extremely antagonistic and opposing factions. These two factions hate each other with a passion. There is certainly no love lost between these two opposing factions of the ‘revolutionary’ party.
Instead of attending to serious matters of state, of late, we have witnessed bootlicking cabinet ministers making a beeline to attend some phoney political rallies that were being held throughout the country.
Otherwise respectable men and women were reduced into puppets childishly cheering on their puppeteer as the latter huffed and puffed; blurting out toxic hate language and malicious propaganda against perceived political adversaries. Some of us had seen this coming a long time ago. The ruling party effectively split several years ago. This is now just the moment of reckoning. The chickens are simply coming home to roost.
Zimbabweans should flatly and resolutely refuse to be trashed, used and abused. We should say a resounding NO to the creation of a family dynasty to run this country. For how long shall we continue to be this docile as our country is taken to the dogs?
This is the time for all well-meaning patriots to stand up and protest! Enough is enough! Surely, we cannot see our beloved country jumping from the frying pan into the fire and we still pretend that it’s business as usual! What is wrong with us Zimbabweans? Why are we so fearful? Why are we so cowardly?
Across the political divide; we should stand up and fearlessly confront the ghost of hate, division, anger, malice and retrogression. We should be principled and abide by what we believe in. No one has got a monopoly of wisdom. Indeed, no one was born with the sole and exclusive mandate of being kingmakers in their respective political formations.
This is our national call to action. We are not talking about Gamatox, weevils and Mazoe orange crush here. We are discussing very serious matters of state. We should flatly refuse to be entrapped into factional enclaves that are a passport to nowhere. We should learn to speak truth to power.
Zimbabweans have suffered enough at the hands of unscrupulous, corrupt and populist demagogues. We run the real risk of sliding into a permanent mode of a failed nation state if we remain docile, fearful and unprincipled. Let us learn to call a spade a spade.
We should call for transparency and accountability from our leadership. We shouldn’t accept to be treated like second-rate citizens in our own country of birth. The spectre of career politicians who somehow think that they are God’s gift to mankind should be shunned and denounced.
It is now time for all politicians and other public officials to mean what they say and also to say what they mean. The time for doublespeak and chicanery should be history. Zimbabweans should refuse to be taken for a ride by political opportunists and chancers who are solely driven by their own insatiable quest for political power and personal aggrandisement.
We don’t deserve to be sad in the land of happiness. We don’t deserve to be poor in the land of plenty. We don’t deserve to be led by wicked politicians who have absolutely no conscience. We should refuse to be manipulated and misled by political chameleons that are clearly incapable of taking Zimbabwe to the next level. If we snooze, we lose.
Obert Gutu is an international corporate legal consultant with Messrs. Gutu & Chikowero Attorneys-at-Law based in Harare, Zimbabwe. He can be contacted at [email protected] ; [email protected] ; www.gutulaw.co.zw
