Itai and Patson Dzamara: Harbingers of the new dawn in Zimbabwean politics

By William Muchayi

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.

Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned

I may not get there with you……

These are Martin Luther King Jr’s prophetic words at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3 1968, a speech that predicted his own death before being assassinated the following day.

At the tender age of 39, a father and breadwinner, the civil rights activist like many, would have cherished to live long and witness the emancipation of African-Americans. Indeed, the activist was well aware of his vulnerability as expressed in the speech but these fears did not deter him from pursuing a just cause even if the prize of that sacrifice was his life.

It is in this context that Itai and Patson Dzamara’s struggle can best be understood. Like Martin Luther King Jr who was well aware of the threat posed by the supremacists on his life, Itai was never deterred in his pursuit of justice by tragic stories surrounding the deaths of Rashiwe Guzha, Patrick Nabanyana, Paul Chizuze, Tonderai Ndira, Tichaona Chiminya, Talent Mabika and others all in the public domain while not forgetting the Gukurahundi massacres in the 1980s.

In the same vain,  Patson does not underestimate the threat posed by Itai’s abductors to his life  as he painstakingly combs the country in search of his missing brother.  Nor did the presence of marauding Zanu PF supporters who packed the National Sports Stadium on Independence Day deter the activist from his quest for justice as he strapped himself with the Zimbabwean flag while clutching a placard quizzing Mugabe on Itai’s whereabouts let alone the essence of phony independence deprived of freedom as citizens are abducted in broad daylight.

In Itai and Patson’s quest for justice, just like Martin Luther King Jr’s, there is a phase in the long journey to freedom when one’s life becomes secondary to what they fight for.  It is this consciousness that set these individuals high above the rest for which their names will be immortalised long after their departure.

Itai and Patson’s consciousness, just  like that of Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and others before them,  is a product of the realisation that man is his own liberator and that since freedom is sweet, the oppressed can’t get it on a silver plate but rather through sacrifice.

This consciousness transcends the warped misconception that Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, David Cameron, the African Union,  SADC or the IMF  will come to the rescue of the oppressed from Mugabe’s dictatorship  while victims opt to be spectators in the whole drama. It is the same spirit that informs the oppressed that Morgan Tsvangirai’s efforts alone cannot force the dictator to surrender power while victims sit on their sofas watching the drama from the comfort of their homes.

In the same way, it is the same consciousness that informs the betrayed that the ballot box alone manned by Tobaiwa Mudede and ZEC has its limitations in fighting an entrenched dictatorship as Mugabe’s. Likewise,  Itai and Patson are informed by the same consciousness that freedom has never been cheap but comes at a prize.

Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian activist who burnt himself to death in protest of his harassment by state officials, an incident that sparked the country’s revolution which became the catalyst to Zine- Abidine Ben Ali’s downfall paid for his country’s freedom by his own death. Under no circumstance did the activist ever expected to enjoy the fruits of his sacrifice in life through self-immolation.

Rather, he had in mind the present and future plight of fellow Tunisians, from the young to the old who toiled under Ben Ali’s dictatorship. The fight he had at hand wasn’t his alone but that of many.

Likewise, Itai sacrificed not only his job and the welfare of own children Nokutenda and Nenyasha, but all his life plans fighting for helpless mothers who are denied the right to decent healthcare while Bona has the luxury to give birth in Singapore using state resources as opposed to the use of Parirenyatwa, Gomo and Mpilo hospitals, all defunct institutions presided over by her father for the past 36 years.

As in Tunisia, Egypt or Ukraine, the downfall of dictators in respective countries was never spearheaded by opposition parties. Rather, opposition figures came to join the uprisings when they were already in motion.

It is naïve for the oppressed Zimbabweans to be masters in criticising those in the trenches from the comfort of their homes while reluctant to be active agents of change in whichever way, for, the ballot box alone can’t remove Mugabe from power.

It is this consciousness that the dictator wishes to eradicate among the oppressed through abducting its harbingers. As opposed to being trapped in Zanu PF’s succession narrative in the midst of hunger, destitution, record unemployment and increased totalitarianism, evangelists of the new awakening from Itai, Patson, pastors Evan Mawarire, Mugadza and others  are eager to seize the initiative and cast the story of millions of Zimbabweans at the centre of the struggle.

That is significant since in as much as what happens in the ruling party has a bearing on the lives of many, the oppressed can’t afford to be seized by that drama to the extent of forgetting when the rain began to beat them let alone how to dry themselves. By the same token, Saviour Kasukuwere’s disruptive activities in Harare will never come to an end until residents of the city and not Tsvangirai alone galvanise their efforts to stop the moron.

It would be naïve on the part of the oppressed to look for outside intervention to stop the madness as they are their own liberators.

In Pastor Evan Mawarire’s crusade as symbolised by the flag, protests at Africa Unity Square by activists as well as demonstrations being staged throughout the country by the opposition, a new dawn arises and it is this spirit that can dislodge Mugabe from power and not the ballot box manned by ZEC and Tobaiwa Mudede’s office alone.

That being said, it would be naïve on Pastor Evan Mawarire’s part to downplay the value of demonstrations being staged by the opposition as a weapon to fight Mugabe since the second phase of this struggle has to be multi-pronged as opposed to the first that had opposition parties at the centre.

The same also applies to those who fail to grasp the significance of the flag crusade in this struggle as the strategy instils a consciousness among the oppressed who for long had lost self belief in themselves as authors of their liberation. All these strategies by the oppressed should not be seen to compete against each other as opposed to being complementary.

In Ukraine, is it not that Victor Yanukovych was toppled from office by the activists of Maidan while Yulia Tymoshenko, the country’s main opposition figure languished in prison? In the same way, the oppressed in Zimbabwe should not perceive opposition parties and their leaders as impediments to the struggle but rather embrace Itai and Patson’s spirit that informs each individual that they are their own liberators.

William Muchayi is a pro-democracy activist and political analyst who can be contacted on [email protected]