By Mutsa Murenje
It is just 8 days before Zimbabwe holds the most important of all elections. The harmonised elections slated for 31 July are said to be almost similar to those held in 1980, the very elections that delivered our independence and no doubt gave us a tyrant of a leader-Robert Mugabe.
It boggles the mind to come to terms with the fact that the man who used to command a lot of respect at independence has, 33 years down the line, become a villain. Even people like me who never voted for him in any election have come to know about how evil the man is.
I don’t need a Western country or the independent media to tell me about how brutal this man is. I have first-hand experience and no amount of pleonasm and acerbic attacks against the person of Morgan Tsvangirai will ever change our minds.
Mugabe and his wife Grace Mugabe are only after their interests. We have suffered and the two continue to enjoy a lavish, opulent, and sybaritic lifestyle that millions of us have been denied. They seek medical attention in Asia while the rest of us are forced to die in unhealthy and filthy circumstances.
I have taken some time to respond to the grubby remarks made by Grace regarding Tsvangirai. Her remarks that Tsvangirai is a philanderer and an ugly man left me with no other choice but to conclude that she must be a psychiatric patient.
She destroyed another woman’s marriage by having two children with that woman’s husband. The woman was dying and no doubt in pain. She loved her husband and would have loved to spend her final moments with her husband by her side.
Mugabe, however, was nowhere to be seen when his wife needed him most. He chose to flirt with his then secretary who also happened to be married to another man! Grace destroyed two marriages.
Grace’s remarks, therefore, are unfortunate especially when considering that they are coming from somebody who isn’t a role model. Instead, they seem to indicate the highest order of political ignorance and naivety.
She is out to please her husband-the tyrannical despot interested only in his own good and wielding power for the sake of satisfying his ego. Her remarks have betrayed her. Not only is Grace a political novice, but she is also long on myopia and short on memory. This I am not saying because I hate her.
I am simply fulfilling my patriotic duties. It is my patriotic duty to bring to the attention of those in power and the general public, and where appropriate challenge ways in which the policies or activities of government, organizations or society create or contribute to structural disadvantage, hardship and suffering, or militate against their relief.
It is because of this that I will not relent in seeking to change social structures which perpetuate inequalities and injustices, and whenever possible working to eliminate all violations of human rights.
You will agree with me, dear readers, that Zimbabwe is a perfect example of patient endurance under suffering. You will also agree with me that Tsvangirai is being called all sorts of names just because he has refused to kowtow to the illegal regime’s wishes.
Those of us who are solidly and concretely behind him aren’t oblivious of the fact that his leadership is capable of moving our nation forward. Nobody is happy with the status quo except of course those profiting from it. Your remarks, Grace, will not separate us from our leader.
We love him even more because he is not a diffident leader.
The problem with your husband, the disgraced dictator, is that he tramples down the weak and helpless. We don’t want a leader who ill-treats the weak and oppresses the poor. Prosperity in Zimbabwe today is limited to the wealthy (ruling elite), and it feeds on injustice and oppression of the poor.
Justice is twisted and people are cheated out of their rights.
The dictator, your husband, hates anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the truth in court. It is your husband’s regime that is responsible for persecuting good people, taking bribes, and preventing the poor from getting justice in the courts.
And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the clever thing to do!
Furthermore, your husband carries out his plans to hurt others. The evil plots he makes are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. He’s always planning something evil and he can hardly wait to do it. He never hesitates to murder innocent people. Everything he does is unjust.
Mugabe follows a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.
These examples will suffice: Gukurahundi (1983-1987); an attempt on Patrick Kombayi’s life (1990); forced eviction of 4 000 families on Churu farm (1993); mari kuma war vets (1997); DRC war (1998-2002); illegal detention and torture of journalists Mark Chavhunduka and Ray Choto (1999); illegal land seizures and political violence that saw at least 150 MDC supporters dead (2000-2002); Murambatsvina (2005).
Need I say more? What about electoral rigging since his defeat in the referendum of the year 2000? What about the violence that followed the harmonised elections of March 29, 2008? More than 500 people lost their lives, 200 000 people were internally displaced, 20 000 homes were destroyed, 10 000 people were injured, and more than 5 000 people went missing.
It is also quite painful to learn that about 4 000 Zimbabweans died of cholera in 2008. And, cholera is a preventable disease. How come we failed to prevent the deaths of our own people who perished during the cholera outbreak? Are Western countries responsible for this?
Is it the independent media? Is it Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change? Ko munoti muri kunatsa here? You have not lost friends and relatives due to political violence but we have ourselves. Imi munochengetwa 24 hours kuState House!
In light of the above, I call, with passion and courage, for justice to “flow like a stream” (Amos 5:24). Tell your husband to make it his aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that we will be perfectly happy. Tell him to hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in Zimbabwe.
Tell Kunonga and Manhanga that “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world” (James 1:27).
Your husband should, without wasting time, remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Tell him to put an end to oppression and to every gesture of contempt.
Last but not by any means least, we want to share food with the hungry and open our homes to the homeless poor. We want to give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and we do not want to refuse to help our own relatives.
If we give food to the hungry and satisfy those in need, then the darkness around us will turn to the brightness of noon. I put it to you.
