By Sibanengi Dube
We are now being made to believe that the detained Flag Protest leader, Evan Mawarire is a CIO project called Operation Decipher. Alarmists claim that if he was a genuine activist he wouldn’t have come back knowing very well that he would be arrested.
Arrested for what?
The pastor never committed any crime and has nothing to run away from. This is precisely the reason why he came back without seeking protection from anyone. The vague charges that were eventually leveled against him are a clear testimony of how innocent the man is.
Why was Mawarire never beaten up?
Not even a single slap was administered on his face, so they eloquently grumble. This is what others are complaining about on social media. We have become such a warped society that uses brutality as a measure of legitimacy. The biggest damage that Zanu PF inflicted on Zimbabwe is not in our economy but in our brains.
Our thinking is now completely perverted. We now see everything through Zanu PF lenses. We can’t be a society that normalizes the abnormal. Why should Mawarire be beaten up while in detention?
I am interested in the people’s interest in violence. Can we imagine that we have now elevated violence to a yard stick of normalcy? Persecution is now viewed as a certificate of authenticity. It is now an insignia of honour to be beaten up by Zanu PF agents.
Each time a Zimbabwe activist opens his/her mouth, the first thing the audience will know is how Zanu PF battered him/her to near death. Is this because Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa, Madhuku, Grace Kwinjeh, Dzamara and Ishmael Kauzani were beaten before?
Former Deputy Prime Minister Authur Mtambara faced the same dilemma when he was arrested alongside Tsvangirai and Madhuku. He was never beaten as others were being sjamboked at Highfield Police Station. I am told he requested to be beaten up as well in order to raise his legitimacy bar. He was denied that treat. Questions of his authenticity came to the fore when he was released without even a nail scratch.
Some even went to the extent of saying Mawarire should have been treated like Itai Dzamara if he was unadulterated. Some are crying foul at the top of their voices over the selfies and videos which the pastor shot while in handcuffs.
I doubt if there is anything illegal about that. Which law forbids that? Some complain that he was still putting on his shoes while at the police station. There is no law that gives the state the right to strip suspects naked.
The kind of treatment which the Pastor is getting from the opposition sector is now tempting others to believe that the kind of mass support that he commands is making some people uncomfortable. Vatorerwa bhanzi pamuromo.
The lime light is gone; they have now turned their back on Zanu PF to focus on a man who is fighting the same war with them. Why would Zanu PF government sponsor a project that shook its foundation to the core?
These MDC fellows are unknowingly pushing the CIO agenda by discrediting Mawarire. Why would the intelligence services create a movement which would shut down the country and have the president in panic?
Jealousy makes people insecure and envy makes them malicious.