‘Mnangagwa is same head different haircut’

By Alice Majola

Allow me to air my views once again in your trusted paper. When Mugabe was ousted by the army, Zimbabweans were made to believe that the 37 years of brutal repression, torture, abductions, killings, corruption, rape, starvation, living in fear under Zanu PF was over. After only two months we have been shown it is not the case but rather more of the same.

Listening to Mnangagwa from his return from exile where he self-confessed that he fled from Zimbabwe because Zanu was going to do what it knows best to kill him and chuck him in a pool of acid in Bindura or feed him to crocs in Kariba Dam or nearby Lake Chivero. This is the only time Mnangagwa told us the truth about Zanu PF, thousands of exiles here in the UK we fall in the same category because we had to flee to save our lives from Zanu PF because we were for the opposition.

I am very concerned about the record of accomplishment of the new leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was Mugabe’s right-hand man and is blamed for the brutal suppression of political opposition parties during elections in 2008. I say so Just because Mnangagwa has wrestled power from the devil does not mean I see him as the messiah, the man has more blood on his hands.!!!

In his inauguration speech in the Chinese built National Sports Stadium, Mnangagwa did not mention lifting restrictions on freedom of expression, or any measures to weaken the grip of the feared (CIO) the internal security services he helped set up following Zimbabwe’s independence from white-minority rule in 1980.

Mnangagwa was minister of justice when the Journalist cum activist Itai Dzamara who carried out a peaceful protest in Africa Unity Square was abducted and killed by CIOs, and has been accused of involvement in the killings of more than 20,000 civilians in the south of Zimbabwe in the 1980s and recent Murambatsvina.  On his speech he told us that “let bygones be bygones “ Lets us not be fooled the leopard does not change its spots.

We have already witnessed the crackdown on social media by the Mnangagwa.  Human rights activists in Harare say that more than 400 people have been detained since the military took power. These include hundreds of security officials loyal to Mugabe, as well as former finance minister Ignatius Chombo. Only a handful have been charged with any offence.

What we have witnessed in Zimbabwe is non other than Zanu PF in-house fighting for succession but one thing they did not ditch is their principles. Zanu PF is the only political party in Zimbabwe that own the Army , the Police, the Air Force and the prison services.

Listening to Mnangagwa’s speech in Maputo, Mozambique, the man was glorifying Mugabe the man who oppressed us for the past 37 years and went on to further insult Zimbabweans by declaring 24 February Mugabe’s birthday as Zimbabwe’s national holiday.

This was a show of arrogance by the regime, when more than 2 million protesters come out in full force in the streets of Harare to demand that Mugabe goes!!! Surely, if this does not show us that we are still under the same regime wait till elections as they have already dished out 4x 4s to chiefs when chiefs are supposed to be nonpartisan, elections are already rigged in Zimbabwe.

Now Mnangagwa is trying to fool SADC into believing that he is a different man than Mugabe so he can continue to oppress us. He appointed former army General Constantino Chiwenga as his vice president because he helped him to oust Mugabe and G40 cabal and Zimbabweans are made fools to believe that all has changed in Zimbabwe, surely it is the same head with a different haircut.

SADC beware don’t be Fooled!!!

Alice Majola is a Human Rights Activist