Today is 27 June 2024. In Zimbabwe’s tenuous political story, June 27 is infamous for the bloody violence in the contrived run-off poll of 27 June 2008 in which Zanu PF used massive violence in its quest to reverse Morgan Tsvangirai’s first round poll victory on the historic election of 29th March the same year.
Since then, June 27 has become a figurative expression of the demon of State-sanctioned violence in the country.
On Sunday, 22 June of the same year, just five days before the blood-soaked run-off poll in 2008, President Morgan Tsvangirai had pulled out of the violent charade, saying he could not sacrifice the people for power.
The democracy icon famously stated that he was a cultured African and would not dare walk to State House on top of dead bodies and graves.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The contrived run-off plebiscite was later dismissed by SADC and the AU as a sham, leading to the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009, which government brought the much-needed fillip to the people of Zimbabwe.
Since that bloody event of June 2008, the month of June has become ominously etched as a blot on Zimbabwe’s national psyche.
As I write, and in line with their violent streak in the month of June, the regime has brutally attacked and needlessly arrested Jameson Timba and 78 innocent youths. They are currently languishing in prison and are due for their delayed bail hearing today.
For almost a decade, both Timba and I worked together as key lieutenants and advisors to both President Morgan Tsvangirai and President Nelson Chamisa.
I know Jameson Zvidzai Timba very well and criminal activity of any sort has never been his vocation.
But this being the month of June, the demon of violence has to grip this regime and it has to mete it out against innocent citizens.
And by the way, dear reader, yesterday, 26 June 2024, marked exactly two years to the day since that portentous Sunday afternoon when we held a public memorial for my late colleague and former workmate, Alex Tawanda Magaisa, at the City Sports Centre in Harare.
Alex succumbed to epidemiological violence in the form of a heart attack in the United Kingdom where he was a law lecturer at the University of Kent.
I was one of the people who were asked to speak at that memorial ceremony. With a bleeding heart, I obliged and glumly and tearfully gave my own testimony to the sorrowful multitude that came to bid him farewell.
Alex was a talented son of Zimbabwe who was so gifted with a purposeful, deep and rich prose of analytical prowess that he served the nation through his weekly column, the Big Saturday Read.
May your dear soul rest in eternal peace, Musaigwa.
But today, I want to remind Zimbabweans of the other dark side of June 27 as a wicked political moment: a historically sordid day that grossly interfered with the high pitched chorus for change in Zimbabwe towards the 2018 elections.
Indeed, in many respects, June 27 is a black day that will go down into the annals of history as a dark patch in the country’s strident march to democracy and freedom.
Today, I republish Morgan Tsvangirai’s 27 June 2016 memo to the people of Zimbabwe. It was an epic public disclosure on a continent where the ailments of national leaders are a top secret.
It was the statement in which he went public for the very first time about his condition with cancer of the colon that eventually felled him.
Of course, it will always remain a matter of conjecture whether this condition was natural or contrived by a regime so adept at getting rid of political opponents.
On my part, I had privately haggled for quite some time with Dr Tsvangirai on when he could make this disclosure to the people of Zimbabwe.
He had told me he would ruminate over the matter before making his decision.
The intricate details on this and his relationship with Mugabe during the era of the inclusive government as well as his fears, hopes and frustrations, including some details which might shock readers, are all contained in my still to be published book, Service and Sacrifice.
Suffice to say on 27 June 2016; while on a medical trip to South Africa, President Tsvangirai called me over the phone to tell me he had finally made a decision to go public on his health condition.
He then asked me to draft a short message on his behalf to the people of this country.
We exchanged drafts over the phone before I finally released the following statement on his behalf that very day.
The disclosure of his medical condition marked a seismic chapter in the country’s history, culminating in the death of Zimbabwe’s democracy icon on 14 February 2018.
The late Tsvangirai braved his ailment. He luke-ed the beast of death right in the retina of the eye until his death.
His diagnosis with cancer of the colon spawned big political decisions, including the appointment of two more Vice Presidents, which decision the regime would later seize to infiltrate and destroy the party through captured State institutions in a desperate bid to decimate the people’s project.
For me, Dr Tsvangirai’s terse June 27 memo, republished below, will always remain a poignant epistle in the momentous story of this country’s democratic struggle.
The memo also adds to the blemish and taint that is carried by the date of June 27 in Zimbabwe’s political story:
President Morgan Tsvangirai speaks on his health
On the 8th of May 2016, my Zimbabwean doctors referred me to South Africa where a further diagnosis revealed that I am suffering from cancer of the colon.
Following the diagnosis last month, I underwent a successful operation in the same month.
However, a diagnosis of cancer is the first of several medical procedures that include treatment through chemotherapy, which treatment I began this week. As a leader and a public figure, I have taken a decision to make public my condition.
It is my firm belief that the health of national leaders, including politicians, should not be a subject of national speculation and uncertainty.
I want to thank my wife Elizabeth for her love and caring, my family, MDC members and the broader Zimbabwean society for their prayers and support on this journey.
This health condition is unfortunate but can be faced by anyone. I intend to confront this development with the determination to overcome it.
In the meantime, let us remain focused in confronting the national crisis we face.
God bless you all.
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai
Conclusion
Dear reader, the only way we can defend and protect Dr Morgan Tsvangirai’s legacy is to remain focussed.
We must continue to fight this corrupt and murderous regime until democracy is achieved in Zimbabwe.
So many have sold out and so many continue to sell out in this inexorable march towards a new Zimbabwe.
But we will certainly get there. And only then can Morgan Tsvangirai , the legend, truly rest in peace.
Rest in power, Pakuru.
Luke Tamborinyoka is a citizen from Domboshava. He is the former spokesperson to the late icon Morgan Tsvangirai. He is a journalist and a political scientist by profession. You can interact with Tamborinyoka on his Facebook page or on the twitter handle @luke_tambo
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