Why the fires of protest lit last week are already burning out as public lose interest.

Many people saw last week’s the country wide protests as the beginning of a revolution that will not stop until Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are finally driven out of their offices. These people’s disappointment with the poor response to calls for a follow-up protest yesterday and today 14 July 2016 is palpable.

 “After years of complaining about bad governance, corruption, a decaying economy and general joblessness, it seems some people are so inebriated in their misery that they cannot do anything to lift themselves out of this mess,” wrote Newsday Comment.

“The leakiest excuse for some people was that if they stayed away from work they would miss out on the crumbs they get on a daily basis, a somewhat flawed and worrying logic.”

Come to think of it there is a logic in why the Zimbabwean people are already tired of the protests before they have accomplished anything; they are weary of taking part is revolutions that deliver nothing in the end.

“The mass actions that have been called recently are not about spearheading some selfish political agenda, but are about Zimbabweans demanding an end to corruption, finding solutions to the economic malaise and about guaranteeing a future for this and the next generations,” argued the Newsday comment.

 Everyone can see the common cause now just as we all did before independence or in 2008 when millions risked life and limp to vote for Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. It is what happened after the white colonialists were driven out of power that concerns the people because Mugabe and his cronies took power and instituted a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime denying the people the freedom and human rights they are dreamt of.

MDC was elected on the promise they would delivery democratic change, the party had five years in the GNU and still failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!

It is all very well to say people should come out and demand an end to corruption, etc.; what is there to assure them they are not being taken for a ride again as happened in 1980, 2008 and on countless other occasions? Nothing!

What the people out there should understand is that they have been their own worst enemy and no one. Back in 1980 they failed to understand that it is the duty of the people to elect a competent government and to hold it to account at all times. Mugabe denied their freedoms, rights and human dignity and granted himself dictatorial powers to do as he pleased. It was the people’s duty and responsibility to stop him and they did not.

When it was clear that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were wasting GNU time when they should have been implementing the reforms; the people should have cracked the whip, they did not.

It is true that the people had no clue what their powers and duties are in a healthy and functional democracy; they still have no clue what these are to this day. It is equally true that the people did nothing to get Tsvangirai to implement the democratic reforms because they had no clue what these reforms were back then during the GNU.

The disastrous reality of the rigged July 2013 elections should have spurred the people to find out what these reforms are about by now, one would think. Sadly most people still have no clue what the democratic reforms agreed with SADC in 2008 to ensure free and fair elections are about.

The country has exactly two more years to the next elections and not even one democratic reform has been implemented. Not one! So it is almost certain Zanu PF will once again blatantly rig the next elections.

It is all very well for people to go out on the streets demanding an end to corruption, “We want our $15 billion back!” read one poster, etc. but as long as Zanu PF remains in power and not accountable to the electorate through free, fair and credible elections then corruption, looting, etc. will continue.

Understanding what the democratic reforms required are demands a bit of effort on the part of the voter nothing more because they are after all common sense and not rocket science!   

“French philosopher, Joseph-Marie comte de Maistre famously remarked that every nation gets the government it deserves, quite an apt statement to describe Zimbabwe,” wrote the Newsday commentator.

 Well Monsieur Joseph-Marie comte de Maistre was right there, we have this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Mugabe government complete with its coterie of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties and deserve nothing better.

Until the people understand their role in a healthy and functional democracy is to understand the big issues of the day, only those who do understand the issues will cast a meaningful vote and hold those in power to account; there is very little point in their taking part in street protests and expect change in their lot. Those who are calling on the masses to join in the street protest would do better and explain why this would not be yet another futile waste of time as happened so many times in the past!