Pastor Evan Mawarire
and his #ThisFlag is like one of those musical tunes with catchy lyrics that
become a sensation overnight. However having raised the public expectation to
such great heights the musician’s follow up release is so mediocre the people
question the merits of everything. In the past the Pastor’s YouTube posting
went viral, not anymore.
Last month he
asked people to show their displeasure with the regime’s 36 years of corrupt
and tyrannical rule by standing up 36 minutes into a cricket match, many people
did even at the risk of being arrested. He asked people to do the same during a
football game and no responded.
Those with good
memory would remember how Tsvangirai too had commanded a lot of public support
earlier on in his political career but failed to amass the same support for his
“Final push!” demonstrations. Mugabe too commanded large crowds at his
rallies in the 1980s; for the last few years he has had to rely on bussing in
supporters or else he would be addressing a handful of people as happened to VP
Mnangagwa’s May rally this year!
Tsvangirai lost
his popularity with the people because he promised them meaningful democratic
change designed to end the Mugabe's corrupt and tyrannical rule but failed to
deliver. Agreed, many Zimbabweans never bothered to understand what these democratic
changes were but when Mugabe went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections,
people knew straight away that MDC had failed to deliver free and fair
elections as promised.
Mugabe promised
the nation freedom, liberty and mass prosperity and it did not take long for the
people long to realize that all he really cared about was "Pamberi naPresident
Robert Mugabe!" He did not hesitate
for one moment to cheat, rig elections and even kill his opponents and innocent
people, he has murdered over 30 000 since independence, in his single minded
determination to hang on to absolute political power at all cost. He has denied
the ordinary people and even his fellow Zanu PF party members a meaningful vote
in the governance of the nation and party.
The people of
Zimbabwe now hate Mugabe with a burning passion because he has denied them the
opportunity to remove him from office for 36 years with the disastrous economic
and political consequence.
Evan Mawarire,
Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe have one thing in common, they each
promised to make the lives of the people of Zimbabwe better but each had no
clue how to do so.
Evan Mawarire
caught the nation’s attention by talking of the people’s daily economic trials
and tribulations in a country with 90% unemployed, etc. at a very personal
level. The next challenge was what he proposed the nation should do about it, it
was then that he fell flat on his face. He proposed that Mugabe should fire corrupt
ministers, for example.
Mugabe has
allowed corruption to grown and spread to the point were a few individuals have
reportedly looted $15 billion of diamond revenue in six years, by Mugabe’s own
admission. He has failed to stop corruption because corruption has become so
rampant and widespread many of his cronies in government including him and his
wife are all guilty. It is therefore very naïve of Mawarire to be calling on
Mugabe to fire corrupt ministers.
The only reason
the people themselves have failed to fire Mugabe is because he rigs elections.
If Mawarire was not so inapt then he would be demanding the implementation of
democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections as the only way
the country can end the present political and economic crisis.
Tsvangirai was on
the political stage long enough to get a very significant public following
before his failure to get even one democratic reform implemented during the GNU
showed him for the breathtakingly incompetence and corruption person he is. Mawarire
was not so lucky, he has not been on the public stage that long and already has
shown he has no clue what he is talking about. Mawarire is like a candle, it
provides the light but snuff it out and there will nothing but darkness.
Tsvangirai is more like a camp-fire, it provided the light and warm whilst the
firewood lasted but once that is burnt out there will be no light and little warmth
from the dying ambers.
Mugabe’s regime too
would have died a long time ago if he had not seized and corrupted the nation’s
democratic institutions such as the Police, ZEC, etc. to ensure they served his
selfish interest instead of the public good. He was lucky too to have corrupt
and incompetent political challengers like Tsvangirai and Mujuru whom he
bribed, bamboozled and brushed aside with ease, on the one hand. On the other hand he had naïve and gullible
party members like the war veterans who readily sold-out on the liberation war values
of freedom and justice for all to help impose his corrupt and tyrannical rule.
Still three and
half decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and brutal political
oppression have destroyed the country’s once vibrant economy; unemployment has
soared to 90% plus, basic services like education and health have all but
collapse, there is no clean running water and power cuts are a daily norm, etc.
The economic meltdown has affecting the ordinary people, millions now live in
abject poverty, and the ruling elite too. Zanu PF is imploding because party
members fight over the fast shrinking national cake.
There is no doubt
that both Tsvangirai and Mugabe are glad to hear that Mawarire and #ThisFlag
were just a flash in the pan; they did not like the competition. Still there is
very little cause for the two to celebrate because the two’s political future remains
grim.
Zimbabwe’s
economic mess has woken up the people to the need for quality leaders ; this
has made it very hard for leaders like Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru with known
track records as being corrupt and
incompetent to make any political headway given Zanu PF pending collapse.
The economic
meltdown has also hardened the people’s resolve to have meaningful democratic
change; the regime is going to face many public protests. The introduction of
the bond notes is certain to cause street protest particularly when the value
of the bond notes should start to fall as many people expect to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment