VaMunjeke was a mean and evil woman who would throw hot chilli
powder in an innocent child. Many people said she was a witch and I never
doubted it. Whenever she was in real trouble, she was reached for the Bible
quicker than any of those Cowboys would draw their gun! Before anyone could say
anything she ready a verse or two from the Book of Samuel or whatever followed
by two or three more readings from other Books or on the same theme of
forgiveness – her favourite.
When I saw General Constantine Chiwenga, surrounded by most
of the bigwigs in Zimbabwe’s security services sector, giving his 15-minutes
speech; I immediately remember vaMunjeke!
“Let us begin by quoting the Constitution of this country
particularly the preamble which speaks of “Exalting and extolling the
brave men and women who sacrificed their lives during the First and Second
Chimurenga/Umvukela and national liberation struggles and honouring our
forebearers and compatriots who toiled for the progress of our country.” Started
of the General – reaching for the constitution where vaMunjeke would have
reached for the Bible.
“It is with humility and a heavy heart that we come before you
to pronounce the indisputable reality there is instability in ZANU-PF today and
as a result anxiety in the country at large. Zimbabwe’s History is hinged on
the ideals of the revolution dating back to the First Chimurenga where
thousands of people perished. Zanu-PF is the Political Party that waged the
Second Chimurenga for our Independence; the struggle which many Zimbabweans, in
one way or the other, sacrificed and contributed immensely to our liberation.
“Many of these gallant fighters still live-on with the spirited
hope of seeing a prosperous Zimbabwe but also hope of seeing leaving behind
inheritance and legacy for posterity. It is pertinent to restate that the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces remain the major stock holder and when these are
threatened we are obliged to take corrective measures.”
The stench of hypocrisy in breath of the
General was nauseating; I am surprised that no one amongst the gathered
journalists did not throw a shoe at him in true Arab tradition.
“Prosperous Zimbabwe,” what are you wittering about! After 37
years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption Zimbabwe is in total
economic ruins. Even you general must be surely aware of the rot and decay
everywhere, the near collapse of basic service like health and education, the
shortage of clean running water and all too frequent power cuts, etc. From the
comfort of your official car you must have seen the thousands of vendors lining
the streets and eking a living because unemployment has soared to 90%.
How can you talk of a prosperous Zimbabwe when 72.3% of the
population live on US$1.00 or less a day! For Pete’s sake Zimbabweans are the
poorest people in Africa!
Zimbabwe’s economic collapse did not happen in the last 5 years
or last 10 years; it started soon after independence in 1980. The people have
been helpless to do anything to stop the economic rot because Zimbabwe is a de
facto one-party, Zanu PF, cum one-man, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, dictatorship.
For the last 37 years Mugabe has ridden roughshod over the
people’s freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free, fair and
credible elections and even the right to life to create and retain this corrupt,
vote rigging and tyrannical dictatorship.
If the truth be told, and the pitiful situation in Zimbabwe
todays demands that the truth must be said from the roof top, Mugabe would have
never established the dictatorship without you, General Chiwenga, and your
fellow securocrats flanking you today. Zanu PF has murdered over 30 000
innocent Zimbabweans to create the dictatorship and many of you gentlemen did
the killing.
Many, if not all, of the securocrats flanking General Chiwenga
at the press conference have had their share of the absolute power and the
looted wealth that the dictatorship has brought. Whilst the 72.3% of the
population are now living in heart-breaking abject poverty these men and their
family have lived lives of leisure and comfort.
If the truth be told – IT MUST AND WILL BE TOLD – the real
reason why you General Chiwenga, and your fellow security chefs have all agreed
to this threatening press statement is because you are fearful of losing your
position on the feeding trough if President Mugabe was to hand over power to
his wife which is what the tyrant has been pushing for. Your demands makes this
crystal clear.
“We strongly urge the Party (Zanu PF):” demanded General
Chiwenga.
• “To stop reckless utterances by
politicians from the ruling Party denigrating the military which is causing alarm
and despondency within the rank and file.
• The current purging of which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop
• The current purging of which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop
• The known counter revolutionary elements
who have fermented the current instability in the Party must be exposed and
fished out.
• As the Party goes for the Extra-ordinary Congress, members must go with equal opportunity to exercise their democratic rights.”
• As the Party goes for the Extra-ordinary Congress, members must go with equal opportunity to exercise their democratic rights.”
General, how dare you evoke the spirits of the
gallant fighters in the First and Second Chimurenga and of those murdered by
this regime since 1980 whom you dare not mention! These are true heroes and
heroines of Zimbabwe, they believed in freedom, justice, human dignity and
economic prosperity for all Zimbabweans and not just the few ruling elite. They
are turning in their graves to see what you and Mugabe have done to Zimbabwe –
turn it into a den of thieves, vote rigging tricksters, murders and tyrants
riding roughshod over povo and robbing them blind.
If Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi and all those who have died for a
truly free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe had spoken from beyond they would have
made one demand on Mugabe and you General Chiwenga and the rest of the Zanu PF
thugs; “Implement the democratic reforms to make sure next year’s elections are
free, fair and credible!”
For a regime that is always evoking the spirit of the true
Chimurenga freedoms fighters and claim the same liberation zeal for themselves;
delivering free and fair elections should be easy and yet Zanu PF has failed to
hold such elections in 37 years.
General Chiwenga all your four demands above are all about
making sure Mugabe is replace with another dictator of your choosing; you are
not at all interested in restoring povo’s freedoms and basic human rights including
the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and fair share
of its wealth and riches!
General Constantine Chiwenga, you and your fellow security chefs
are 100% correct that “there is instability in ZANU-PF” and that this causing
untold human suffering and death brought by of the economic meltdown following
decades of corrupt and tyrannical rule by this Zanu PF dictatorship. What you
have clearly failed to grasp is that it is not be enough to replace one
dictator with another dictator, with you and your fellow liberation war
veterans wielding the veto as to who that should be. This may be enough to
guarantee you and the ruling elite the luxuries you have enjoyed so far.
What we want is a Zimbabwe in
which everyone’s freedom and human rights and have a fair share of the country
wealth and bounty and not just a few. To recreate that Zimbabwe we must remove
the dictator and dismantle the dictatorship itself and replace it with a
democratic system where everyone has a vote and no one has a veto!
4 comments:
President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were in the trenches fighting to end white colonial rule with all the other freedom fighters; but it is not all who fight in the trench who believe in the common cause. There are soldiers and there are mercenaries, the former believes in the cause the latter does care about the cause all he wants is the reward.
Even before the ink agreeing to the multi-party Lancaster House constitution, was dry Mugabe was already plotting how to undermine it to create his de facto one-party dictatorship the only sure thing to guarantee him and his thugs the absolute power - the reward they were after. It is utter nonsense for General Chiwenga to be talking of defending the values of the revolution when he was part to those who hijacked and corrupted the revolution for their own selfish gain.
The generals were united in their desire to fight for their share of the spoils of the dictatorship, period.
Of course, they do not want the dictatorship itself to be dismantled only to make sure the dictator who take over from President Mugabe is one of their choosing who would be beholden to them for their post and thus more amenable to their incessant demands more loot! President Mugabe has been failing to keep up with the supply of loot given the country’s economic collapse and President Grace Mugabe has already made it clear she will not be interested in the generals and the other war veterans’ whining. She has her own insatiable greed to take care of.
President Grace Mugabe, will purge all these generals, sending them into retirement with promises of generous pensions which will never be paid. In no time, the generals will be swelling the 72.3% now living on US$1.00 or less a day.
No, the people of Zimbabwe must wise up and not fall for the same old trick of thinking Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies, now under pressure from their erstwhile tyrant dictator, are fighting for freedom and human rights for all. These are seasoned mercenaries who cannot be trusted! The people must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms, let Mnangagwa and company that fight if they want.
People must refuse to let Mnangagwa and company add their own selfish rubbish to the reform agenda because before povo realise what is going on the rubbish will displace the reforms!
You are 100% right that what General Chiwenga has done is unconstitutional but ask yourself how many times has Chiwenga, Chihuri and all the other security chefs acted outside the law. It is no secret that these individuals have implemented many of Zanu PF's vote rigging schemes. During elections Army, Police and CIO personal have been deployed in every province with strict instructions to harass, beat, rape and even kill ordinary people for purpose of securing a Zanu PF victory. Was that constitutional?
Indeed, Chiwenga's statement the other day is nothing compared to the many evil things he and others have done for President Mugabe. It is nonsense to accuse someone of killing a chicken but say nothing about the murder he and his gang has just committed!
Tell you what soldier, if you really think that President Mugabe is going to continue with his purge of all those who have kept him in power all these years and still go on to win next year's election then you are very naive indeed. Unlike Mujuru and her lot, Mnangagwa and these security chefs know a lot about Mugabe's vote rigging trickery to allow the tyrant to rig the vote and get away with it! Zanu PF is imploding, that much is clear!
In this Lacoste vs G40 factional war the latter has always been weak and feeble. The day Mugabe dies, it will be punishment plus a move for Lacoste!
Said ANC Sec General, Gwede Mantashe, “the issue is the chief of the army in Zimbabwe made a certain press statement, the government must deal with that matter…not the ZNC in SA, ZANU PF must deal with that issue, because Zimbabwe is not our colony, it is not our province, it is our neighbour; if things go wrong of course we would be concerned…but we have no authority over them, that is the point we are making…”
SA had the opportunity to solve Zimbabwe's political mess during the GNU, SADC was the guarantor of the agreement to implement democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. Whilst it is true that SA did try to get the reforms implemented by pressuring Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC banded mongooses to implement the reforms but failed. Still SA and SADC should have done some serious arm twisting by publicly telling the mongooses to get on with the reforms, for example.
Like it or not the mess in Zimbabwe is not only affecting that country but the whole SADC region too. It is moments like this that SADC leaders wish they had done more to end the Mugabe dictatorship when they had the chance to do so. They failed to hit the metal whilst it was hot and now they are regretting it. This could only be the beginning of the chaos in Zimbabwe, no one knows what is going to happen next much less how and when it is all going to end! Mantashe is right, all SA and the rest of SADC can do now is wring their fingers like a helpless child. How pathetic!
How many times has General Chiwenga and others in security sector top brass said they will not salute someone with no liberation war credential, for example. That was treason but Mugabe praised Chiwenga and others for saying this because it helped his no-regime-change agenda. He is accusing Chiwenga of treason this time because it is undermining the tyrant's plan to impose his wife as the next ruler. This is just typical of Mugabe; moving the goal post to suit himself well anyone with any brain is sick and tired of this nonsense.
Mugabe has rigged elections, murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans, etc. these are more serious charges than this stupid charge he is bring against Chiwenga! The nation is keen to see the tyrant removed from office the more he resist the more he will drag the nation even deeper into this abyss. Every second counts and the risk of the situation getting worse increases. Some one may have to do the only logical thing and shoot the son of a b***!
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