Until every Zimbabwean is treated with respect and human dignity, especially by those in positions of power and authority, then Zimbabwe will never ever enjoy peace, justice, freedom or realise its full economic potential. After a generation of white oppression and abuse, the nation was we had three decades of more abuse and contemptuous treatment from Mugabe. Sadly Tsvangirai has only paid lip service to human rights; deep down he too he shown he too could not careless about the suffering and death of ordinary Zimbabweans.
In colonial Rhodesia, the whites were the first class citizens; they enjoyed all the human rights and freedoms, had the top jobs, etc. They were THE boss! The coloureds, Chinese, Indians and all the other minority races constituted the second class citizens; they had some rights and they were the boss-boys. The indigenous blacks constitute the third class; had no rights and at work did all the hard and physically demanding, dirty and dangerous jobs for the least remuneration.
Even when blacks had exactly the same qualifications and did exactly the same job as the whites, they where paid a fraction, five times less on average, of what the whites were paid. The white supremacists had a ready answer to that: whites lived in big houses which cost a lot more to build, furnish and run as contrast to the match-box houses blacks lived in. Whites needed a car; blacks walked. White folk had bacon, egg, toast and tea/coffer served in china-cups for breakfast whilst the blacks had maize meal porridge or tea served in a tin cup. The white supremacists would get hot in the collar about unreasonable and “cheeky” blacks.
What was so cheeky about a black person eating bacon! What was so unreasonable about asking for equal pay for equal work? What each individual did with their wage was their own business.
What white racism did was created a situation where blacks had to justify why they had to be treated fairly and accorded the human rights and freedoms the white took for granted.
White racism and bigotry was a lot easier to identify and deal with than the black on black discrimination and oppression. This took various form, for example, it grieved some blacks to have to work under a fellow black, even if the black candidate is better in every respect to the white candidate.
Generations of humiliation and being made to feel blacks are inferior to whites has left some blacks deeply scarred. And so to cope with their inferiority complex some blacks have adopted some bizarre methods of constantly having to “prove” to themselves and the world at large that they are not inferior. And what easier way of doing that then riding roughshod over those considered their inferiors and/or superiors.
Mugabe violent take over of white owned farms in Zimbabwe has to with pure greed as much as it has to do with hunger to be revenged on the whites. The price for his egotistic policies has been the total economic melt down of the Zimbabweans economy with the tragic human suffering. Instead of enhancing his image Mugabe is rightly regarded as a failed ruthless despot.
Mugabe has denied the people of Zimbabwe their basic rights and freedom because he really never believed they were human enough to be worthy of the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by most other human across the world. Last year Mugabe could not have given a more graphic illustration of the contempt with which he held the Zimbabwe people. He vowed that “only God” not the Zimbabwe electorate would force him out of office and adopted some of the most despicable electoral methods the world had ever seen to ensure his wish became a reality. Half a million Zimbabweans were intimidated, beaten, tortured, raped and/or had their property destroyed. Over 400 innocent lives were lost in the most horrific circumstances.
Mugabe failed to accord the Zimbabwean people even the most sacrosanct of all human rights – the right to life. As far as he was concerned Zimbabweans are an inferior people who do not deserve the same right to life as other humans; Zimbabwean lives are a dispensable.
After what Mugabe had done in 2008 no one in their right mind would have agreed to sweep all that aside, pretend it all never happened, and join hands with the dictator to form an inclusive government. No one, that is, except Tsvangirai who also believed that the Zimbabwean people are an inferior people who do not deserve to be treated with respect and human dignity. Whilst he has paid lip service to democracy and human rights when the chips are down; Tsvangirai showed he too has nothing but contempt for the suffering and deaths of Zimbabweans.
Some Zimbabweans are pleased that MDC managed to get food and other goods into the shops and overlook MDC’s graphic failures to bring meaningful change in other areas affecting their lives like employment creation and restoring the rule of law. It is understandable that they would do that; these are a people who have learnt to expect nothing but abuse from their leaders.
The greatest gift Zimbabweans would have really wanted from Tsvangirai is a reaffirmation that they, the people, have a right to a free vote and that the vote counts! All that they have suffered and sacrificed over the years, all the 400 lives lost last years would not have been for nothing.
If Tsvangirai really believes, which he clearly does, that the people of Zimbabwe would value the food in the shops over their desire to be treated with human dignity and respect then he is hopelessly wrong. And, which is more, he will never add up to much as a national leader!
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