The follow is my reply to a comment in The Zimbabwe Times to my last blog.
Nyoka: I presume if Mr Mukori stands as the opposition leader he is prescribing he will solve Zimbabwe’s problems. Its this kind of attitude which puts our country where it is today.
Answer: The political leaders I am advocating would restore the rule of law, ensure there is press freedom, reform the Police and free them to carry out their duty of keeping law and order, etc. These are political reforms that we should not be talking about today thirty years after independence. The only reason why we are still talking about these issues is because none of the current crop of political leaders has the political will to resolve them.
With all due respect it is the defeatist attitude of people like you, Nyoka, who believe that just because Mugabe has not solved these basic issues; no one else can. It is this attitude that has allowed a dictator like Mugabe to do as he pleased and thus dragging the whole nation into this hell hole.
Nyoka -It does not require a PhD to identify that Mugabe would never relinquish power at any cost. Even it meant him wiping out the whole nation he was prepared to do that for the sake of his hold to power.
Answer: Well there goes the defeatist in you “Mugabe would never relinquish power”! And what has been your response to that? For thirty years you have appeased Mugabe by letting him have his way. Mugabe has completed destroyed Zimbabwe; the schools and hospitals have closed, 90% are out of work, life expectancy has dropped from 65 years to 34 years and the dictator has murdered tens of thousands of Zimbabweans to consolidate his hold on power. Mugabe is already “wiping out the whole nation”! What else does Mugabe have to do for you to finally realise that this policy of appeasement is NOT working?
Mugabe is a mere mortal and he is not above the law. It is the people alone who should have the ultimate say on who is to rule Zimbabwe. And that is exactly what fresh elections will reaffirm!
Nyoka: It does not take a wise man to see that the so-called AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned.
Answer: What President Khama is proposing here is the best and only viable option for Zimbabwe. Keep your eye on the ball.
Nyoka: You don’t need to get up from a slumber to note that at least the common individual can access basic commodities and food in shops which had become foreign to Zimbabweans before the GNU.
Answer: There is food in the shops, yes. But it is equally true that Zimbabwe is facing many other serious economic and political problems that the GNU has failed to address ten months after GNU was formed. The problems have remained as intractable as ever. Surely we must search for a solution able to keep the food in the shops and address the other problems too.
We must reject the usual Mugabe nonsense that economic gains would be lost if we asked for political rights as if these are somehow mutually exclusive. They are not and we must demand it all.
Nyoka: You don’t need to be clever to note that Tsvangirai was left with no choice other than to join the GNU when the rest of these so-called African whatevers had vowed to withdraw support for him if he shunned GNU.
Answer: You have said it yourself, above “AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned”. Few people would dispute that and, indeed, Tsvangirai himself has complained about this on numerous occasions. So why is it that Tsvangirai was so easily cowered down by “toothless bulldogs”?
President Ian Khama and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya showed after the June 2008 sham elections that they had broken away from the rest of the toothless bulldogs. Why did Tsvangirai not team up with them? Well President Khama has clearly given Tsvangirai another chance to do the right thing, time will tell whether or not he will take the lifeline this time round.
Nyoka: It only requires one to be open minded and refrain from being bound by the spirit of blame apportionment which characterises most of the writers in diaspora who pontificate and expect other people to put things right for them so they can go back and reap what they did’nt sow.
Answer: Mugabe has denied most of us a meaningful say in the governance of the country because we did not make the same sacrifices he and his fellow Zanu PF leaders made in the liberation war. Using your logic of not allowing people to reap where they did not sow, Mugabe was right. The truth is the right to a democratic vote, the right to life, etc. these are all basic rights that everyone Zimbabweans must claim and enjoy as his or her birth right regardless of whether or not the made any contribution or sacrifice to a national cause. Our failure to make this clear to Mugabe was a very serious dereliction of our duty to fight for our basic rights whenever these are threatened or denied. And the whole nation has paid dearly for this.
We must all now fight for our basic rights and never again be found wanting in this. Those in the Diaspora have a greater opportunity to carry the fight better than the millions in the backwater in Zimbabwe. Please do not let the rural poor down!
People like Nyoka want to see a subservient people and are rummaging for excuses to stifle the open debate that sites like The Zimbabwe Times have afforded. The suggestion that only Zimbabweans still in Zimbabwe must take part is one of the most flimsy put forward; no doubt it will not be the last. We must dismiss this nonsense with the contempt it rightly deserves.
Nyoka: Please come up with ideas but dont blame Tsvangirai he is the messiah who brought food on the table for people in Zimbabwe. There are disadvantages in every move you make. If you observe Newton’s laws of motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So while Tsvangirai wants to solve the country’s problems, on the same breath and strength, Mugabe wants things to get worse.
SO NO BLAME APPORTIONMENT – COME UP WITH CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
Answer: President Khama in this case has come up with what I have already is the best and only viable solution. So why are you calling more “ideas”? You clearly do not agree with the solution and instead of presenting your reasons why the idea is not acceptable, you pretend no solution has been offered.
If Tsvangirai is indeed trying to solve the country’s problems and Mugabe is the one throwing the spanner in the works, as you claim; then holding fresh elections is the best way out. After the election Tsvangirai would have the mandate to implement his own policies without Mugabe ever interfering; problem solved.
ZIMBABWE IS IN THIS HELL-HOLE BECAUSE AS A PEOPLE WE HAVE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE RULED BY FEAR OR TO HOLD BLIND LOYALTY. WE HAVE A SIMPLY CHOICE TO SNAP OUT OF THIS STUPOR OR ELSE STAY IN THE HOLE. PEOPLE LIKE YOU, NYOKA, HAVE SWITCHED YOUR BLIND LOYALTY FROM A DICTATOR TO A BLUNDERING AND INCOMPETENT LEADER AND BELIEVE YOU HAVE MADE A QUANTUM LEAP. HOW PATHETIC! REAL DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IS COMING TO ZIMBABWE WITH OR WITHOUT THE LIKES OF YOU, NYOKA, OR TSVANGIRAI!
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