The return of Pastor
Mawarire created panic and confusion in the Zanu PF regime, in the opposition
camp and amongst the ordinary Zimbabweans in equal measure!
“If you keep on
defending Mawarire's exodus I think you are very wrong and being selfish,”
commented Brooks. “We have to face the reality that people have lost confidence
in Mawarire because of the time which he left the people. In every struggle, we
need a strong and brave leader who can fight with his/her team to the last drop
not people who run away from a misfiring Peugeot 404.”
Is this call for a “strong
and brave leader” not also the call for the kind of leader who will go on to be
a dictator like Robert Mugabe!
A national struggle should
not have to depend on one or two individuals regardless how courageous and
visionary they happen to be. If that was the case then the true measure of
their visionary qualities is the realization to spread their leadership
qualities to as many others as possible so the struggle does not suffer if they,
for whatever reasons, should have to give up their leadership role.
Pastor Mawarire, many
would agree, gave people the courage to stand-up and demand their basic rights
and freedoms by his example. When he left the country, there was no reason why
the people did not continue and do the same other than the mental blockade
telling them they could not do anything without him.
Tyrants like President
Mugabe have actively cultivated the notion that they are indispensable and re-enforced
this mystic by stifling debate, freedom of expression and free press and
replaced it with a public media who primary purpose is to misinform and brainwash
into believing the tyrant is a genius. The have deepened the mystic even
further by surrounding themselves with some of the naïve and stupid people like
Simon Muzenda and Joice Mujuru whom the tyrant can run rings.
President has stayed
in power all these last 37 years riding on the belief that he is the “strong and
brave leader” Zimbabwe needs. How ironic that we are right now in the middle of
life and death struggle to remove one dictatorship and yet are keen as mustard
to create a new dictator!
“There is also a
legitimate fear that Mawarire is a destabilising influence;” wrote SA
Journalist Simon Allison. “that his presence, and the possibility of him
running for public office, could derail the delicate coalition negotiations
that are currently happening between the major opposition parties. Because his
return to Zimbabwe was shrouded in such secrecy, no one really knows what he
intends to do, or how it will affect them. He is a wild card.”
If these opposition
parties are the true democrats, they claim to be, then there is no cause for
them to fear a democrat in their midst. The frantic coalition forming activity
is an excuse for participating in an election process they know is flawed and
illegitimate. They also know that by participating they will grant the process
a veneer of democratic legitimacy. The only reasons all these opposition
parties are participating in the flawed elections is to win these few seats
Zanu PF has been giving away as bait to the opposition, a reward for
legitimising an otherwise illegitimate process.
Many people have been
calling for the boycott of elections until democratic reforms have been
implemented and the call is gaining traction by the day. Tsvangirai, Mujuru and
all the other opposition leaders who have already said they will participate in
next year’s elections with no reform in place now run the risk of losing all
political credibility is they were forced to capitulate and join the boycott!
Pastor Mawarire has
already admitted he will run for public office in future. He is “a wild card” to
the opposition in not only that he will be competing with some of them but even
more pointedly he may denounce them for contesting in flawed elections knowing
the people will be denied the right to free, fair and credible vote. He will
throw the cat amongst the pigeons, if he did that!
If demands to
implement reform wins the day, it will leave Tsvangirai and co. with a lot of
rotten egg all over their faces but that will be nothing compared to the Zanu
PF members who will have the ticking time-bomb finally explode in their faces.
Zanu PF knows that they will never win free, fair and credible elections.
Never!
Democracy is a system
of government by the people, typically through elected representatives. As
a nation that is still struggling to get rid of a tyrant we should be the one
very wary of the strong, brave and mister-know-it-all! In fact none of our
present leaders have in anyway proven to have an common sense much less be the infallible
leader they claim to be.
If we are serious
about wanting a democratic Zimbabwe then we must first understand what it is
exactly we want, and then have the courage to embrace if we are going to have a
healthy and functional democracy. As things stand, we are in real danger of
removing Mugabe and replacing him with another dictator!
Leaders like Robert
Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Joice Mujuru and all the other recycled rubbish have
already proven beyond that they are corrupt and incompetent and, in some cases,
murderous tyrant. We continue to hang on to these failed leaders like a toddler
hanging to a mother’s dress because we have been brainwashed to believe they
are strong leaders and we will be helpless without them.
9 comments:
"When we began this journey (struggle for a better Zimbabwe) almost two decades ago, we always knew that it would be difficult and challenging, requiring much hard work and sacrifice.
"The good news is that it's not much longer to go now and long-suffering Zimbabweans will soon get the change that they have long wanted. Indeed, victory has never been more certain than it is today.
"I call on all Zimbabweans to remain calm, but vigilant as our collective political and economic pain grows because of Zanu-PF's thuggery and misrule. Our struggle is not in vain and it's definitely not long to go now," the confident Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai has no clue what needs to be done to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but what makes him such a dangerous leader is that he does not listen nor learn from the past.
SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai to implement the democratic reforms during the GNU and he did not listen. As a last minute desperate act, they told him no to contest the 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first, but again he paid no heed.
The advice not to contest the flawed elections is as valid today as it was before the 2013 elections. Tsvangirai is lying to suggest uniting the opposition alone will be enough to counter Zanu PF’s vote rigging shenanigans!
Former USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe described Tsvangirai as a “ "a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment". The Ambassador has been proven right a thousand times and a thousand times again!
The only really question is how many more times will he mislead the nation before the penny finally drops in the collective psycho of Zimbabweans. There is be no regime change next years, of that we can all be certain right now – not without implementing the reforms. Tsvangirai’s promise is regime change is all hot-air!
SA to deport 200 000 Zimbabweans on special permits at the end of this year.
We have seen this coming and have done nothing to get the Zimbabwe economy back on track so these people will have a job back in Zimbabwe. Adding another 200 000 unemployed to our 90% plus will cause untold misery as the 200 000 were supporting at least the same number of people in Zimbabwe directly or indirectly.
You really have been on top of the hill and seen the bigger picture that many of those who have lived all their lives at the bottom of the valley have never seen!
"The biggest damage that Zanu PF inflicted on Zimbabwe is not in our economy but in our brains," you rightly said.
We can rebuild the economy just as Germany or Japan did at the end of the second world war but with a population with mainly brain-dead citizens, that is going to be a real challenge!
President Mugabe did not win the 2013 elections, he rigged the vote and that is a totally different matter. He could not have done it without the active support of Zimbabwe's opposition, MDC had the chance to implement the democratic reforms that would have stopped the vote rigging but failed to get even one reform in place in five years of the GNU.
The opposition's incompetence is a curse the nation must get rid of first in the nation is ever to end the Zanu PF dictatorship! The opposition is now working in cahoots with the dictatorship by participating in elections knowing the vote will be rigged, they are doing so for the sake of the few seats the regime gives away as bait to the opposition!
@ Phiri
Stop talking nonsense, what "real opposition parties" are you blubbering about? Mujuru is Zanu PF in all but name. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sold-out during the GNU and failed to implement even one democratic reform because President Mugabe bribed them to kick reforms into the tall grass!
If you are going to criticise someone make sure you have your fact rights and stop talking of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties as if they are worth the candle!
Pastor Mawarire is a thorn in the backside of opposition leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru who have been blowing the Kudu horn for ever so long but failing to hit the right note. Ever since the last rigged July 2013 elections Tsvangirai has seen his party suffer a stunning defeat, the party break up in half again as happened when Welshman Ncube and others walked out, donors desert him in droves and, to crown it all, many of the Zimbabwe public unimpressed by him and the direction MDC was going.
Joice Mujuru thought she only had to tell the people of Zimbabwe she is sorry about her decades in Zanu PF, she did not stop the corruption and tyrannical oppression because her puppy eyes had not opened. "Puppies do not open their eyes the day they are born," she explained. She thought the public were naive and gullible enough to swallow that nonsense, no dog takes 34 years to open its eyes.
She thought the nation will welcome her with open arms like the returning prodigal daughter. Instead the nation rejected her because they saw in her the same corrupt and incompetent individual of yesteryears whose repentance was as insincere as it was deceitful. She and her ZimPF friends were promising the public the moon on a silver platter just as Zanu PF did soon after independence because they were desperate to get back on the gravy train. Once in power it will be business as usual and again deliver hell-on-earth just as Zanu PF has done.
Mujuru and her ZimPF are Zanu PF is all but name.
Then along comes Pastor Evans Mawarire with his #ThisFlag campaign and he hit the high note that resonates with the public. Tsvangirai tried a copy-cat with #Tanjamuka, it achieved one of the harmonics but not quite the same high note. Of course, Tsvangirai and Mujuru are bound to be very jealous of the Pastor.
But I agree with you, what will make Mawarire a cut above all the other activists, NGO, GONGO, etc., etc. is if he can show the world that he is capable of independent and logical thinking. Whereas all the other activists have all subscribe to either Zanu PF or opposition ideology cheering and applauding their respective side regardless how nauseatingly stupid the actions of the leaders happen to be.
The failure by civic society leaders to see opposition leaders like Tsvangirai and Mujuru for the corrupt and incompetent individuals they are and thus encourage the populous to search for quality leaders is one of the most unforgivable acts of betrayal in the country.
If Pastor Mawarire can show that he is capable of thinking for himself and will not follow sheepishly the lead of failed leaders like Tsvangirai and Mujuru especially on such issues as contesting flawed elections, then he will be fresh start the country has been waiting for. So far he has resisted the temptation of running to the opposition parties for endorsement of his work, which other activists have done; a good sign. Now we will have to wait and see whether he is indeed capable of thinking for himself!
The big issue in Zimbabwe today is the need to hold FREE, FAIR AND CREDIBLE ELECTIONS. Indeed this has been the big issue in the 2013 elections, during the GNU and going all the way back to the early 1980s when it was clear that Mugabe was dead set on imposing his one-party cum one-man dictatorship.
Even the corrupt and incompetent Tsvangirai has accepted the need for democratic reforms leading to free and fair elections which is why he latched on the name MDC - movement for democratic change. He did not understand what these democratic changes should be or how they would be implemented which is why not even one reform was implemented when he had the opportunity to do so but that is a different matter. He appreciated there was need for change - given he is a simpleton, this was a giant step for him.
Even the corrupt and incompetent Joice Mujuru has too accepted that there is need for democratic change and hence the reason Zimbabwe PF has subscribed to the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) together with 17 other opposition parties including MDC-T. Didymus Mutasa is the party's man on the grouping. ZimPF people understand even less what the reforms are and how they should be implemented. If Mujuru was ever to get into power she never implement any reforms, she will be busy adopting the present system so it works for her and her party.
The real acid test for Mawarire is whether he is smart enough to understand the need to reform our autocratic and vote rigging system. The next question will then be to ascertain at what level he is coming in - at the Tsvangirai superficial level or the more advance level of knowing what the reforms are and how the are to be implemented. The university level, would be understanding that there is nothing of substance to be accomplished by contesting in flawed elections.
From the opposition camp only former Senator David Coltart has so far shown he has grasped democratic reform at the university level as he confirmed in his book.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” explained Senator Coltart.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
It is a pity that the penny on reform did not drop much sooner in Coltart’s head, during the GNU so he could have forced his fellow MDC members to implement the reforms. What was worse is the he did not have the political spine to do the obvious thing himself and boycott the 2013 elections!
What kind of a “wild card” Mawarire turns out to be will depend on how well he understands the big issue of democratic reforms and free and fair elections; depend on his level of understanding of reforms, from Tsvangirai’s superficial level right up to the boycott the elections - university level?
Like in every other field of human endeavour there are the few smart ones on one extreme, followed by the bell-mass of the average and mediocre and then the real stupid ones forming the tail. There is no doubt that armchair political analysts and critics will have its own distribution curve. You are a political analyst yourself Gandanga and from what you say one can tell where about in the distribution curve to place you.
“That is the tragedy we have in Zimbabwe where cowards run away and start shouting on top of their voices from safe heavens in Europe. Come back to Zimbabwe and challenge zanu pf in broad daylight like Tsvangirai or shutup,” you say.
This argument that only Zimbabweans who in the country are the only one who are not cowards, have the right to shout on top of their voices and, most important of all, are changing things on the ground is; does not have even a shred of evidence to support, is illogical and downright stupid. Let us assume for the sake of argument that only Zimbabweans in the country are courageous what evidence is there to support the theory that the minute they cross the invisible line constituting the border they suddenly become cowards?
Only a real idiot would still be singing Tsvangirai’s praise as one who “challenges Zanu PF in broad daylight”. The people of Zimbabwe risked life and limp, over 500 died in 2008 alone, to elect Tsvangirai and his MDC friend into power on the promise they will bring about democratic change. They had the golden opportunity to deliver that change during the GNU but failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
Tsvangirai is just a corrupt and incompetent leader who sold-out during the GNU and will never bring about the democratic changes we are dying for. Never! And all those who continue to follow him do so out of ignorance and folly.
You may consider yourself a political analyst, Gandanga, but what must know is you are just one stupid analysts masquerading as one of the smart ones. A mouse and lion are both animals but no amount of grandstanding and chest drumming will make a mouse a lion. You Gandanga, from your foul language, you are not even a field mouse but a filthy sewer rat!
@ Sarah
The job of making sure there are free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe so the country can finally get out of the death trap Zanu PF has landed the nation is the single most important job I have ever done in my whole life. My only wish is that more Zimbabweans saw the matter in the same light because we will be assured of victory then.
You and your regular job, whatever it is, will change nothing as long as at the end of the day Zanu PF is allowed to rig elections and stay in power. It is this Boxer, the horse, mentality of "I will work harder!" when what is called for is working smarter.
Fighting Zanu PF should not mean turning a blind eye to the reality that people like Tsvangirai are corrupt and incompetent and sold-out during the GNU.
If you set out to water the garden and after hours of hard work you realize you have made little progress it makes sense to posse and investigate why. If you discover you have a leaking bucket, then fix the bucket instead of carrying on regardless like a fool!
As to setting the limits of buffoonery, I will leave that one in your hands seeing you are one yourself!
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