"What do we do? We take to the
streets, we have to find our collective voice, and it's not just about the 31st
of July. I think that's what I need to emphasise that's just about one day, so
it's not as if once the 31st of July comes and goes, we sort of forget about
the need to stand up and speak out against the government. There is no magic
around that day. There is need to unite. Speaking out against the government
has to be a continuous obligation on each citizen," MDC Alliance
spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere said.
"We have to form a broad church, nobody is safe whether it's MDC Alliance MPs, church leaders, teachers, nurses, civic society, business, they are coming for everybody. So it's time for us to all come together and say Zanu-PF must go because the system has declared war on everybody, on all of us, so we have to find our collective voice.
"We have to form a broad church, nobody is safe whether it's MDC Alliance MPs, church leaders, teachers, nurses, civic society, business, they are coming for everybody. So it's time for us to all come together and say Zanu-PF must go because the system has declared war on everybody, on all of us, so we have to find our collective voice.
"Regardless of the fact that we
are hungry and the cost of living is escalating and we cannot afford public
health, people should be allowed to come out on the 31st of July regardless of
who is organising it and they should be able to do that on any other day.
People have the right to do that peacefully, socially distanced you know, even
if it's during the time of COVID-19 people should be allowed to express themselves.
There is no law on earth which says during a pandemic people cannot protest."
I will NOT be attending
the street protests and am arguing every thinking person out there to do the
same. Here are my three reasons for staying away:
1)
Mahere and all the other protest organisers keep talking of the
protest being “peaceful and everyone adhering to the socially distancing”. They
all know this is all wishful thinking.
We all know
that there is a lot of bottled up anger and frustration against the Zanu PF
regime and a many of the people who will be joining the protest are itching to
vent their anger and frustration. So, if the protests are ever going to be
peaceful then there will have to be lots and lots of marshals to keep the
peace. I have not heard anything from the organisers to convince me they have
done anything to ensure the protests are peaceful.
Zanu PF has
its security agents armed to the teeth to stop the street protests under the
pretext of keeping law and order and the covid-19 lockdown regulation. No doubt,
the regime will have its double agents, agent provocateurs, to initiate the
violence.
2)
It is rich for MDC Alliance and the rest of Zimbabwe’s corrupt and
incompetent opposition to argue Zimbabweans to “find our collective voice” by joining
the street protest when they are the ones who sold our democratic vote and voice
by participating in flawed and illegal elections. These opposition politicians
know that by participating in the elections they will give the process
credibility and, by extension, the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy.
Whatever
happens, we can be 100% certain that Mahere, Chamisa and the rest of opposition
politicians will participate in the 2023 elections even if not even one reform
is implemented for the same reason they participated in the past elections – greed,
to win the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. We, the people,
must now be smart to Zimbabwe’s corrupt opposition are running with the hare
and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds.
3)
The only one thing that will induce me to join the violent street
protest is if that if the only way to get the democratic reforms, the
prerequisite for free, fair and credible elections, finally implemented. Of
course, it is nonsense to argue that violent street protests is the only way
left to end the Zanu PF dictatorship it is the opposition who failed to
implement the reforms and are the ones participating in flawed elections.
3 comments:
Sikhala said he explained to them that he is trying his best to fight for them, and they must please assist him as well.
"I hope we will all stand up on the 31st of July 2020, to put our things correct. Zimbabweans are suffering. Just imagine someone living in the USA, UK, Canada, South Africa will be demonstrating at the Zimbabwe Embassy, the majority of them who are pillars of support to family and friends back home. It is because they feel for us the oppressed. They have tested democracy and happiness but we allow fear to reign upon us. I cast out the demon of fear among us Zimbabweans. Out the demon of fear. Let us all speak on the 31st of July. No one should be stopped from expressing our feelings on the State of affairs in our country," he said.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because of 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule. But there is no denying that in those 40 years the country has had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and wasted them all. MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU and they failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
MDC leaders including Job Sikhala were warned of the sheer futility of participating in the flawed elections and they would not listen because they were after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF was offering as bait.
Of course, it is insulting to hear MP Sikhala pontificating endlessly about selfish leaders when he is one of them. MDC has sold-out repeatedly and it is not clear they have moved the goal post from fighting for free, fair and credible elections to fighting for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away and we, the people, are now encourage to join the street protests and forget free elections.
Zimbabweans must wake-up to the political reality that they will only get meaningful change and good governance by insisting on democratic reforms and free and fair elections. Street protests are not a substitute for free elections. Idiots like Sikhala wants us to have a street voice but are the ones denying us a democratic vote for selfish reasons!
What Thomas Mapfumo must explain to me is why he has put so much faith in the street protest as the vehicle for change when he has, seemingly, not done so in the ballot box.
What Zanu-PF fails to get is today they are in power, but tomorrow they may become opposition. So the key is to enact laws that benefit citizens regardless of political affiliation.
With corruption having become endemic in this country, government's stance in dealing with graft either with kid gloves or in a manner that serves parochial political interests is also reflected in how the Bill fails to guarantee the protection of whistle-blowers.
Quite clearly, corruption is likely to continue unabated as the Bill's provisions show a lack of appetite to protect those who expose corruption.
Zanu PF has sunk beyond the point of no return, if the regime was to lose power most of its leaders know they will either be dead or will be going to prison. With their track record they will be very lucky to get away with having some of their looted wealth taken away and be allowed to go free. Going back into politic will be asking too much of the long-suffering Zimbabweans, not if there was meaningful democratic change!
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