via We will never be free under Zanu PF – NewsDay November 19, 2015
THE Zimbabwe we want is a country characterised by the total and non-negotiable freedom of every citizen, be they black or white, unhindered by any political party that might happen to be in government.
Quest Column,Vince Musewe
It is my contention here that, just like there was never total freedom of the black man under Ian Smith, so will we never be totally free under a Zanu PF government. We will only be free when we demand it and we will only demand it when we decide that enough is enough and that we are not Zimbabweans by some favour of Zanu PF or does Zimbabwe belong to Zanu PF.
It was Eric Arthur Blair (famously known as George Orwell and author of the books Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four), who once said “All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.”
Zanu PF will only see a future that coincides with their wishes, which are not necessarily aligned to ours. We must, therefore, stop kidding ourselves that they will be the creators of a new Zimbabwe we want.
The most grossly obvious facts, which are unwelcome, are that the social and economic system created by Zanu PF over the last 35 years is not working and will never work. This is simply because it is not based on total economic and political freedom.
In fact, the disappearance of Itai Dzamara, who is still unaccounted for to this date, is proof to us that we are not free in our own country. Zanu PF is not based on freedom but on oppressionof the will of the masses.This is regardless of the so called constitutional changes and the suggested political reforms we seek.They continue to carry on as if they own us, as if we are idiots who know nothing but being slaves to their whims. That is exactly how the colonialist treated the black man until we refused to be treated so. We must also refuse to be treated so by Zanu PF.
I continue to attend many debates on what is necessary for fundamental change in Zimbabwe. I am always amazed at the half-hearted measured attempts by some amongst us to try and ignore the political crisis and explain our situation away, as if there is some normality within it.That is a shame.
It is not normal for us to have to ask for permission from a partisan police to be free to associate and speak our minds as we wish in our own country. It is not normal for us to pay our taxes while they are used against us and we do nothing about it. It is not normal for us to seek peaceful change in our own country and still get arrested and maimed.
It definitely is not normal for a country blessed with so much and yet its people are poor or have to go to other countries to make a living. It is abnormal for thousands of our citizens to still wake up and go to work and not get paid and be threatened when they ask for what is due to them.
The most grossly obvious fact that is being ignored because it is unwelcome is that, Zanu PF no longer represents the aspirations of hopes of millions of Zimbabweans as was the case during the armed struggle and in 1980. This organisation no longer deserves our faith and trust to create the Zimbabwe imagined not only by us young progressive Zimbabweans, but by thousands who perished during the struggle, while those who were lucky to survive must watch in disgust.
The reality is that, no amount of money poured into this system, as created by Zanu PF, will result in any progressive development until we have a new political leadership.
I find it ridiculous and preposterous for anyone of us, and this includes those within Zanu PF, to stand up and claim that we are not responsible for creating the circumstances that we are now facing in our country. I find it shameful that anyone can wake up in the morning and go to work to defend an oppressive system, which is worse than the colonialists.
Zimbabweans actually hate themselves so much and have a low self-esteem, that they are now complicit in their own abuse, which is meted out to them daily by the police and politicians who are pretending that we live in a normal society. How can a sane man wake up to go to work to merely throw spikes at kombis or to chase vendors from the streets? How can a sane man or woman wake up each morning to put up roadblocks to extort money from drivers and we all accept that as normal?
I find it utterly preposterous that some of our youths would put their lives in harms way to defend the very system, which has repeatedly shown them that they have no rights or dignity in their own country.
Yes we will never be free under Zanu PF because we have allowed them to abuse us. We have allowed them to oppress us just as the white man did under colonialism, if not worse.
We, therefore, have nobody to blame but ourselves. Change will only come to Zimbabwe when we accept the responsibility to make the change we want to see happen. It will not come from the oppressor.
●Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com
COMMENTS
All light skinned people i.e. whites, coloureds, asians and matabeles should leave Zimbabwe asap citizenship holds no value. Chaos and mayhem are on the way.
zanu is the most racist, tribalist and evil terror group on the planet.
You are wrong. They are just a bunch of monkeys with inflated egos and a warped sense of self importance. If Zimbos were really serious, it would not take much to send them scampering to the hills. Look, the fools don’t even realize you must plant maize before you can steal them!
From a SMITH to BLACKSMITH!!!@
Nobody is ever free ‘under’ someone else.In fact those in power or striving for it should be put under the majority,so that they are not free to do what they like, if not happy with that then choose another job ,just like everybody else.
@Tjingababili, they were twin brothers, such cases happen ,although very rare from time to time in the USA and UK. Only problem is we are are not sure which parent was black and which one white. we are working on it, but it is very hard to get DNA samples from them.
The article is a good one but with a few errors. Had Southern Rhodesia followed a path of transition to black rule as wanted by the Colonial regime at the time our destinies would have been much different today. It appears that our pig headedness and that includes all races and a Zimbabwean trait is what is making us fail.
We need to sit down and decide what is it that we want. Personally I do not care who leads us as long as they have Zimbabwe at heart first . It would be nice to see all enemies, past and present shake hands and say “Let us start afresh and build the country we all love to be the best there is for all Zimbabweans”. This may be a pipe dream but if countries like Vietnam can do it why can’t we. After all we are supposed to be the most ‘educated’ people in Africa.
Freedom came to one person and his inner circle of friends in 1980 and for the rest of the population they have to wait for freedom to come maybe one day.
This one person Mugabe thinks we should be grateful that he is in power and that there is ‘majority rule’.
But what truly happened is that we replaced one white minority rule with a black minority rule that is depended on rigging, manipulation and intimidation to hang onto power. The thing is that the current regime is much more brutal, corrupt, arrogant and abusive.
Yes, we have taken some of the abuse as normal. Look at the example of the local markets being closed in Mbare just because a member of Mugabe’s family is having a meeting in the area. Why do we accept that as normal? We need to fight our corner and refuse to be silently moved like furniture.
This is not the first time it has happened and certainly not the last because it will happen again with nobody questioning it.
This is just one example, there is rampant abuse in many other areas which we have come to silently accept as normal when that is as far from the truth as it can go.
Tino yes you are spot on and we simply sit and applaud a corrupt egotistical maniacal no good regime as if they are heroes. Heroes of whom . The late great Nelson Mandela showed them all what it is all about but unfortunately all our leaders have no heart nor soul to change anything but how much they can swindle from a silent ‘majority’.
the question to be asked is: how can change take place?
in zimbabwe, we answer: through the ballot box.
yet the entire mechanics of elections is totally politicised.
there is no electronic voters roll.
id numbers and the related information are kept as state secrets by the registrar generals office.
opposition parties are busy with their own internal conflicts and are not in the least bit focussed on electoral mechanics.
so when 2018 comes, the electoral playing field will still be completely slanted for a zanu pf victory.
the opposition parties will either boycott the elections, preserving some sense of dignity, or go into the elections and get massacred by a combination of violence intimidation and rigging.
and as Vince Musewe says: zanu pf is not at all tired of ruling, nor does it see any need to change the way it rules.
does this mean that we will never be free?
ask a north korean: how long can oppression last?
We need more Vince Musewes as a start. Most of us suffer from hopelessness and FEAR. In most discussions and articles we are articulate on how and why our situation is so bad. We hardily discuss how we should get out of it. Explaining how painful your tooth is and how it got rotten is fine but you will still have a bad tooth! The solution is to remove it, and that is PAINFUL. Getting rid of this abomination masquerading as a government is no different. The ballot box is the answer. Yes they will rig, intimidate and kill but if we have the resolve and the numbers THEY WILL LOSE. Hoping that they will ‘see the light’ is an exercise in futility – they have demonstrated enough how deaf and blind they are to simple reason.
How do we achieve our goal? Between now and 2018 let us be OPEN and HONEST with ourselves and discuss freely wherever we get the opportunity – we do not need a rally. Three people in a car making a pact to vote against the oppressors is a good start. Yes on of them could be a CIO but then even Saul became a convert! In our discussions let’s acknowledge, as Vince aptly argues, that we are complicit in our downfall and therefore must be the architects of the solution. Let’s resolve to get out of the quagmire. For the elections, let’s identify the “servants” who have the highest chance to make our goal a reality. This is not a football match, it is a war. And in war you send to battle those most equipped to win, not those that you like the most. As Gideon selected three hundred from ten thousand so we can select two from a hundred. Our situation demands that we park sentiment aside.
This is a fight to the death, no holds barred. Let’s use every tool at our disposal, the press, the SMS, the internet, the mouth and THE BRAIN. Let’s reach every person who can make the change happen the rich, the poor; rural, urban and the diaspora community. Lastly, let us confront our greatest enemies – FEAR & SELFISHNESS. It is only in the common good that our individual interests will thrive. But our new found boldness need not be recklessness for we need every vote come 2018. Every one who can vote MUST vote. We owe it to our children and grand children to change this situation for the better. It’s now or never.
Good suggestions @Rewayi. Zanu PF has never been weaker and so we if we vote in our numbers we will make rigging impossible esp as Zanu will not be as united as before. If we fluff this chance then we have but ourselves to blame.
Vince you are correct totally.
However you know the plans laid by this corrupt government are very good and could well work, IF ONLY, Yes IF ONLY they would Walk the Walk, just talking the talk, well we can all do that.
WALK THE WALK thats what we need, all very well for Grace to say government must build the new homes GREAT but who has the courage to stop wanton spending and put the money where it should go.
Talk the Talk but also Walk the Walk, put your money where your mouth is step back and see where you are and where the people are, its a long way down.
YOU ARE VERY RIGHT IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. THIS COUNTRY NEEEDS A NEW REVOLUTION. UNFORTUNATELY HOWEVER THIS REALISATION WILL COME TOO LATE AS ALL OF (US) ZIMBABWEANS ARE COWARDS TO THE CORE. WE GET BRAINWASHED, KICKED IN THE TEETH, PATRONISED AND ABUSED BY A SMALL GROUP THAT CLAIMS THE OWNERSHIP TO OUT FREEDOM AND CONTINUE TO SMILE TO OUR GRAVE YARDS IN THE NAME OF WHAT?
Good article indeed.
I must say lam impressed that we have brothers like Vince being so candid about how Zanu is the rot.I just wish the youth of Zimbabwe could unite and step up to these people and rid the country of the rot.It doesnt help if you have a gold claim valued at 50 billion if you dont have the funds to mine it.We really should stand up to them