Mupostori, The ZANU PF Councilor
A man has a right to live, a right to choose when faced with two paths to trample on and a right to believe in what has been presented to him. No man has the right to take that right away from another man. It does not matter if they are of the same nationality, color, and race. Today, the black man is doing to another black man what the now repented white man did years ago. It's a pity to see how history has taken its course in regard to African leaders. What they fought against is what they have become, and what they fought against is now fighting on behalf of their subjects.
African leaders freed their people from colonialism but now they are snatching the same rights they fought to gain for the people they fought for from the same people they fought for. (Kudos to you if you understood that one) Surprisingly, the white man has become the voice for the oppressed black masses, fighting for those who are not their own. A perfect example is that of Rhodesia, the southern African country now called Zimbabwe. ZANU-PF, a political party whose leaders fought for the Zimbabwe's independence from Britain's rebellious Ian Smith's regime, has become its own voice and has suppressed the population's voices. Britain and the West have become the voice for the ordinary Zimbabweans. Amongst ZANU-PF's lowly ranks is a man called "Mupostori", a ZANU-PF councilor, bold and hard headed
For us to be in the same page, picture this in your extraordinary motion picture coordinated mind, it is an event that was turned into a mere memory by hopes of a brighter future and was buried by the forgiving hands of time, but is now resurrecting, defying the legacy of utmost reconciliation and the laws of a loving universe--
-- a man barking like a dog, there is a fresh wound on his fore head, blood was coming out of the wound but now the blood has dried up forming a nasty deformation to the man's face. The man is wearing a MDC logo carrying t-shirt that has been ripped apart. He is jumping up and down like the lady in the movie "Coming to America". Next to him, there is a woman with three kids, two teenage girls and a young boy. They are all shading tears, except for the boy; he is watching his father, his hero, his shield and amour, acting like a clown. The son can't understand what is happening. Surrounding this trial and tribulation affiliated family, is a crowd of young men, ZANU-PF youth militants, uneducated, foolish, brutal and intimidating, carrying sticks and machetes, having the time of their life; Hollywood (the barking man) has been brought to their now much community feared soccer play ground, a playground that lays besides a dried forgotten river. The machetes they are carrying are stained with the dried blood of those whose life they took or those whom they handicapped or violated one way or the other. Their smiles are brighter than Eddie Murphy's smile when he found out that the love of his life was the one hidden in the wedding gown with her majestic face hiding under the veil--
--In the foolish youths' midst, there is a big man with a big saggy stomach, a shaved head and a big bead; The ZANU-PF councilor. The villagers call him "Mupostori" because of his religion. A young man is sheltering him from the sun with an umbrella which has Robert Mugabe's picture on it and some youths are chanting praises to him. He too has a smile but no one knows if it is a result of the entertainment being provided by the barking clown or one that is born of gratification from the barking man's turmoil satisfying his hatred for the man who in the past refused to kiss the councilor's behind like what the cheering young men are doing. Now, imagine if you are that man, imagine you knowing that what is happening is just the beginning, the men that are tormenting you are just warming up. Such are the memories of those that have been near the ZANU-PF councilor, those that have come across his scent. Such, are also the memories of two old men, Sekuru Dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimhera.
"It's not the councilor, but what he represents" I still remember the few but true gratifying words. They were sincere and pleasing, endowed in a deep Shona ascent. They were part of a conversation between two fearless old men who were playing tsoro at 4th, the bus station in Harare, Zimbabwe that houses minibuses. It is just a few blocks from the much feared Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization (CIO)'s main offices. Tsoro is a game well known in many African nations. It is best known to the rest of the world as checkers. Much strategy, skill and perhaps foul play is needed. In Sekuru Dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimera's case, foul play was impossible for the two old man were surrounded by a large crowd; mothers with children on their backs, pretty women off to meet their sugar daddies, men coming from work, some coming from looking for work, school children in their uniforms, wanderers, and the notorious mouth running minibus conductors. The crowd was as silent as a learning and curious crowd can be, watching the two legendary elephants as they battled with bottle caps on the board, one that had been made by cutting off one side from a khakhi cardboard box. There were only 6 bottle tops left for each one of the old men, arranged strategically and dangerously. In a way, the game too represented what Sekuru Dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimera were talking about, what the ZANU-PF councilor represents, Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and anyone associated with it. This may also include China depending on how it is seen
As if it was just the two of them, the old men spoke about the evil ZANU-PF regime, which at that time had its evil jaws clung on the population; persecuting and intimidating the innocent masses. The army and the police were still present in the streets following the defeat of President Mugabe at the polls in the March 2008 presidential elections. Many of the times the army members and the police officers were busy accusing people falsely and then accepting bribes from them in return for their freedom and redemption from a warm gratifying beating. They were just young and ruthless rural boys who had gone through two weeks of training at the most. It was a hard time for those who left their homes in the morning to go work so they can provide for their family.
It is also no secret that the CIO was going around spying on the population. In those days, any whisper against Mugabe or ZANU-PF would send a man to jail where he would be seriously beaten and violated. It was a period of mistrust; parents could not even say anything at home fearing that their children would talk about it at school. No one dared to wear a T- shirt that had anything to do with MDC. The CIO was probably there at fourth in our midst but the thought had momentarily disappeared from people's minds. The game was becoming more and more exciting with every move made. The crowd was watching intensely and the atmosphere was very tense. Maybe the CIO themselves were so absorbed in the game that their mission of spying against the people had been temporarily deleted from their minds. It was so tense; it was as if a nuclear bomb was being defused.
Someone let out a fart but for the first time in Zimbabwe's history, it went unnoticed in a large ready to discipline crowd; no fingers were pointed and no one was chased and beaten. It was the smelliest air pollution I have ever come across, but surprisingly it failed to get any audience. It was an externality no one wished to address. A baby was crying but the mother did not comfort it. She was so focused on the game, what a pure case of neglect. I know I keep saying this but it was a complex situation that would give even the best of Mathematicians a headache. It was just as bad as the state of the Zimbabwean economy at that time and perhaps in this time also. Even I, don't mean to boast, was confused as hell. (Wow, that felt good saying. It is always nice to give yourself a false boast.) Anyway, the conversation between Sekuru Dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimera continued. Prior to their assessment that the councilor represents something else other than himself, the two old men had related everything they knew about the ZANU-PF councilor
The ZANU-PF Councilor, aka Mupostori, was just an ordinary man with a lot of wives and a lot of children. Ok, maybe he was not that ordinary. However, he was a regular war veteran, a good member of ZANU-PF then he turned sour; a good rural boy that would later turn into a bad rural thug. When Robert Mugabe decided that the black Zimbabweans should own the country's fertile lands, Mupostori and a few of his friends grabbed a farm in his area. After grabbing the farm, he went on to grab more farms on behalf of the important people in ZANU-PF. Before he knew it, Mupostori was a changed man. Before long, like most people who grabbed land, he ruined the farm he took until he could farm no more. Luckily for him, Mugabe started buying loyalty from people using state resources. Mupostori saw an opportunity and took it. He went on to apply for positions in the ZANU-PF party in order to be eligible for Mugabe's loyalty rewards. He rose to the post of councilor, the highest he could get because of his lack of education and backwardness. In this day and age what sought of a car driving, money counting African man takes his intelligent son from school and forces him to head cattle when he can afford to send him to school. Each time I saw him, the son, he was always sad and everyday bitterness could be seen hovering in his eyes. I have a glimpse of how the son felt thanks to my imagination.
I can imagine myself not having had gone to secondary school, not having classroom fights and high school crashes. But no, I can't; I can't imagine myself in that situation. I did not go to one of the best school but it was great, I cannot change anything if I could. I remember going to primary school in my torn up khahhi uniform, the same uniform I wore in my first year of secondary school. Sometimes I had shoes, sometimes I did not and sometimes they were so humiliating that they drew a laughing crowd behind me. We used to travel miles and miles, passing different suburbs on our way to school. We would get beat by other children, the cold winters would have their own share of us too but it was all good. Lunch time, we had no food and all the fancy stuff but it was paradise. At that time, our teachers were not being beaten by ZANU-PF militias and we would have our fair share of classes. Not being in class is not fun when there are no teachers as opposed to you ditching class. I feel sorry for today's school going generation. The teachers, though they used to beat us, we never wished bad on them, we would get bitter but we knew the ass whooping was for the good. If I had such a nice time and I had many things that I lacked, how much more would Mupostori's son had enjoyed school. His father could afford all the stuff that I lacked. It is a shame to see how Mupostori saw his own son as a slave and a hired servant. Never in his life had his son been prodigal.
In his area, there is no policeman who dared to lock horns with Mupostori. At that time he was going around the remaining white farmers' farms asking for cattle in return for his protection against the masses who would want to take their land away from them. He was also in charge of distributing government purchased food to the starving masses. Before the food carrying trucks came, they would stop in the high way and a third of the food would be off loaded into his truck. He would then give the rest of the food to ZANU-PF supporters, those that praised him when he walked in the streets and those who kissed ZANU-PF's toes. MDC supporters did not bother to go near Mupostori. When ZANU-PF lost the 2008 March elections, he embarked on the task of persecuting MDC supporters in his area, just like what every councilor was doing, despite the fact that ZANU-PF had won in his constituency. He was carrying a mandate from Robert Mugabe and like most ZANU-PF thugs he was being aided by assigned security forces. One of those days is the day that saw a man acting like a clown in front of his family. The man was lucky that his daughters were not raped like the other men's daughters and neither was his arm cut off. There are many terrible and horrible things that happened during the 2008 presidential runoff. It sad to see that some are still happening
As the old men were talking about the councilor, I already knew where their conversation was going; Similarities between ZANU-PF and the ZANU-PF councilor were beginning to pop in my mind. Maybe the crowd wasn't so absorbed in the game, they were probably thinking the same thing I was thinking. But no, the game was too good for anyone to be thinking about anything else, at least not to the extent of completely forgetting about the game. There was no way they could get rid of the temporary peace of mind and miss the so called battle of the giants by thinking about ZANU-PF. ZANU-PF comprises of men and women who fought for the people of Zimbabwe when they were under the jaws of colonialism. Like many Southern African counties, Zimbabwe was colonized by Britain. Towards independence it was ruled by Ian Smith. ZANU-PF in actuality is two parties, Robert Mugabe's ZANU and Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU, which were joined together seven years after independence. This was after the Gukurahundi where Robert Mugabe used a north Korean trained army to kill 20 000 people from Nkomo's party who were based in the Southern part of Zimbabwe. In the struggle the two parties had fought as allies.
The struggle for independence was a long and painful one. At first they tried peaceful and democratic means but that failed and they seemed to be going nowhere. Then they picked up arms and went into the jungle. After many years the Government of Smith finally surrendered and Rhodesia was granted independence and had its name changed to Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe became the Prime Minister. Rumor is that he is behind the deaths of political rival fighters that were likely to get the job when the war was coming to an end. He however worked towards reconciliation between the white and black people. In the years to follow, Zimbabwe became the bread basket of Southern Africa and it became the envy of Africa. The police force was a force to reckon and nothing was as pleasing as Zimbabwe's judicial system. Zimbabwe was the coolest place to be. Even Michael Jackson graced us with his presence in the 90s. Mugabe became a hero, not only for Zimbabwe but of Africa as a whole. He received knighthood from the Queen of England and was showered with many honorary degrees by many universities worldwide.
Along the way Robert Mugabe started making mistakes and many unwise decisions like fighting unjustly in the war in Congo and awarding war veterans money that was beyond the means of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe started spending more than it had in its coffers. These are however nowhere near the most costly and biggest mistake; embarking on the chaotic land redistribution program. Part of the agreement between Zimbabwe and Britain when Zimbabwe was granted independence was that Land in Zimbabwe, which was mostly owned by white Zimbabweans, was going to be partly distributed to the black majority and that Britain was going to fund it. Mugabe tried for many years to get the program running but Britain kept giving excuses. Under pressure from war veterans and his party members Mugabe started the land reform. It was uncoordinated and violent; land was grabbed from white Zimbabweans without any compensation. Most of the beneficiaries were not the people of Zimbabwe but ZANU-PF. Senior members of ZANU-PF grabbed the most productive farms. (Most of them have many farms instead of the one man one farm policy. Robert Mugabe and his wife had a combined total of 11 farms.) A seed of corruption was planted in ZANU-PF. The war veterans and Mugabe himself did not know what they were doing as far as farming is concerned; they ran most of the farms down and as a result brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
Zimbabwe's economy is an agriculture based economy. It used to export tones of maize to other countries and hence gain much needed foreign currency. With no agriculture, there was no more foreign currency. Zimbabwe started facing serious money problems. Instead of realizing his mistake and fixing it by halting the redistribution, Mugabe went on. Ordinary people started complaining because they were the ones suffering but he did not care. Mugabe and his inner circle started buying loyalty from people with state resources, those who were blind to see where the country was going. Zimbabwe started printing money to support the actions of ZANU-PF and this triggered one of the world's most famous inflations. Zimbabwe started sinking deeper and deeper into poverty. Eager to remain in power, Mugabe started giving gifts to the military leaders and the central intelligence organization which started intimidating the masses. As long as his people were eating Mugabe did not care. ZANU-PF officials prospered as Zimbabweans suffered. The little that was there was being given to the few who already had plenty.
ZANU-PF, like Mupostori, tampered with the world around it, making it revolve around the course of their actions. In ZANU-PF's case, the youths militants are the Zimbabwe defense forces themselves and in defense forces we mean the top guys, the army chiefs. The junior soldiers are in because they have no choice, they don't have the guts to revolt and I understand. ZANU-PF is like the left arm of the devil. Just recently arms were stolen from one of the barracks in Zimbabwe. More than 20 soldiers have been tortured to death and more than a hundred are in hell as they are being tortured by the presidential guard, the CIO, and security forces from other nations. Many innocent solders are suffering and no one is helping them. ZANU-PF is ruthless and merciless. Like how Mupostori uses his boys to beat up and intimidate the people in his area, so does ZANU-PF in dealing with the Zimbabwean population and by ZANU-PF we are talking mainly about its leaders, the people who make decisions. They grabbed farms and they converted state recourses into they own, building immerse wealth and draining the whole country's recourses. They have multimillion dollar businesses and they have vast properties outside Zimbabwe. They ceased to be a government and became a mafia organization. They began to see themselves as kings and queens and they saw Zimbabweans as their subjects. They claim to be protecting Zimbabwe's sovereignty yet what they are doing is protecting their vast wealth. They used the land invasions to enrich themselves just like they used the war in Congo to gain interest in diamond mines in Congo. They enriched their friends and relatives by giving them undeserved posts in the government. They placed their brothers and sisters, friends and relatives, people they trusted into positions so that they can get away with their evil practices.
It is well known in Zimbabwe that if you want free lunches, free cars, and free fuel, be a close friend to senior people in ZANU-PF. People that operate under the shadows of ZANU-PF are the ones that have brought the country to its knees. This is one of the reasons why ZANU-PF is slow to implement the global political agreement between the country's main political parties. Their people are the ambassadors, governors, permanent secretaries and now half of them are going to be jobless. Most of them they don't have any skills except for kissing Mugabe's butt. Ditching them is committing suicide as they are partners in corruption and they know each other's deeds. These people, their children are in foreign countries where they go to expensive colleges and live a life that is more lavish than the foreign nationals themselves. Though not good in how it's done, these people, unlike Mupostori, realize the importance of education. This is one of the few differences between Mupostori and ZANU-PF as a whole. Everything else is the same; greed, corruption and no regard for human lives
Sorry ZANU-PF but Zimbabwe is changing, there are no more bosses, the situation is now complex like Sekuru dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimera's game. Your farts "your violence" are ceasing to work. They have worked all this time but they are coming to an end. You may delay the global political agreement but one day it's going to be fulfilled. These are not bottle tops you are playing with, It's God's people you are tormenting and it's God who fights for them. Unlike Sekuru Dwaimbane and Sekuru Chimhera (By the way the game was a draw) there will only be one winner and that the people of Zimbabwe. No man has ever won a war against God.
Written in 2009
By Prince
The Promises Of My People
