Staring through the rear-view

I remember November 2017, first when stories broke that tankers where being seen headed for Harare. There was surprise and a sense of disbelief and people argued it wasn't possible. Then the pictures started circulating and it began to dawn that something was going on, something that Zimbos had never imagined possible, something that for one reason or another we had associated with lesser literate and educated countries in Africa.

I remember trying to analyse its full context, what it meant, why it was happening and where it would lead. Obviously when you begin to analyse you factor in the sacking of VP Mnangagwa and the rallies that were being held by the First Lady. Yet as it was taking place, even when we woke up to SB Moyo on Television reassuring us that everything was fine, I wasn't afraid, or notice a change in the way people went about their business. It was business as usual.

I guess you can say "Chickens had come home to roost." Zimbabweans have always set a high bar of expectations be it in themselves and in others, I would like to think that is one of the reasons wherever they go to seek employment they are lauded thus selling the Zim brand as hard workers. The demise of the previous President rekindled those expectations and the expectations of Zimbabweans of what and where Zimbabwe should be. Hope was restored in a future that a few days before had looked bleak and the most die-hard Zimbos who had pledged themselves to never leaving this country were seriously contemplating leaving, hope that now the people could usher in a leader who would take them forward and give them the riches that the previous Administration had so violently restricted and taken away for 20 odd years.

The people were never naïve or blind to the hard truths that they had to tackle going forward. The Zanu pf machine which remained in place as it was the people who made up the Zanu pf party, those were not going anywhere. It was also fact that once power was transferred unwillingly who ever took the power would want time to cement that power, enjoy that power and we hoped not benefit from being in power. And so many hoped for GNU, bringing together the many players who had played a role from 2009-2013 when people had been given a taste of what was possible.
However, as we know many of the people's expectations and hopes were not met on that day or the days after. And soon people went back to their old ways of living and trying to survive while they watched the political landscape gauging the wind and making up their minds for who to vote for when elections are announced. Positions that had been entrenched for a long time, some had been shaken, others disillusioned by the failure to remove legally or illegally the President, others disillusioned by the oppositions squabbles, scandals and sometimes a show of lack of direction and urgency in what they were doing.
 
For the youth there was voter apathy before the events of November 2017, many staying away asking questions those who suffered during the liberation struggle hated: Why should I register to vote? What will change? Even after the events when the euphoria was still in the air the electorate stayed away from the registration centres and those that did go would ask if it was still necessary? That changed with the naming of the cabinet, where it hit home that nothing had changed and the people they had hoped would be prosecuted had been elevated and the chance of getting justice washed away.

There was a sense of disbelief, in soccer lingo it is equating it to missing a chance to score with an open net at the striker's mercy. In retrospect, even though I would want to give benefit of the doubt and understand in that scenario it dawned for many that in Zim politics nothing would change. There was anger, disappointment but like before there was acceptance and life went on. It is one of the tenants of Zimbabweans to quickly accept and find solace in jokes, beer and social interactions. Good or bad it has allowed us to survive this long without suffering the many diseases that would have afflicted many.

In truth by the time Tsvangirai died, many had given up on him. He wasn't blamed or were we angry with him for he had tried for so long and unfortunately when it mattered the most the people had left him to fight our battles while we watched from the gallery. People appreciated what he had done, but also understood that with the sickness he had been diagnosed with the probability of making it was low. And true to our way conspiracy theories were thrown around, who knows whether they are true or not but for someone who had fought for us as a people and fought valiantly for him to suffer the way he did felt as a betrayal. He deserved better we thought. Then as usual we consoled ourselves that he had family that loved him, a wife that supported him and as such his last days would be comfortable.

Obviously on the party side we had expected him to pass on the burton to whomever he saw fit to lead. As many commentators reminded before and after the events of November 2017, the electorate votes along party lines and there is no room for Independent candidates. Whether the electorate agreed with the chosen individual, they would vote for the party. Or so we were led to believe.

I remember seeing a video of a women talking on Tsvangirai's behalf outside a face bricked durawall with other men around her. At first I thought she was his daughter, then the sub titles came and I saw that she was his daughter in law, and then she went on to say that her husband was the only person who would speak for his father and had been designated to so. I am African and Zimbabwean and though we have tried for so long to run away from our culture I have found peace in accepting my culture, in trying to understand it and make it better. Questions were many in my head, why would a muroora speak for a clan when the owners of that clan were there? Am not being sexiest but we have not reached those levels as a society. It didn't sit well with me and I found out that I was the only one as many discussed it in Kombis on my way to work.

The squabbles gave us an insight into what it would be like after MTs death and we hoped that though weak and sick he was, he would make a statement saying something or anything that would prevent the implosion of the party. We waited and discussed these issues and at times we chided him for putting us in such a situation where the party was vulnerable to attacks from within and outside.

His death! Many never had the opportunity to mourn him, really mourn him. If ever there has been a circus that was the biggest of them all. It hurt, for the saying, "Do not speak ill of the dead", in our culture means something. However, if one is to be asked about MTs funeral, what they remember 9 out 10 will remember Gogo barring Chamisa and Elizabeth from attending and threatening to commit suicide, they will remember blows being exchanged between the top MDC brass, the deceased's children taking sides. They will remember the headlines of people having had sex in bushes at the funeral and the violence almost meted out to Gutu and Khupe. Those are the images that many be it locally or internationally took from the funeral of one of the greatest fighters for Zimbabwe's democracy. All through that I remembered a scene from Malcom Xs film which I saw way back I think in 1993-1994 where he hears that one of his brothers in the Muslim brotherhood has been arrested and he starts walking in the middle of the street to the precinct where he was being held. When they get there he simply raised his hand and everyone stopped talking and just stood there. It showed power and discipline. And so I wished that someone would do the same, provide leadership and discipline to the followers of the party, to the followers of the man we were laying to rest, provide guidance to the family of the deceased as they continued to piss on the deceased's legacy. One who would stand up and hold up their fist and everyone would hush up. No one did! And rather than celebrate the man, we made sure that the last images taken by many would be of a house burning and we made a mockery of his life.

Maybe it was fitting that he died when he did, this is not to say that I wished for his death, NO. I say so because it provided closure on a chapter of Zim politics that had spurned more than 30 years. Two actors being the main players slugging it out, each with commendable victories, some disputed, some acknowledged. That they both fell within a short time of each other provided a climax for those who had watched it all unfold with many memories of their battles. In a way MTs death was better than his adversary's, for though alive in body I think in spirit he is already dead. Ridiculed and isolated that is never a way to leave.
 
That is what I remember of those 4 months, in which so much was promised and very little delivered. Now a people are trying to find hope again, to find the next champion to fight for them while they focus on surviving and commenting from the sidelines.