Opinion / Columnist
Massive arrests of opposition/civic society leaders resonate with the dictates of the struggle
02 Mar 2019 at 09:52hrs | Views
Key among the duties of MPs is not only to pass laws in parliament but can also be arrested or even die for the sake of the struggle. Josiah Magama Tongogara never saw a new Zimbabwe, he spent his entire life in the bush while the majority of Zimbabweans were sleeping on their beds of ivory. In our minds today, Josiah Magama Tongogara is our hero of the struggle. This piece seeks to demonstrate that arrests or even deaths of opposition leaders/supporters is normal for any struggle and is a harbinger of a maturing struggle.
To be a leader of a struggle is not a romantic or a lipstick affair. These leaders (opposition/civic) are not different from underground miners, they should expect anything. It is in public domain that, Zimbabwe was liberated from the oppressive regime of Smith but selfless sons of Zimbabwe like Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole, Dumiso Dabengwa, and Emerson Mnangagwa and other. These selfless leader have been in and out of prisons during the period of the struggle. They never gave up and they spent their entire lives in the bush.
Some of our war liberation heroes died during the struggle. Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Magama Tongogara, Jaison Z Moyo, Mukono, Leopold Takawira and other were victims of the struggle in one way or the other. They died before enjoying the fruits of the struggle but they are here with us in spirit, they are still inspiring the struggles for change. History has shown that, struggle in any country is inevitable if oppression exists. When there is a state of equilibrium between opposition/civic society and the leadership of a country, the struggle will sleep or hibernate.
ZANU PF government under the leadership of Robert Mugabe should take a blame for the emergence of the struggle for democratic change in Zimbabwe. They failed to create a state of equilibrium between the opposition and the country's leadership. That led to the emergence of democratic movements in Zimbabwe. President ED Mnagangwa did not only inherited Robert Mugabe's dictatorship but also his double potion of evil spirit.
Since President ED Mnangagwa took over from Robert Mugabe, he killed 6 innocent lives on August 1 2018 and 17 lost their lives in January 2019. In total President ED Mnangagwa is blamed for killing at least 23 innocent lives within six months of his leadership. We should therefore expect the worst basing on the current statistics. It is obvious that ZANU PF government is now worse off than Smith's regime and resistance from the masses is inevitable. The ED regime may kill or arrest citizens but they won't silence the democratic movement whose time has come.
Smith had sophisticated ground and air forces but he gave in to the struggle engineered by Robert Mugabe, Nkomo, ED Mnangagwa and others. The one thing that President ED Mnagagwa should know is that, the struggle for democracy is not silenced by arrests and killings. The war for the liberation struggle was just like that, all its leadership were always in and out of the prisons and they remain determined to the end. The same is happening in Zimbabwe now, we have seen the opposition and civic society leaders being arrested. We have seen people being tortured by the security organs. We have heard women complaining of rape by security forces. All these were happening during the last days of Smith except rape.
The only solution for President ED Mnangagwa to do is to swallow his pride and accept a call for a genuine dialogue with Nelson Chamisa. Without dialogue, his government shall continue to torcher, kill, arrest or rape women. This will strain his psychology as a leader of the ZANU PF party and will make it difficult for him to enjoy his retirement. President ED Mnangagwa should know that Africa used to have rough dictators like Gadaffi, Mubaraki and Robert Mugabe but where are they today? I hope that our President is going to think deeply over this now.
I heard that Joanna Madamombe has been arrested, these are the signs of a struggle that is maturing. Crisis Coalition leader Rashid Mahiya is still in prison for the sake of the struggle, that is part of the struggle. There are rumors that Nelson Chamisa may be arrested for rape that is normal for a struggle of such magnitude.
Don Chigumba is a mixed methods research specialist can be found on twitter @Donchigumba
To be a leader of a struggle is not a romantic or a lipstick affair. These leaders (opposition/civic) are not different from underground miners, they should expect anything. It is in public domain that, Zimbabwe was liberated from the oppressive regime of Smith but selfless sons of Zimbabwe like Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole, Dumiso Dabengwa, and Emerson Mnangagwa and other. These selfless leader have been in and out of prisons during the period of the struggle. They never gave up and they spent their entire lives in the bush.
Some of our war liberation heroes died during the struggle. Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Magama Tongogara, Jaison Z Moyo, Mukono, Leopold Takawira and other were victims of the struggle in one way or the other. They died before enjoying the fruits of the struggle but they are here with us in spirit, they are still inspiring the struggles for change. History has shown that, struggle in any country is inevitable if oppression exists. When there is a state of equilibrium between opposition/civic society and the leadership of a country, the struggle will sleep or hibernate.
ZANU PF government under the leadership of Robert Mugabe should take a blame for the emergence of the struggle for democratic change in Zimbabwe. They failed to create a state of equilibrium between the opposition and the country's leadership. That led to the emergence of democratic movements in Zimbabwe. President ED Mnagangwa did not only inherited Robert Mugabe's dictatorship but also his double potion of evil spirit.
Smith had sophisticated ground and air forces but he gave in to the struggle engineered by Robert Mugabe, Nkomo, ED Mnangagwa and others. The one thing that President ED Mnagagwa should know is that, the struggle for democracy is not silenced by arrests and killings. The war for the liberation struggle was just like that, all its leadership were always in and out of the prisons and they remain determined to the end. The same is happening in Zimbabwe now, we have seen the opposition and civic society leaders being arrested. We have seen people being tortured by the security organs. We have heard women complaining of rape by security forces. All these were happening during the last days of Smith except rape.
The only solution for President ED Mnangagwa to do is to swallow his pride and accept a call for a genuine dialogue with Nelson Chamisa. Without dialogue, his government shall continue to torcher, kill, arrest or rape women. This will strain his psychology as a leader of the ZANU PF party and will make it difficult for him to enjoy his retirement. President ED Mnangagwa should know that Africa used to have rough dictators like Gadaffi, Mubaraki and Robert Mugabe but where are they today? I hope that our President is going to think deeply over this now.
I heard that Joanna Madamombe has been arrested, these are the signs of a struggle that is maturing. Crisis Coalition leader Rashid Mahiya is still in prison for the sake of the struggle, that is part of the struggle. There are rumors that Nelson Chamisa may be arrested for rape that is normal for a struggle of such magnitude.
Don Chigumba is a mixed methods research specialist can be found on twitter @Donchigumba
Source - Don Chigumba
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