Opinion / Columnist
We failed to end vote rigging not because we are 'in shock' - shock lasts days not years!
07 Oct 2015 at 00:00hrs | Views
"My aunt, who is a nurse by profession, once told me that when someone is in shock; they will drown in water a few feet deep because they cannot think straight to stand up! We are drowning, stuck in this Zanu PF made hell-on-earth because we are in such a state of shock we cannot think straight to stop President Mugabe from blatantly rigging the next elections!" argued Patrick Guramatunhu.
I have heard of that one; a slap in the face will help most victim to snap out of the shock and start thinking straight again.
A clever argument Patrick but will not wash here; we cannot the whole nation in a state of shock for over two years? It is quite possible that the people were stunned into silence the day of the elections and the effect lasted for a few days or even a few weeks. It is now over two years since the rigged national elections at least some people some have started demanding an explanation from both MDC - why the elections had been rigged when they had insisted throughout they would free and fair - and from Zanu PF - demand an explanation for the treasonous vote rigging acts.
Indeed Zimbabwe has yet to hold free and fair elections so if we will have failed to think straight and demand an end to rigged elections because we are in a state of shock then we have been in shock for 35 years!
I agree that we are starving in the Garden of Eden; "drowning is water a few feet deep", if you like; "because we cannot think straight to stand up". But that is not because we are in shock but rather that we are too lazy to think straight.
Some people have argued that Zimbabwe is a very repressive state and the populous have been cowed into silent submission. I readily acknowledge that indeed the Mugabe regime's track record of over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans murdered by the tyrant's thugs plus millions harassed, beaten and/or raped for political in 35 years say it all.
"I have degrees in violence!" Mugabe was often boasted!
Yes Mugabe is a corrupt and murderous tyrant and Zimbabweans have had good reason to fear him and his ruthless henchmen.
Still it is in the nature of every human being to desire and strive for freedom and liberty much more so when economic condition one is being forced to live in are unbearable as is the case in Zimbabwe. Millions are now living in abject poverty as a result of the decades of criminal worse of human and material resources. And so the people should have been restless and always on the lookout for unlocked door or window through which to escape from this hell-on-earth Mugabe had frog-matched them into.
It so happened that the nation got its get-out-of-hell card when Mugabe was forced to sign the 2008 GPA in which he agreed to a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government.
At the end of the five years of the GNU we were supposed to have free, fair and credible elections and thus walk out of the Mugabe hell. We did not have free and fair elections and hence the reason why we are still in this hell under the same tyrannical subjugation.
We did not use our get-out-of-hell card because MDC leaders betrayed us and failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. The very fact that the people have never taken the MDC leaders to task over this goes to show just how slow the people themselves have been in their thinking.
There is no reason why the people of Zimbabwe, not just a few but all of them on-mass, had failed on-mass to see the golden opportunity the GPA presented for them to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and to seize. When you get a get-out-of-jail card, use it. You do not complain of the jail's high walls, razor fence, etc. The doors and gates have been thrown open; walk out. There is no reason that is other than the people have completely switched-off and will not think straight because they are too lazy to think.
So as I said in the last article, those who will not learn from the past will be forced to repeat the lesson over and over again and pay dearly for each repeat. We are in this political and economic mess because for the last 35 years we have wished for an end to this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship but not with any passion and conviction. We should be demanding to know why past elections have were rigged, this is a necessary first step in securing this basic and fundamental human right for ourselves and posterity and our ticket out of this hell-on-earth Mugabe frog-matched us into.
Until we snap out of this self-induced sloth-like comatose state – shock would last for days not years - and start thinking straight then the political chaos and economic meltdown gripping our nation will only get worse; we ain't seen nothing yet!
I have heard of that one; a slap in the face will help most victim to snap out of the shock and start thinking straight again.
A clever argument Patrick but will not wash here; we cannot the whole nation in a state of shock for over two years? It is quite possible that the people were stunned into silence the day of the elections and the effect lasted for a few days or even a few weeks. It is now over two years since the rigged national elections at least some people some have started demanding an explanation from both MDC - why the elections had been rigged when they had insisted throughout they would free and fair - and from Zanu PF - demand an explanation for the treasonous vote rigging acts.
Indeed Zimbabwe has yet to hold free and fair elections so if we will have failed to think straight and demand an end to rigged elections because we are in a state of shock then we have been in shock for 35 years!
I agree that we are starving in the Garden of Eden; "drowning is water a few feet deep", if you like; "because we cannot think straight to stand up". But that is not because we are in shock but rather that we are too lazy to think straight.
Some people have argued that Zimbabwe is a very repressive state and the populous have been cowed into silent submission. I readily acknowledge that indeed the Mugabe regime's track record of over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans murdered by the tyrant's thugs plus millions harassed, beaten and/or raped for political in 35 years say it all.
Yes Mugabe is a corrupt and murderous tyrant and Zimbabweans have had good reason to fear him and his ruthless henchmen.
Still it is in the nature of every human being to desire and strive for freedom and liberty much more so when economic condition one is being forced to live in are unbearable as is the case in Zimbabwe. Millions are now living in abject poverty as a result of the decades of criminal worse of human and material resources. And so the people should have been restless and always on the lookout for unlocked door or window through which to escape from this hell-on-earth Mugabe had frog-matched them into.
It so happened that the nation got its get-out-of-hell card when Mugabe was forced to sign the 2008 GPA in which he agreed to a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system of government.
At the end of the five years of the GNU we were supposed to have free, fair and credible elections and thus walk out of the Mugabe hell. We did not have free and fair elections and hence the reason why we are still in this hell under the same tyrannical subjugation.
We did not use our get-out-of-hell card because MDC leaders betrayed us and failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. The very fact that the people have never taken the MDC leaders to task over this goes to show just how slow the people themselves have been in their thinking.
There is no reason why the people of Zimbabwe, not just a few but all of them on-mass, had failed on-mass to see the golden opportunity the GPA presented for them to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and to seize. When you get a get-out-of-jail card, use it. You do not complain of the jail's high walls, razor fence, etc. The doors and gates have been thrown open; walk out. There is no reason that is other than the people have completely switched-off and will not think straight because they are too lazy to think.
So as I said in the last article, those who will not learn from the past will be forced to repeat the lesson over and over again and pay dearly for each repeat. We are in this political and economic mess because for the last 35 years we have wished for an end to this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship but not with any passion and conviction. We should be demanding to know why past elections have were rigged, this is a necessary first step in securing this basic and fundamental human right for ourselves and posterity and our ticket out of this hell-on-earth Mugabe frog-matched us into.
Until we snap out of this self-induced sloth-like comatose state – shock would last for days not years - and start thinking straight then the political chaos and economic meltdown gripping our nation will only get worse; we ain't seen nothing yet!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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