Opinion / Columnist
Zanu PF youths must shame the devil
23 May 2016 at 18:06hrs | Views
The One Million-Man March that Zanu PF's youth league is set to stage on 25 May has rattled the opposition parties which seem to believe that they have an exclusive right to organize marches and demonstrations in Zimbabwe.
The MDC-T staged its own demonstration recently in Harare where sympathetic media overstated the number of demonstrators. The capital city was said to have been painted red. Although other opposition political parties did not join the demo, they rallied behind it with some sending solidarity messages.
The MDC-T is to stage another demonstration in Bulawayo very soon. Despite the violent precedent they set in the Harare demonstration, democracy opened space for them to demonstrate again. This is why the High Court overruled the police ban on the Bulawayo demonstration. As peace keepers, the police's decision had been informed by the previous violent demonstration where a security guard at Choppies store nearly lost his life at the hands of the raucous MDC-T demonstrators. Sometimes democracy is an ass!
Despite all this, the media and the modern-day political analysts chose to be mum. They have only sprung into action when Zanu PF youths have decided to stage their own march. The elders would say dindingwe rinonaka richakweva rimwe kana iro rokwevewa roti mavara angu azara ivhu.
So much adverse reports have been written about the One Million-Man March. Zanu PF has been accused of being wasteful. The march is allegedly set to "gobble $600 000." The money is said to be extorted from ailing parastatals and private firms. President Robert Mugabe is said to have twisted the arms of war veterans into participating in the march. The accusations and speculations are endless, all bordering on discrediting the march.
It seems to be a season of demonstrations and marches. As such, each party must care for its own business as long as the rights of citizens are not trampled upon. Politics is a game of numbers, or is it of colours. The MDC-T recently painted Harare red, at least according to the private media. Hopefully they are not colour blind. It is now Zanu PF's turn to colour the rainbow city of Harare with what ever colours of their choice. After all, Harare is a chameleon city that changes colours. As apolitical spectators, not political analysts, we would want to draw a pie chart at the end of the day, a statistical graphic which will illustrate the numerical proportion.
The MDC-T has been at the forefront of demonizing the march. Did they not also use money to organize their demonstrations? It was even worse because their money was compulsorily sourced from disgruntled members especially councilors. One Kwekwe councilor recently leaked to the media that they were being forced to fund Morgan Tsvangirai's rallies. With the meager salaries that councilors earn, one wonders why the MDC-T has targeted this particular constituency as source of funds.
The answer could be obtained from President Mugabe's speech in Gutu where he bemoaned rampant corruption within the rural and urban councils. He fingered councilors, most of whom are MDC-T members. It appears by targeting the lowly paid councilors as their source of funding for Tsvangirai's rallies, the MDC-T are not lost on the rampant corruption and it is that corrupt money that they want to use to fund Tsvangirai's rallies. Hopefully, the corruption that riles President Mugabe is not sanctioned by the MDC-T national leadership.
The councilors have said it themselves. If there is any firm or individual that was forced to fund the march, they must come in the open or at least report to police. If there is any who funded the youths, 100% chances are that it was on their own volition for there is no one, including Tsvangirai himself, who does not want to be associated with the revolutionary party.
The MDC-T has the habit of blaming others for the crime they a guiltier of. They are like a pot calling a kettle back. They have been all along accusing the First Family of seeking medical attention from foreign medical institutions. Their insincerity was exposed last week when their sick leader rushed to South Africa for treatment. Get well soon Mr Tsvangirai and wipe the egg on your face.
Do they want people to believe that the economy was good when they staged their demonstrations and has suddenly drifted to the verge of collapse because Zanu PF is staging a march? The MDC-T and the private media must not make a fuss about the funding because it is not coming from the treasury. It's a private function that does not concern them. They cannot lecture moneyed citizens on how to spend their money, as much as nobody did that to Tsvangirai when he globe trotted the world in pursuit of pleasure during the inclusive government era.
As they stage their march, Zanu PF youths must shame the devil. Detractors are wishing for the worst, thus the youths must not give them a room to prove their point. Zanu PF is an orderly revolutionary party. Therefore, the march must be orderly as well. Let no one gets injured, even a grasshopper in the streets must feel safe on this historic day.
The MDC-T staged its own demonstration recently in Harare where sympathetic media overstated the number of demonstrators. The capital city was said to have been painted red. Although other opposition political parties did not join the demo, they rallied behind it with some sending solidarity messages.
The MDC-T is to stage another demonstration in Bulawayo very soon. Despite the violent precedent they set in the Harare demonstration, democracy opened space for them to demonstrate again. This is why the High Court overruled the police ban on the Bulawayo demonstration. As peace keepers, the police's decision had been informed by the previous violent demonstration where a security guard at Choppies store nearly lost his life at the hands of the raucous MDC-T demonstrators. Sometimes democracy is an ass!
Despite all this, the media and the modern-day political analysts chose to be mum. They have only sprung into action when Zanu PF youths have decided to stage their own march. The elders would say dindingwe rinonaka richakweva rimwe kana iro rokwevewa roti mavara angu azara ivhu.
So much adverse reports have been written about the One Million-Man March. Zanu PF has been accused of being wasteful. The march is allegedly set to "gobble $600 000." The money is said to be extorted from ailing parastatals and private firms. President Robert Mugabe is said to have twisted the arms of war veterans into participating in the march. The accusations and speculations are endless, all bordering on discrediting the march.
It seems to be a season of demonstrations and marches. As such, each party must care for its own business as long as the rights of citizens are not trampled upon. Politics is a game of numbers, or is it of colours. The MDC-T recently painted Harare red, at least according to the private media. Hopefully they are not colour blind. It is now Zanu PF's turn to colour the rainbow city of Harare with what ever colours of their choice. After all, Harare is a chameleon city that changes colours. As apolitical spectators, not political analysts, we would want to draw a pie chart at the end of the day, a statistical graphic which will illustrate the numerical proportion.
The MDC-T has been at the forefront of demonizing the march. Did they not also use money to organize their demonstrations? It was even worse because their money was compulsorily sourced from disgruntled members especially councilors. One Kwekwe councilor recently leaked to the media that they were being forced to fund Morgan Tsvangirai's rallies. With the meager salaries that councilors earn, one wonders why the MDC-T has targeted this particular constituency as source of funds.
The answer could be obtained from President Mugabe's speech in Gutu where he bemoaned rampant corruption within the rural and urban councils. He fingered councilors, most of whom are MDC-T members. It appears by targeting the lowly paid councilors as their source of funding for Tsvangirai's rallies, the MDC-T are not lost on the rampant corruption and it is that corrupt money that they want to use to fund Tsvangirai's rallies. Hopefully, the corruption that riles President Mugabe is not sanctioned by the MDC-T national leadership.
The councilors have said it themselves. If there is any firm or individual that was forced to fund the march, they must come in the open or at least report to police. If there is any who funded the youths, 100% chances are that it was on their own volition for there is no one, including Tsvangirai himself, who does not want to be associated with the revolutionary party.
The MDC-T has the habit of blaming others for the crime they a guiltier of. They are like a pot calling a kettle back. They have been all along accusing the First Family of seeking medical attention from foreign medical institutions. Their insincerity was exposed last week when their sick leader rushed to South Africa for treatment. Get well soon Mr Tsvangirai and wipe the egg on your face.
Do they want people to believe that the economy was good when they staged their demonstrations and has suddenly drifted to the verge of collapse because Zanu PF is staging a march? The MDC-T and the private media must not make a fuss about the funding because it is not coming from the treasury. It's a private function that does not concern them. They cannot lecture moneyed citizens on how to spend their money, as much as nobody did that to Tsvangirai when he globe trotted the world in pursuit of pleasure during the inclusive government era.
As they stage their march, Zanu PF youths must shame the devil. Detractors are wishing for the worst, thus the youths must not give them a room to prove their point. Zanu PF is an orderly revolutionary party. Therefore, the march must be orderly as well. Let no one gets injured, even a grasshopper in the streets must feel safe on this historic day.
Source - John Sigauke
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