Opinion / Columnist
Of Lumumba, how will a direct 'F' word insult at Mugabe bring expected change to our cause?
30 Jun 2016 at 12:38hrs | Views
I was attending a breakfast meeting at a Harare hotel this morning and in the same hotel this young man Ace Lumumba was having a press conference to launch a new political party.
When his conference started we had just finished our breakfast meeting and so decided to just go in and listen to what he had to say. Always good to hear such things.
The young man presented a near perfect outline of his idea of a youth political party until from the blue he got to a stage where he directly threw an "F You" insult at President Mugabe.
I was not the only one who was shocked, the entire room went dead silent for a moment in shock maybe at the guts for that or the futility of it.
Am thinking, while the young man and his colleagues may be having brilliant ideas about bringing young people into mainstream Zimbabwean politics they need to come into this political sphere with a little bit higher level of maturity to be taken serious.
It is good to be seen to be vocal and very brave but that must be accompanied by substance. What's there in publicly giving Mugabe an F you insult? How will such direct insults bring expected change to our cause?
Yes Mugabe and his government have destroyed the country with their failed governance, let's tell them precisely what they have done to this country in no uncertain terms without falling into the temptation of such unproductive insults.
The insults don't get us anywhere other than spending a night or two in the police cells with a bit of beatings and brutality which they are always happy to deliver.
Why should we fall direct into their nets? Indeed let's tell them their corruption, let's tell them to get out of the hotel rooms while civil servants are not being paid. Let them arrest people for telling the truth than to be arrested and be beaten for needlessly telling Mugabe the F You insult. What for?
While Lumumba in his address blames ZANU PF for abusing the youth by making them run all sorts of programmes for cash incentives, I equally blame the donor community which dangles a financial reward for every little activist who gets beaten by the police or state security for "bravely" standing against Mugabe.
Through the years that kind of activism has not brought us any meaningful change to our fortunes. Yes Mugabe will beat us and arrest us, but let's get arrested and beaten for substance.
My take is that Lumumba gave a huge dent into his "grand entry" into opposition politics. If he has to dedicate to opposition spheres successfully the first thing to do is to cast out ZANU PF demons of disrespectful and insubstantial insults to signify bravery.
That's my take.
When his conference started we had just finished our breakfast meeting and so decided to just go in and listen to what he had to say. Always good to hear such things.
The young man presented a near perfect outline of his idea of a youth political party until from the blue he got to a stage where he directly threw an "F You" insult at President Mugabe.
I was not the only one who was shocked, the entire room went dead silent for a moment in shock maybe at the guts for that or the futility of it.
Am thinking, while the young man and his colleagues may be having brilliant ideas about bringing young people into mainstream Zimbabwean politics they need to come into this political sphere with a little bit higher level of maturity to be taken serious.
It is good to be seen to be vocal and very brave but that must be accompanied by substance. What's there in publicly giving Mugabe an F you insult? How will such direct insults bring expected change to our cause?
The insults don't get us anywhere other than spending a night or two in the police cells with a bit of beatings and brutality which they are always happy to deliver.
Why should we fall direct into their nets? Indeed let's tell them their corruption, let's tell them to get out of the hotel rooms while civil servants are not being paid. Let them arrest people for telling the truth than to be arrested and be beaten for needlessly telling Mugabe the F You insult. What for?
While Lumumba in his address blames ZANU PF for abusing the youth by making them run all sorts of programmes for cash incentives, I equally blame the donor community which dangles a financial reward for every little activist who gets beaten by the police or state security for "bravely" standing against Mugabe.
Through the years that kind of activism has not brought us any meaningful change to our fortunes. Yes Mugabe will beat us and arrest us, but let's get arrested and beaten for substance.
My take is that Lumumba gave a huge dent into his "grand entry" into opposition politics. If he has to dedicate to opposition spheres successfully the first thing to do is to cast out ZANU PF demons of disrespectful and insubstantial insults to signify bravery.
That's my take.
Source - Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo on Facebook
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