Does Jonathan Moyo think Mnangagwa is afraid of Gukurahundi?

SO Professor Jonathan Moyo is convinced that President Mnangagwa is afraid of Gukurahundi? He really thinks the Gukurahundi issue should leave ED paralysed with fear? It's a shame, but that's the tomfoolery that Prof Moyo has always been dishing in abundance.

Dear congregants, allow me to take a slight detour. MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is not well. We all saw the pictures. Very, very sad. This cancer of the colon is something else.

Whether we like it or not, Tsvangirai changed the course of Zimbabwean politics. Never mind the British birth and the American connection, Save vakamhanyisa Zanu-PF. Kutoona kuti pano Zanu-PF yatopinda busy, but now is the time to accept reality — Tsvangirai needs rest. Anyone who thinks or suggests that Tsvangirai will get better to contest the 2018 elections is not only being mischievous but being very cruel.

Zimbabwean politics will never be the same without Tsvangirai. In fact, Zimbabwean politics will be a lot poorer without Tsvangirai. The man played his part and history will record that.

Take some rest Save. As you were promised by President Mnangagwa during that fruitful meeting at your house, your welfare will be taken care of. Musatye henyu Save. We wish you a speedy recovery. Put everything before God because in Exodus 15 vs 26, the Lord speaks openly saying: "I am the Lord who heals you."

Now back to today's sermon. I am not exactly a fan of French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault, but in one of his writings entitled "The Order of Discourse," he says something quite profound. According to Foucault: "… in every society the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organised and redistributed by a certain number of procedures whose role is to ward off its powers and dangers, to gain mastery over its chance events, to evade its ponderous, formidable materiality…

"… discourse is not simply that which translates struggles or systems of domination, but is the thing for which and by which there is struggle, discourse is the power which is to be seized."

Prof Moyo thinks he has a monopoly of knowledge and discourse. He thinks he can control, select, organise and redistribute discourse as he wishes. Prof Moyo knows that discourse is power and he wants to seize it from his supposedly hiding place. By the way, if Prof Moyo really thinks he is in hiding, then he never learnt a thing while in Government. Let's leave this story for now.

So what I am preaching about? Well, Prof Moyo is trying to seize the Gukurahundi discourse. He wants to control, select, organise and redistribute the Gukurahundi discourse. In his thinking, President Mnangagwa and his Government are not supposed to speak about Gukurahundi. They are supposed to be very, very afraid of speaking about this emotive issue.

Or if the President is to talk about this issue, it should be on Prof Moyo's terms. The President has to follow the professor's discourse on Gukurahundi. This way the President and his Government are weakened. They are supposed to be afraid of Gukurahundi. Gukurahundi should instil fear into the whole Government.

Seka zvako Bishop Lazarus. There is this famous statement which says; "A man that flees from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it." Does Prof Moyo really think President Mnangagwa is the type that will decide to take a short cut to meet his fear? What does education do to some people?

Anyway, Prof Moyo will soon realise that he is fooling himself to think he has seized the Gukurahundi discourse. In fact he will soon realise kuti ndiye ega ari kutya nyaya yeGukurahundi.

The nutty professor has already sprang into action. Mischievous action as usual. Victims of Gukurahundi, some fictitious are being unearthed. Suddenly, the professor is going to bed with organisations such as Mthwakazi.

We all know Prof Moyo's views on Mthwakazi but the professor is doing what he knows best — use them for his convenience and use them to fight his personal fights. He did that to former First Lady, Grace Mugabe. He did that to poor Saviour Kasukuwere and he did that to Patrick "who never learns" Zhuwao. Now the political careers of these comrades are in ruins. Imagine what the former First Lady must be going through now. Imagine what Kasukuwere must be thinking. As for Zhuwao, well, let's wait a little dzungu ritange rapera.

But this Mthwakazi marriage is just kids' play. Prof Moyo is manufacturing fathers and inventing events. He has decided to drag Vice President Chiwenga into the mud. Said Prof Moyo: "Did I raise Gukurahundi issue in government? One example: In 2016 our family sought and got from Tsholotsho RDC a permit to rebury my father Job Mlevu from a shallow gukurahundi grave. Chiwenga's JOC blocked reburial, claiming it was a threat to national security!"

Sekuru vangu Matope (may his soul rest in peace) would say; "Chikomana ichi chaka ngwaropusa." Prof Moyo really thinks he is clever. He thinks we are all dump. This baba vangu Job Mlevu claim is supposed to bring some emotion into his mischief. We are supposed to start feeling sorry for him and we are supposed to be sympathetic. Well, that trick isn't working at all.

Some people, including those whose political careers he has ruined through G40, hate Prof Moyo with a passion. They are not buying this baba vangu nonsense. The full story about this issue will be told one good day. For now, we want Prof Moyo to know that the Mlevus are not happy at all with what he is doing to their name.

Prof Moyo is trying to cook more mischief through the Gukurahundi Bill that he only "resurrects" when he has been chased out of Zanu-PF. He thinks President Mnangagwa and his Government are very afraid of that Bill. Plato once warned: "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." Does Prof Moyo really think President Mnangagwa is afraid of light?

President Mnangagwa got into power knowing fully well that Gukurahundi will be an emotive issue. He got into power fully aware that some fingers were pointing at him regarding this issue. A few years ago, he told the New Statesman that; "How do I become the enforce during Gukurahundi? …we had the president, the minister of defence, the commander of the army, and I was none of that."

Just a few weeks ago, former Didymus Mutasa of all people came out saying; "Actually, I don't see why he is the only one blamed for Gukurahundi, the whole Cabinet during that time must be blamed, for some time Enos Nkala was Defence minister.

"Nkala hated Zapu so much. I know him very well and I know all the former big guns, we used to argue about that, but nobody has ever mentioned Nkala, so why blame him alone, there was JOC which had people, why are they not blamed, you keep blaming Mnangagwa…"

I have quoted President Mnangagwa and Mutasa not to emphasise the point that whole Cabinet and JOC at that time should also be blamed. I don't believe in sub-contracting blame. The idea is to make Prof Moyo aware that President Mnangagwa is fully aware that some people point fingers at him regarding the Gukurahundi issue.

Now with that at the back of his mind, does Prof Moyo really think the President walked into his position blind-folded? Does he really think Ngwena would want to become the country's President without thinking about how he will deal effectively with the Gukurahundi issue?

President Mnangagwa has already signed the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill into law and if that doesn't tell Prof Moyo any story, then muzvina fundo vanoda rubatsiro rwakanyanyisa.

Prof Moyo should not be fooled by the fact that pavari kuvukura vukura no one is responding. He can't control the Gukurahundi discourse. The Gukurahundi issue will be addressed and it will be addressed from a Government perspective.

There is no amount of mischief that will scare President Mnangagwa and his Government from dealing with Gukurahundi head-on. The people of Matabeleland should know that Prof Moyo has no solution and cannot assist them in getting closure on Gukurahundi. While for the people of Matabeleland, Gukurahundi is a real issue that needs to be addressed, for Prof Moyo it's a convenient piece of history that he uses whenever he has issues with Zanu-PF. President Mnangagwa is better positioned to deal with Gukurahundi than an ungrateful refugee who has mastered the art of playing with the emotions of the people of Matabeleland.

Someone once said: "If you give too much value to the pain of the past and uncertainty of the future, you'll waste the power of today." The people of Matabeleland should not allow Prof Moyo to waste their power of today.

Bishop is out!