Opinion / Columnist
Mnangagwa's declaration of war condemned
06 Jun 2019 at 15:37hrs | Views
In a display of pure arrogance of incumbency the Emmerson Mnangagwa administration yesterday continued on its deleterious path by banning the citizens' right to register their discontentment through peaceful demonstrations.
The ill-informed decision is a clear testimony that this quasi-military ensemble purporting to be a government of the people is itching for an adversarial relationship with the law abiding and peace loving citizenry.
Simply put the criminalization of the only remaining mass communication channel is a clear declaration of war on citizens by this trigger happy junta regime.
For a government that has already shut airwaves by shrinking media space, banning the people's only expression channel ,demonstrations is a signpost that ED is not prepared to listen to the voice of people which he ironically referred to as a voice of God.
When the Waterloo is nigh for any dictatorship, banning of the demonstrations becomes the signal especially in our case.
History has a tendency of repeating itself and oftentimes times giving signal of the omens that lie ahead.
When Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence in 1965, he went on to strew a stringent of repressive laws in a bid to silence the voice of the people.
As we all know, what followed was a head on collision with the masses and a new dawn in 1980.
More recently in September 2016, Robert Mugabe again unilaterally subverted the constitution by outlawing demonstrations.
In response people simply turned streets into their homes and in nothing less than a year Mugabe became history in 2017.
Then enter the voice of the people is the voice of God proponent! This week he decided to set himself on the collision course with the masses groaning under the yoke astronomical prices and cost of living.
The omens are there for all to see! No system has declared war on the people and emerged winners!
This is a time bomb Mr President! As the MDC Youth Assembly we condemn this fascist move by the government to outlaw peaceful demonstrations.
The right to demonstrate and freedom of expression is guaranteed in the constitution and as such we will not allow the regime to panel beat it for their own selfish ends.
The ill-informed decision is a clear testimony that this quasi-military ensemble purporting to be a government of the people is itching for an adversarial relationship with the law abiding and peace loving citizenry.
Simply put the criminalization of the only remaining mass communication channel is a clear declaration of war on citizens by this trigger happy junta regime.
For a government that has already shut airwaves by shrinking media space, banning the people's only expression channel ,demonstrations is a signpost that ED is not prepared to listen to the voice of people which he ironically referred to as a voice of God.
When the Waterloo is nigh for any dictatorship, banning of the demonstrations becomes the signal especially in our case.
History has a tendency of repeating itself and oftentimes times giving signal of the omens that lie ahead.
When Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence in 1965, he went on to strew a stringent of repressive laws in a bid to silence the voice of the people.
As we all know, what followed was a head on collision with the masses and a new dawn in 1980.
More recently in September 2016, Robert Mugabe again unilaterally subverted the constitution by outlawing demonstrations.
In response people simply turned streets into their homes and in nothing less than a year Mugabe became history in 2017.
Then enter the voice of the people is the voice of God proponent! This week he decided to set himself on the collision course with the masses groaning under the yoke astronomical prices and cost of living.
The omens are there for all to see! No system has declared war on the people and emerged winners!
This is a time bomb Mr President! As the MDC Youth Assembly we condemn this fascist move by the government to outlaw peaceful demonstrations.
The right to demonstrate and freedom of expression is guaranteed in the constitution and as such we will not allow the regime to panel beat it for their own selfish ends.
Source - Stephen Sarkozy Chuma
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