Opinion / Columnist
No single individual, group, or political party can fight an entrenched dictator alone
21 Aug 2023 at 09:22hrs | Views
Whatever happens in Zimbabwe on 23 August 2023, we must pay homage to both President Mnangagwa and his challengers for the prevailing peace in this hotly contested plebiscite. The receptivity of President Mnangagwa to democratic change must be applauded; his peace and love message will definitely go down in our history book as a first in Africa and will influence the character and course of change in Zimbabwe be it in 2023 or in the future. He has demonstrated that he is a great statesman.
My message to the opposition parties is clear: The ZANU PF regime has shown some willingness to accept change by advocating for a nonviolent, peaceful election campaign period from the highest office on land. This is commendable for a nation that has been characterized with violent election campaigns punctuated with murders and brutalities. Opposition politicians and the international communities must jump and embrace this new development in the country. They must repeat the same love and peace message to their supporters.
We must learn from history; such willingness to change from dictators were observed in the former Soviet republics, which formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the color revolutions (Romania and Yugoslavia were exceptions were more violent and protracted). The former Soviet republics broke away peacefully from the former Soviet Union because the communist apparatchiks had already accepted the need for reform. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev had introduced glasnost and perestroika (restructuring), which resulted in the Singing and Velvet Revolutions.
Whatever the outcome of the 2023 elections is; change message has succeeded and peace has prevailed because the ruling elites have accepted the need to reform their ramshackle political systems even though there have been no of street protests triggered by steep hikes in the prices of basic necessities or some crude attempt by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to conduct a fraudulent election, manipulation of the constitution, or some bald-faced attempt to impose a new political order in which the certain stakeholders dominated.
The love and peace message has only one intend - willingness to change.
My message to the opposition parties is clear: The ZANU PF regime has shown some willingness to accept change by advocating for a nonviolent, peaceful election campaign period from the highest office on land. This is commendable for a nation that has been characterized with violent election campaigns punctuated with murders and brutalities. Opposition politicians and the international communities must jump and embrace this new development in the country. They must repeat the same love and peace message to their supporters.
Whatever the outcome of the 2023 elections is; change message has succeeded and peace has prevailed because the ruling elites have accepted the need to reform their ramshackle political systems even though there have been no of street protests triggered by steep hikes in the prices of basic necessities or some crude attempt by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to conduct a fraudulent election, manipulation of the constitution, or some bald-faced attempt to impose a new political order in which the certain stakeholders dominated.
The love and peace message has only one intend - willingness to change.
Source - Sam Wezhira
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