Zimbabweans don't need to be paid by the US to reject oppression, Mr. Mnangagwa!

It never ceases to amaze!

Can there be anything more demeaning than an entire nation being regarded as dimwits by its own leaders?

What can be more insulting than your own government accusing you of being paid by foreign forces whenever you decide to stand up for yourself against an oppressive system?

What says, "Zimbabweans can't think for themselves and whenever they seem to think, it's because white people told them so", than the condescending statements we regularly hear from the ZANU PF regime?

Surely, are we as ordinary Zimbabweans supposed to meekly accept the untold suffering and impoverishment authored by those in power without ever standing up for ourselves?

Are we expected to always celebrate and be immensely grateful for the mediocrity and crumbs thrown at us from the table of the wealthy ruling elite?

Are we supposed to just look on in idiotic silence as those in power loot all our national resources with reckless abandon and enriching themselves at our expense?

Is that the 'African' and 'patriotic' thing to do?

And, when we finally resist and refuse to be treated as second-class citizens in our own country, we are accused of not thinking for ourselves!

So, no black person or Zimbabwean is expected to think for him or herself!

When we begin speaking out and standing up against our painful repression at the hands of those in government, it must mean there are some white people behind it!

This is the message we always seem to hear from the President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa regime.

Only yesterday, and definitely not for the first time (nor will it be the last), there was a report in the state-controlled The Herald newspaper to the effect that those ostensibly planning to demonstrate during the forthcoming SADC Summit in Harare had been paid handsomely by the US.

The ZANU PF mouthpiece claimed to have information from unnamed 'informed sources' that opposition leaders Job Sikhala and Jacob Ngarivhume had been given 'thousands of dollars' by  US-based institutions for supposed 'nefarious ends'.

Sikhala leads the NDWG (National Democratic Working Group) with Ngarivhume leading Transform Zimbabwe.

The two are alleged to be bankrolled by USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the Brenthurst Foundation to 'destabilize the country and undermine Zimbabwe'.

Wow!

What are these 'nefarious ends' which seek to 'destabilize the country and undermine Zimbabwe' which Sikhala and Ngarivhume are accused of planning?

Well, according to the government-controlled publication, they are spearheading 'anti-government demonstrations in Zimbabwe', particularly during the 44th Ordinary SADC Heads of State and Government Summit scheduled for 17th August 2024.

There are three problems I have with this narrative!

Firstly, as far as the Mnangagwa administration is concerned, the only reason the people of Zimbabwe can be aggrieved with their government is after being paid 'thousands of dollars'.

As I have already highlighted, the Zimbabwe ruling elite do not believe black people are capable of thinking for themselves.

We should all be alright with being oppressed and impoverished by those in power without complaining.

Whenever we finally say 'enough is enough' this can only mean that white people would have influenced and paid us!

I feel so degraded and insulted even as I am writing this article.

What type of leaders look down upon their own people in such an arrogant fashion?

Let me tell Mnangagwa and his regime that we are not imbeciles.

Black Zimbabweans are just as capable as everyone else around the world of seeing when they are being treated horribly, unjustly, and cruelly.

In fact, it is well within our rights as ordinary citizens to stand up against this repression by those in power.

This brings me to my second point.

What is so wrong with Zimbabweans conducting so-called 'anti-government demonstrations'?

What is so 'nefarious' about demonstrating against the government, such that the ZANU PF mouthpiece (The Herald) would label that as 'destabilizing the country and undermining Zimbabwe'?

So, in the book of the ruling elite, standing up against the suffering and impoverishment we have endured at their hands is some act of 'unpatriotism'?

For them, a 'good patriotic black Zimbabwean' should not complain when he or she is being repressed and subjugated?

If he or she dares do that, then the whiteman must be behind it?

In fact, we need to be paid 'thousands of dollars' for us to finally stand up for ourselves against our own oppression!

Again, I do not think I have ever felt so demeaned in my life!

I have a question for Mnangagwa.

When they (nationalist movements) decided to rise up against colonial oppression, who had influenced and paid them 'thousands of dollars'?

Were they paid by the Chinese and Russians - who directly backed the liberation struggle?

Maybe those in power are speaking from experience!

Is it possible that, had they not been paid 'thousands of dollars' by the Chinese and Russians, there would not have taken up arms to fight for independence?

Would Mnangagwa and company have simply sat by as the colonial regime segregated against them?

If not, why then do they honestly believe we are different from their generation?

Why should we be the ones who can not think for ourselves and need to be paid 'thousands of dollars' by the US to finally resist repression and stand up for our rights?

Again, I ask: What is so wrong with staging 'anti-government demonstrations'?

At what point of exercising our section 59 constitutional right to peacefully demonstrate can this be characterized as 'destabilizing the country and undermining Zimbabwe'?

Finally, since the state-controlled newspaper is making such audacious and clearly inflammatory accusations against Sikhala and Ngarivhume, what evidence do they possess?

In the publication's outrageous article, they appeared to paint an image of these two opposition figures posing some form of security threat.

That is a very serious accusation, which can not be made with mere generalizations based on unsubstantiated statements by unnamed 'informed sources'.

If the country is genuinely in danger of 'destabilization' and being 'undermined', surely the newspaper should have proffered incontrovertible evidence to back their very grave accusations.

As a journalist myself - with over three decades of experience under my belt - I know that basic ethics dictate that accusations of such a serious nature must be backed up with tangible proof.

Let us say, for example, I accuse Minister A of unprocedurally awarding a tender to Company Y, to which he is linked, for a contract whose costs were inflated many times.

I can not just publish the story, which has such grave implications, without presenting evidence - normally in the form of documentation, such as tender agreements, LOA (Letter of Authority), quotations, and invoices, amongst others.

I can not simply quote 'informed sources'.

As a matter of fact, that can easily open the door for legal action against me.

So, why did The Herald not provide any verifiable evidence to their wild claims against Sikhala and Ngarivhume?

My own understanding of the inner workings of newsrooms and experience living under the ZANU PF regime may offer an answer.

These allegations by the state-controlled publication are, in all likelihood, a mere smear campaign against the two opposition leaders.

The potentially defamatory stories against Sikhala and Ngarivhume were possibly created either at ZANU PF headquarters, ministry of information, or at the newspaper itself.

The objective is quite simple.

One, this is a carefully designed plot to discredit and tarnish the image of Sikhala and Ngarivhume - in the hope of making them lose public support.

Two, the regime is most possibly planning to arrest the renowned opposition leaders by painting them as a security threat.

Let us not forget that these two have been arrested and incarcerated before, on charges that were later to be proved trumped up.

The outspoken NDWG leader endured nearly 600 days of pre-conviction detention - after being repeatedly denied bail by the courts.

Sikhala, who has been arrested 68 times by the ZANU PF junta, was subsequently found guilty for violating a non-existent law, which had been struck off the statute books by the Constitutional Court way back in October 2013.

Fortunately, on 22nd July 2024, both conviction and sentence were overturned and quashed by the High Court after appeal.

The same fate faced Ngarivhume, who was arrested and sentenced to an effective three years in jail for allegedly inciting public violence without a single piece of prima facie evidence.

His conviction and sentence were, nonetheless, eventually overturned by the High Court after appeal in December 2023.

However, this was not before he had already spent eight months behind bars.

I am sure we can all see a disturbing pattern here.

These are exactly the same two men now being accused by The Herald of planning to 'destabilize the country and undermine Zimbabwe'!

What more, without offering a shred of evidence.

This, as far as I am concerned, is another dirty scheme to arrest these leaders - and likely, as has become the norm, deny them bail so that they languish in prison for no crime at all.

It should be unequivocally pointed out that Zimbabweans are free to demonstrate against the government, as long as it is done peacefully.

There is absolutely nothing 'destabilizing the country and undermining Zimbabwe' about exercising one's rights.

● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/