Opinion / Columnist
Mutsvangwa, wake up - Zimbabweans are not fooled!
01 Apr 2025 at 22:57hrs | Views
The delusions never end!
Christopher Mutsvangwa, the spokesperson for ZANU-PF, held a press conference today basking in the supposed triumph of Zimbabweans not participating in the planned 31st March protests against President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In his self-congratulatory monologue, Mutsvangwa showered praises on Mnangagwa, attributing the low turnout to the president's so-called exceptional leadership and claiming it was proof of the people's unwavering support for him.
He audaciously asserted that Mnangagwa was improving the country and the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Yet, in his delusions, Mutsvangwa conveniently omitted the stark reality confronting millions of Zimbabweans every day.
Under Mnangagwa's leadership, more people have been plunged into poverty than at any other time in Zimbabwe's history.
According to the World Bank, Zimbabwe has experienced a rise in poverty levels, contrasting with the modest decline observed in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
While Mutsvangwa and his comrades indulge in their illusions of progress, hospitals remain in ruins, schools are collapsing, and critical infrastructure is crumbling.
Millions of Zimbabweans depend on donor aid or handouts to feed their families in a country that cannot even guarantee its citizens a reliable supply of electricity and water.
What makes Mutsvangwa's delusions even more infuriating is his failure to acknowledge the obscene irony of Zimbabwe's reality.
This is a nation abundantly blessed with vast mineral wealth - gold, diamonds, platinum, lithium, and countless other resources - yet only a privileged few within the ruling elite and their cronies are reaping the benefits.
While these individuals amass unimaginable riches, flaunting lavish lifestyles and obscene opulence, the majority of Zimbabweans are trapped in abject poverty, struggling to afford a single decent meal a day.
Billions of dollars in national wealth are looted, smuggled, and siphoned away through corruption, while ordinary citizens endure joblessness, hunger, and a crumbling social infrastructure.
If Zimbabweans truly supported Mnangagwa, as Mutsvangwa ridiculously claims, wouldn't they at least be sharing in the prosperity of their own land?
Is this the so-called progress that Mutsvangwa expects Zimbabweans to rally behind?
If he and his fellow party loyalists were to snap out of their fantasy, they would recognize the real reasons Zimbabweans refrained from participating in the protests.
First and foremost, it is because Mnangagwa presides over a brutal, repressive regime.
Zimbabweans have learned from experience the gruesome consequences of mass action under this government.
Who can forget the merciless massacres of August 2018 and January 2019, where unarmed protesters were gunned down in cold blood by security forces on the streets of Harare?
Only a fool would dare risk their life again in the face of such blatant state-sponsored violence, in the absence of any security guarantees.
Mutsvangwa and his colleagues should understand that the silence of a nation does not equate to support for the regime.
If anything, the fact that ordinary Zimbabweans ignored the government's assurances of a peaceful environment for the 31st March protests and chose to stay home speaks volumes about their distrust of those in power.
The very absence of citizens from their workplaces yesterday was, in itself, a powerful act of defiance - a silent but unmistakable protest against a government that has betrayed its people at every turn.
If Zimbabweans were so firmly behind Mnangagwa, why did they not flood the streets in support of their so-called "beloved leader"?
Their absence was not an endorsement but an unmistakable signal of disinterest in the power struggles consuming the ruling party.
This brings us to another crucial reason Zimbabweans stayed away from the demonstrations.
Many saw these protests as nothing more than a manifestation of internal ZANU-PF factional fights - battles that have nothing to do with the suffering masses.
Zimbabweans learned a painful lesson in November 2017 when they were manipulated into supporting the ouster of Robert Mugabe, believing it was a revolution for democracy and economic renewal.
They genuinely believed - despite warnings from voices like mine, cautioning against being drawn into ZANU-PF's internal power struggles - that removing Mugabe would usher in a new era of democracy and economic growth.
Yet, before the military had even returned to their barracks after the coup d'état, Mnangagwa's faction, having vanquished Grace Mugabe's G40 group, was already triumphantly declaring, "Chinhu chedu" - meaning "this is our thing."
In reality, it was merely a power struggle between two factions of the same corrupt party.
The people's hopes were shattered as the new administration quickly proved to be just as oppressive and corrupt, if not worse, than its predecessor.
Nine months later, the very same security forces that Zimbabweans had celebrated in November 2017 turned their guns on civilians, slaughtering them in cold blood on the same streets where they had once been cheered.
This betrayal remains fresh in Zimbabweans' minds.
They refuse to be used as pawns again in ZANU-PF's internal battles.
Who does not know that those calling for Mnangagwa's removal today are simply pushing for Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to take over?
This is nothing but a replay of 2017, and the people refuse to be fooled again.
If Mutsvangwa is so convinced that the people support his party, let him and his colleagues guarantee the safety of opposition-led demonstrations and see what happens.
Let the government assure citizens that no one will be arrested, tortured, or killed for exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest.
Then we will witness the true feelings of Zimbabweans towards Mnangagwa's leadership.
The people of Zimbabwe are not fools.
They are fed up with the corruption, the suffering, and the lies.
They long for real change, not a change of faces within the same corrupt system.
The silence that Mutsvangwa so arrogantly interprets as support is, in reality, a boiling resentment waiting for the right moment to erupt.
If the ruling elite continues in their delusion, they may soon face a rude awakening when Zimbabweans finally decide they have had enough and rise up to reclaim their country.
Mutsvangwa, please stop dreaming.
© 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://mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com/
Christopher Mutsvangwa, the spokesperson for ZANU-PF, held a press conference today basking in the supposed triumph of Zimbabweans not participating in the planned 31st March protests against President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In his self-congratulatory monologue, Mutsvangwa showered praises on Mnangagwa, attributing the low turnout to the president's so-called exceptional leadership and claiming it was proof of the people's unwavering support for him.
He audaciously asserted that Mnangagwa was improving the country and the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Yet, in his delusions, Mutsvangwa conveniently omitted the stark reality confronting millions of Zimbabweans every day.
Under Mnangagwa's leadership, more people have been plunged into poverty than at any other time in Zimbabwe's history.
According to the World Bank, Zimbabwe has experienced a rise in poverty levels, contrasting with the modest decline observed in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
While Mutsvangwa and his comrades indulge in their illusions of progress, hospitals remain in ruins, schools are collapsing, and critical infrastructure is crumbling.
Millions of Zimbabweans depend on donor aid or handouts to feed their families in a country that cannot even guarantee its citizens a reliable supply of electricity and water.
What makes Mutsvangwa's delusions even more infuriating is his failure to acknowledge the obscene irony of Zimbabwe's reality.
This is a nation abundantly blessed with vast mineral wealth - gold, diamonds, platinum, lithium, and countless other resources - yet only a privileged few within the ruling elite and their cronies are reaping the benefits.
While these individuals amass unimaginable riches, flaunting lavish lifestyles and obscene opulence, the majority of Zimbabweans are trapped in abject poverty, struggling to afford a single decent meal a day.
Billions of dollars in national wealth are looted, smuggled, and siphoned away through corruption, while ordinary citizens endure joblessness, hunger, and a crumbling social infrastructure.
If Zimbabweans truly supported Mnangagwa, as Mutsvangwa ridiculously claims, wouldn't they at least be sharing in the prosperity of their own land?
Is this the so-called progress that Mutsvangwa expects Zimbabweans to rally behind?
If he and his fellow party loyalists were to snap out of their fantasy, they would recognize the real reasons Zimbabweans refrained from participating in the protests.
First and foremost, it is because Mnangagwa presides over a brutal, repressive regime.
Zimbabweans have learned from experience the gruesome consequences of mass action under this government.
Who can forget the merciless massacres of August 2018 and January 2019, where unarmed protesters were gunned down in cold blood by security forces on the streets of Harare?
Only a fool would dare risk their life again in the face of such blatant state-sponsored violence, in the absence of any security guarantees.
Mutsvangwa and his colleagues should understand that the silence of a nation does not equate to support for the regime.
If anything, the fact that ordinary Zimbabweans ignored the government's assurances of a peaceful environment for the 31st March protests and chose to stay home speaks volumes about their distrust of those in power.
The very absence of citizens from their workplaces yesterday was, in itself, a powerful act of defiance - a silent but unmistakable protest against a government that has betrayed its people at every turn.
If Zimbabweans were so firmly behind Mnangagwa, why did they not flood the streets in support of their so-called "beloved leader"?
Their absence was not an endorsement but an unmistakable signal of disinterest in the power struggles consuming the ruling party.
This brings us to another crucial reason Zimbabweans stayed away from the demonstrations.
Many saw these protests as nothing more than a manifestation of internal ZANU-PF factional fights - battles that have nothing to do with the suffering masses.
Zimbabweans learned a painful lesson in November 2017 when they were manipulated into supporting the ouster of Robert Mugabe, believing it was a revolution for democracy and economic renewal.
They genuinely believed - despite warnings from voices like mine, cautioning against being drawn into ZANU-PF's internal power struggles - that removing Mugabe would usher in a new era of democracy and economic growth.
Yet, before the military had even returned to their barracks after the coup d'état, Mnangagwa's faction, having vanquished Grace Mugabe's G40 group, was already triumphantly declaring, "Chinhu chedu" - meaning "this is our thing."
In reality, it was merely a power struggle between two factions of the same corrupt party.
The people's hopes were shattered as the new administration quickly proved to be just as oppressive and corrupt, if not worse, than its predecessor.
Nine months later, the very same security forces that Zimbabweans had celebrated in November 2017 turned their guns on civilians, slaughtering them in cold blood on the same streets where they had once been cheered.
This betrayal remains fresh in Zimbabweans' minds.
They refuse to be used as pawns again in ZANU-PF's internal battles.
Who does not know that those calling for Mnangagwa's removal today are simply pushing for Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to take over?
This is nothing but a replay of 2017, and the people refuse to be fooled again.
If Mutsvangwa is so convinced that the people support his party, let him and his colleagues guarantee the safety of opposition-led demonstrations and see what happens.
Let the government assure citizens that no one will be arrested, tortured, or killed for exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest.
Then we will witness the true feelings of Zimbabweans towards Mnangagwa's leadership.
The people of Zimbabwe are not fools.
They are fed up with the corruption, the suffering, and the lies.
They long for real change, not a change of faces within the same corrupt system.
The silence that Mutsvangwa so arrogantly interprets as support is, in reality, a boiling resentment waiting for the right moment to erupt.
If the ruling elite continues in their delusion, they may soon face a rude awakening when Zimbabweans finally decide they have had enough and rise up to reclaim their country.
Mutsvangwa, please stop dreaming.
© 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://mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
