Opinion / Columnist
We celebrate the release of the iconic Blessed Mhlanga!
7 hrs ago | Views
People who believe in the dignity of mankind are happy today: Blessed Mhlanga is out of a notorious prison. Seeing him coming out of prison reminded me of Comrade Mandela, when he left Robbin Island for the first time after 27 years of incarceration. It is not the length of time one spent in prison: who spent more time than the other; Nelson Mandela or Blessed Mhlanga. There is another of measure the two giants: Mandela's prison cells conditions were human than the Zimbabwean remand prisons. Mhlanga was subjected to hard-core criminals who deserved imprisonment. Robbin Island was exclusively a prison for political motivated people deemed by an apartheid regime as criminals. All occupants in Robbin Island shared a common goal, to free Black people from oppression. Mhlanga is a journalist by profession whose rights are enshrined in the country's constitution; he should never have been subjected to jail conditions.
Blessed Mhlanga is a victim of a dictatorship government of Zanu PF and equally a victim of a geo-political situation. Previously before the war in Ukraine broke out, third-world countries were human-rights checked by the USA and Europe. They criticized third world countries for their human rights atrocities and put sanctions on whoever violented them. This time around, western countries are embroiled in a blanket support of Ukraine whose human rights abuses are deeply horrifying. In Ukraine prison, activist Gonzalo Lira was murdered, although he was an American citizen. There was no condemnation of his death on social media: it was dead silence. His family cried his death alone and several other alternative social media outlets. In Ukraine prisons, there are opposition leaders, Orthodox Catholic priests and the closing of churches that critiqued Zelensky's government openly, young men who tried to escape conscription, the list is long, are languishing in Ukraine prisons. Western countries have never directly criticized President Zelensky, and the lack of transparency in dealing with dissenting voices, thereby exposing double standards in their human rights approach.
The African Union was silent about the fate of Blessed Mhlanga. South Africa and SADC too, remained silent about Blessed Mhlanga's incarceration. Again in South Africa, a young man, Nyokayemabhunu is currently in prison whose charges constantly shift every day to mean different. He could face extradition to face Zanu PF notorious jail or death. The nation must expect the worst about what could happen to him. Our son Itai Dzamara disappeared without a trace: Its 8 years of total silence about what happened to him. I lived in Zambia in the 1970s, I know stories about how members in Zanu were executed and eliminated if there were differences in executing the war; Dare re Chimurenga. Advocate Chitepo's car was bombed, Dr. Edgar Madekurozva was told to dig his grave: then after he was hit by the same pick he used. General Tongogara was gunned down on his way to Zimbabwe. Perceived sellouts were burnt to death: people were frog-marched to come and witness the burning of whoever was a sellout. Petty thieves were beaten until they passed out. Women were used as sex mules. There was no decency whatsoever in the treatment of women during the struggle.
Curiously there is a general mood, rekindling events that transpired during the struggle for independence. These young people on social media are glorifying what they don't know. Language use is the same: anyone who differs from the general thinking is a sellout. A lady called Chimhama has been selected from the rest to be the sellout. This framing will not wash anytime soon. It is the same modus operandi that was used during the struggle for independence. Whoever does not agree with the majority; anyone who dared to challenge the common sentiment is a sellout. I sympathize with Lady Chimhama deeply. This binary thinking: it's either black or white; you are bad or good, you are a sellout and not a sellout! It happens in a nation that never healed from its past. There was never a time the nation reflected about national historicity's carrying a collective pain - a pain silently packaged to the next generation.
I have been following Lady Chimhama and her eloquent social media input. Zimbabweans cannot cope with her intellect and a photogenic face. She has done a lot of groundwork to assist with the change we all want to see. But this Chunu Chedu is deeply ingrained in our societies. She is outsmarting many in the struggle for change; the same fate that Chitepo and several of them perished for. A Zimbabwean can create a story for you to permanently sink you into political oblivion. We all want to be Presidents at the same time, and to be at the top of a larger scheme of things. To cross that platitude, you become a sellout overnight. This template of thinking is cancerous in a society manifesting itself to total self-destruction. Whoever disagrees gets a name tag to discredit and crush the person, it did not matter how innocent Chimhama is: she is Murakashi, period! I bet with my last penny, Chimhama is innocent: a pure victim of time and space.
We must never stop praying: 95 activists are still languishing in prison. Mnangagwa knows deep down in his heart that they are innocent. But these 95 young activists continue to be punished because he wants to send a message of what happens if we demonstrate against him. Mnangagwa is a cold-blooded, murderer, evidently has no feeling for the other human being. It becomes impossible to appeal to his humanity to release baseless accusations of crimes labelled against activists. These 95 activists are not criminals, but followed wrong instructions of a pseudo revolution, unprepared, unmanaged, its leaders were not on the ground but hidden somewhere to watch demonstrations unfolding on air-ventilated posh rooms of South Africa.
It pains me to realize that many people are still blinded by the Geza revolution that has so far not realized anything on the ground, a joke of the century. Even the envisaged impeachment processes did not take place. Geza's face is getting to be an object of pity on social media. In retrospect, Geza must be told in no uncertain terms whatsoever, that he is playing with the lives of the people for his narrow-thought purposes. He has no cards left for him to play. What next? Slowly, people are going back to their day-to-day struggles to survive. Much as I want change in Zimbabwe, we don't have leadership that can stand with the people against a regime so cruel as Mnangagwa regime. We would rather wait for a genuine leader than Chiwenga and Chamisa as alternatives to leadership. Chamisa has lost all credibility to take over from Mnangagwa. He has lost his charm he once had. Zimbabwe currently needs some young female leader to lead this nation. That leader is Fadzai Mahere!
We hope Blessed recovers from his imprisonment soon. We hope he will continue his journalism profession he loves best without fear or favour. He should never compromise his values to suite the Mnangagwa government. All prayers must go to Nyokayemabhunu. We want our son alive. We want this young man free. We differed with his ideas; however, we do not want him harmed. Nyokayemabhunu is a very capable man, intelligent; there is lot he can give to our nation to thrive for the betterment of all. Disagreeing with him does not mean he must be murdered. We are celebrating the fall of a nasty dictatorship of Adolf Hitler' WW2 tomorrow, the 9th of May. We hope Mnangagwa will fall soon. Only then can the nation start the process of healing.
Blessed Mhlanga is a victim of a dictatorship government of Zanu PF and equally a victim of a geo-political situation. Previously before the war in Ukraine broke out, third-world countries were human-rights checked by the USA and Europe. They criticized third world countries for their human rights atrocities and put sanctions on whoever violented them. This time around, western countries are embroiled in a blanket support of Ukraine whose human rights abuses are deeply horrifying. In Ukraine prison, activist Gonzalo Lira was murdered, although he was an American citizen. There was no condemnation of his death on social media: it was dead silence. His family cried his death alone and several other alternative social media outlets. In Ukraine prisons, there are opposition leaders, Orthodox Catholic priests and the closing of churches that critiqued Zelensky's government openly, young men who tried to escape conscription, the list is long, are languishing in Ukraine prisons. Western countries have never directly criticized President Zelensky, and the lack of transparency in dealing with dissenting voices, thereby exposing double standards in their human rights approach.
The African Union was silent about the fate of Blessed Mhlanga. South Africa and SADC too, remained silent about Blessed Mhlanga's incarceration. Again in South Africa, a young man, Nyokayemabhunu is currently in prison whose charges constantly shift every day to mean different. He could face extradition to face Zanu PF notorious jail or death. The nation must expect the worst about what could happen to him. Our son Itai Dzamara disappeared without a trace: Its 8 years of total silence about what happened to him. I lived in Zambia in the 1970s, I know stories about how members in Zanu were executed and eliminated if there were differences in executing the war; Dare re Chimurenga. Advocate Chitepo's car was bombed, Dr. Edgar Madekurozva was told to dig his grave: then after he was hit by the same pick he used. General Tongogara was gunned down on his way to Zimbabwe. Perceived sellouts were burnt to death: people were frog-marched to come and witness the burning of whoever was a sellout. Petty thieves were beaten until they passed out. Women were used as sex mules. There was no decency whatsoever in the treatment of women during the struggle.
Curiously there is a general mood, rekindling events that transpired during the struggle for independence. These young people on social media are glorifying what they don't know. Language use is the same: anyone who differs from the general thinking is a sellout. A lady called Chimhama has been selected from the rest to be the sellout. This framing will not wash anytime soon. It is the same modus operandi that was used during the struggle for independence. Whoever does not agree with the majority; anyone who dared to challenge the common sentiment is a sellout. I sympathize with Lady Chimhama deeply. This binary thinking: it's either black or white; you are bad or good, you are a sellout and not a sellout! It happens in a nation that never healed from its past. There was never a time the nation reflected about national historicity's carrying a collective pain - a pain silently packaged to the next generation.
I have been following Lady Chimhama and her eloquent social media input. Zimbabweans cannot cope with her intellect and a photogenic face. She has done a lot of groundwork to assist with the change we all want to see. But this Chunu Chedu is deeply ingrained in our societies. She is outsmarting many in the struggle for change; the same fate that Chitepo and several of them perished for. A Zimbabwean can create a story for you to permanently sink you into political oblivion. We all want to be Presidents at the same time, and to be at the top of a larger scheme of things. To cross that platitude, you become a sellout overnight. This template of thinking is cancerous in a society manifesting itself to total self-destruction. Whoever disagrees gets a name tag to discredit and crush the person, it did not matter how innocent Chimhama is: she is Murakashi, period! I bet with my last penny, Chimhama is innocent: a pure victim of time and space.
We must never stop praying: 95 activists are still languishing in prison. Mnangagwa knows deep down in his heart that they are innocent. But these 95 young activists continue to be punished because he wants to send a message of what happens if we demonstrate against him. Mnangagwa is a cold-blooded, murderer, evidently has no feeling for the other human being. It becomes impossible to appeal to his humanity to release baseless accusations of crimes labelled against activists. These 95 activists are not criminals, but followed wrong instructions of a pseudo revolution, unprepared, unmanaged, its leaders were not on the ground but hidden somewhere to watch demonstrations unfolding on air-ventilated posh rooms of South Africa.
It pains me to realize that many people are still blinded by the Geza revolution that has so far not realized anything on the ground, a joke of the century. Even the envisaged impeachment processes did not take place. Geza's face is getting to be an object of pity on social media. In retrospect, Geza must be told in no uncertain terms whatsoever, that he is playing with the lives of the people for his narrow-thought purposes. He has no cards left for him to play. What next? Slowly, people are going back to their day-to-day struggles to survive. Much as I want change in Zimbabwe, we don't have leadership that can stand with the people against a regime so cruel as Mnangagwa regime. We would rather wait for a genuine leader than Chiwenga and Chamisa as alternatives to leadership. Chamisa has lost all credibility to take over from Mnangagwa. He has lost his charm he once had. Zimbabwe currently needs some young female leader to lead this nation. That leader is Fadzai Mahere!
We hope Blessed recovers from his imprisonment soon. We hope he will continue his journalism profession he loves best without fear or favour. He should never compromise his values to suite the Mnangagwa government. All prayers must go to Nyokayemabhunu. We want our son alive. We want this young man free. We differed with his ideas; however, we do not want him harmed. Nyokayemabhunu is a very capable man, intelligent; there is lot he can give to our nation to thrive for the betterment of all. Disagreeing with him does not mean he must be murdered. We are celebrating the fall of a nasty dictatorship of Adolf Hitler' WW2 tomorrow, the 9th of May. We hope Mnangagwa will fall soon. Only then can the nation start the process of healing.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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