Opinion / Columnist
If Dzamara's death spur the realization that everybody's business in NOT nobody's then his death was not in vain
22 Jan 2016 at 01:36hrs | Views
Everybody's business is nobody's business; this is something that has been ingrained in every Zimbabwean's psycho which is why most loath doing anything "for the national or public good". Even if they know the tasks needs doing, they will expect others to do it at no inconvenience to themselves.
It is no wonder then that public duty of holding the rulers to account has been avoided by all Zimbabweans leaving Mugabe and his cronies to do as they pleased. Zanu PF have enjoyed absolute power for 36 years and the chickens of their misrule have come home to roost and the nation paying with tears of blood for its folly.
In the 1990s the Zanu PF regime adopted the IMF and WB sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP), marking the end of the regime's free spending, at least on the areas affecting the masses. The regime started to implement savage cuts in such areas as health and educations triggering the yearly student demonstrations of the time. It was this time that I met a mother who had a son at UZ, she strongly objected to these UZ student demos.
She accepted the two main student grievances; one, that cutting education funding would reduce the quality of education and the make it inaccessible to students from poor families. Two, that the regime was cutting education funding because students were are soft-targets whilst doing nothing to cut the bloated cabinet and army, for example, where there was real waste of resources. The crux of her objection to student demos was as simple as it was selfish she did not wanted the demos to disrupt her son's studies.
"Peter will be the first University graduate in the family," she argued with finality.
No one could deny that the demos disrupted the students' studies and, yes the regime had expelled a number of students as part of its draconian measures to subdue the students. But society has to accept that the task of defending public good will entail some inconveniences and risk especially when dealing with a corrupt and indifferent regime that did not care about public good. By failing to make a decisive stand from the start the regime has continued to make even more and more savage cuts confident that society will never object.
If our commitment to the common good is to be tampered with selfish individual considerations then there will be nobody left to serve the common good. If the truth be told, every year there is bound to be many students who will be "the first University graduates in the family".
It was clear that Peter, the lady's son, was "not interested in student politics" as he said. He had been at one of the few very high-fee paying Colleges, which were the haunt of white students. The students played rugby and cricket and not football. Peter had toured Europe playing rugby in his last two senior years.
He spoke with a pronounced British accent; speaking through his nose than mouth hence the moniker the "Nose brigade!" In the end he paid dearly for his complete disinterest in what was going on at the University.
One day, wearing his trade mark NYC base-ball cap back to front with earphone plugged in his ears, he blundered into the Riot Police. Instead of turning back and find another route he ploughed on confident the Riot Police would see he was a cut above the other students. After all he was a Minister's son!
The only thing the Riot Police noticed with great interest was that Peter was defenceless; Riot Police are like the cowardly hyena whose instinct to attack soars the more helpless the victim happens to be. The Riot Police were all over Peter like army ants attacking a hatchling.
Fearing for his life, Peter forgot his "nosing" and screamed for help in Shona with a "pronounced strong rural accent", according to the students who heard him and rescued him.
Sadly the students lost the battle of stopping Zanu PF cutting funding for education and the quality of education has suffered. Zimbabwe produces 50 000 plus University graduates every year; Mugabe, being the Chancellor of all the 20 or so Universities, caps them all himself. Many of these graduates have honours degrees and yet do not even know what a verb is! No wonder Zanu PF Chefs have been sending their children to SA, UK, USA, Far East, etc. for their University studies!
It is on the economic front that the nation has paid the heaviest price for allowing Mugabe to do as he pleased. 36 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken their toll; the economy now lies in ruins, millions are out of work, basic services like health have all but collapsed, etc. To make matters worse, the country is facing a serious drought this year, unlike in the past when the nation have some grain in its silos this time the silos are empty.
The international community has often stepped in to help feed the nation; this time it has Syria, Yemen and other hotspots to help. Besides, donors know Mugabe is pocketing $2 billion a years from all the looting and plunder on in Marange and Chiadzwa; clearly the nation is rich and can feed its own people if it stopped being so wasteful.
Donors do not see why the Zimbabwean people themselves had done nothing all these years to stop the looting and plunder! There has to be a lot more Zimbabweans demanding change than the lone rangers like Itai Dzamara.
Itai Dzamara did not wait for others to tell Mugabe that he had failed and must go. He wrote the protest letter and delivered it to Mugabe. Only a handful of friends stood by him in Africa Square when he staged his sit-in; that too did not deter them. Few people even bother to give him and his friends a word of encouragement even within the context anonymity of the internet and social media.
On 9 March 2016, it will be a full year since Itai Dzamara was kidnapped by the Zanu PF operative never to be seen again. Itai said things we all should have been saying but never had the guts to speak. There will be many gatherings to remember Itai and what he stood for it is high time Zimbabweans from all walks of life stood, as Itai did, and demanded an end to this criminal waste of human and material resource by this corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe regime.
Join the Dzamara commemoration not just to show your support of Itai but to protest the regime's failure to have drugs in our hospitals now when you still have the energy to do so because when you are sick and dying for lack of the medicine, it will be too late.
If by his death, Itai Dzamara has spurred Zimbabweans into finally realizing that business of holding leaders to account and fighting for good governance is everybody's business and we constitute the first person in the count of everybody and that we must make our make our contributions with all our heart, soul and sinew then his sacrifice and death were not in vain!
It is no wonder then that public duty of holding the rulers to account has been avoided by all Zimbabweans leaving Mugabe and his cronies to do as they pleased. Zanu PF have enjoyed absolute power for 36 years and the chickens of their misrule have come home to roost and the nation paying with tears of blood for its folly.
In the 1990s the Zanu PF regime adopted the IMF and WB sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP), marking the end of the regime's free spending, at least on the areas affecting the masses. The regime started to implement savage cuts in such areas as health and educations triggering the yearly student demonstrations of the time. It was this time that I met a mother who had a son at UZ, she strongly objected to these UZ student demos.
She accepted the two main student grievances; one, that cutting education funding would reduce the quality of education and the make it inaccessible to students from poor families. Two, that the regime was cutting education funding because students were are soft-targets whilst doing nothing to cut the bloated cabinet and army, for example, where there was real waste of resources. The crux of her objection to student demos was as simple as it was selfish she did not wanted the demos to disrupt her son's studies.
"Peter will be the first University graduate in the family," she argued with finality.
No one could deny that the demos disrupted the students' studies and, yes the regime had expelled a number of students as part of its draconian measures to subdue the students. But society has to accept that the task of defending public good will entail some inconveniences and risk especially when dealing with a corrupt and indifferent regime that did not care about public good. By failing to make a decisive stand from the start the regime has continued to make even more and more savage cuts confident that society will never object.
If our commitment to the common good is to be tampered with selfish individual considerations then there will be nobody left to serve the common good. If the truth be told, every year there is bound to be many students who will be "the first University graduates in the family".
It was clear that Peter, the lady's son, was "not interested in student politics" as he said. He had been at one of the few very high-fee paying Colleges, which were the haunt of white students. The students played rugby and cricket and not football. Peter had toured Europe playing rugby in his last two senior years.
He spoke with a pronounced British accent; speaking through his nose than mouth hence the moniker the "Nose brigade!" In the end he paid dearly for his complete disinterest in what was going on at the University.
One day, wearing his trade mark NYC base-ball cap back to front with earphone plugged in his ears, he blundered into the Riot Police. Instead of turning back and find another route he ploughed on confident the Riot Police would see he was a cut above the other students. After all he was a Minister's son!
Fearing for his life, Peter forgot his "nosing" and screamed for help in Shona with a "pronounced strong rural accent", according to the students who heard him and rescued him.
Sadly the students lost the battle of stopping Zanu PF cutting funding for education and the quality of education has suffered. Zimbabwe produces 50 000 plus University graduates every year; Mugabe, being the Chancellor of all the 20 or so Universities, caps them all himself. Many of these graduates have honours degrees and yet do not even know what a verb is! No wonder Zanu PF Chefs have been sending their children to SA, UK, USA, Far East, etc. for their University studies!
It is on the economic front that the nation has paid the heaviest price for allowing Mugabe to do as he pleased. 36 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken their toll; the economy now lies in ruins, millions are out of work, basic services like health have all but collapsed, etc. To make matters worse, the country is facing a serious drought this year, unlike in the past when the nation have some grain in its silos this time the silos are empty.
The international community has often stepped in to help feed the nation; this time it has Syria, Yemen and other hotspots to help. Besides, donors know Mugabe is pocketing $2 billion a years from all the looting and plunder on in Marange and Chiadzwa; clearly the nation is rich and can feed its own people if it stopped being so wasteful.
Donors do not see why the Zimbabwean people themselves had done nothing all these years to stop the looting and plunder! There has to be a lot more Zimbabweans demanding change than the lone rangers like Itai Dzamara.
Itai Dzamara did not wait for others to tell Mugabe that he had failed and must go. He wrote the protest letter and delivered it to Mugabe. Only a handful of friends stood by him in Africa Square when he staged his sit-in; that too did not deter them. Few people even bother to give him and his friends a word of encouragement even within the context anonymity of the internet and social media.
On 9 March 2016, it will be a full year since Itai Dzamara was kidnapped by the Zanu PF operative never to be seen again. Itai said things we all should have been saying but never had the guts to speak. There will be many gatherings to remember Itai and what he stood for it is high time Zimbabweans from all walks of life stood, as Itai did, and demanded an end to this criminal waste of human and material resource by this corrupt and tyrannical Mugabe regime.
Join the Dzamara commemoration not just to show your support of Itai but to protest the regime's failure to have drugs in our hospitals now when you still have the energy to do so because when you are sick and dying for lack of the medicine, it will be too late.
If by his death, Itai Dzamara has spurred Zimbabweans into finally realizing that business of holding leaders to account and fighting for good governance is everybody's business and we constitute the first person in the count of everybody and that we must make our make our contributions with all our heart, soul and sinew then his sacrifice and death were not in vain!
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.co.uk
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.
