Opinion / Columnist
This nonsense must stop forthwith
25 Aug 2016 at 11:47hrs | Views
I read in one of the daily tabloids a story in which Zimbabwe was ranked by the United Kingdom based Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) as one of the least livable cities in the world. That ranking has grave economic ramifications as it can sway the perceptions of potential investors and tourists on Zimbabwe.
Questions have been haunting my mind all along on what could have caused that poor ranking. The riotous demonstrations that rocked Harare yesterday thanks to the MDC-T rowdy youths provided an answer to my questions. The MDC-T and its appendages such as the shadowy #ThisFlag campaign, Tajamuka/ Sejikile and #My MyZimbabwe Youths have contributed immensely to the bad worldview of the nation. They have turned this beautiful nation into a country of demonstrations, a country that is not investor friendly.
Of course section 59 of our constitution gives citizens the right to demonstrate. However, that right is further qualified by stating that the right must be exercised peacefully and by unarmed protesters. What we have been witnessing particularly in Harare is an absolute violation of section 59. The way this section has been abused, now calls for its thorough review before further damages are done on the socio-economic fabric of this nation.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in its wisdom has been denying some of these dubious organizations permission to hold demonstrations. Unfortunately, many a times, the courts rendered null and void such denial citing section 59. There is need for the security sector to work in sync with the judiciary for the maintenance of peace and tranquility in this country. The police have a duty to maintain peace in this country. They assess the security situation before making any decision on requests for permission to hold demonstrations. When they say no, most likely they would have foreseen precarious developments ahead. The courts must not overturn such security decisions for the sake of it, lest our nation is turned into a Syria. A symbol risk-benefit analysis will surely inform the courts on what is good for the nation.
Surely, with the level of chaos prevailing in the country, EIU is justified for placing Zimbabwe on 133rd position out of the140 countries included in its 2016 Livability study. There is no investor who can risk his capital to invest in a country with political parties that think that they can assume power through looting other people's hard earned wealth. It is unfortunate that the elders of the MDC-T do not see any wrong in what their youths did. Instead, they always want to shift blame to infiltrators.
Iam personally one of the victims of the rowdy MDC-T youths' demonstrations after my little shop in town was ransacked. My stock worth several thousands of dollars was looted and Iam now grounded to zero. I worked very hard to acquire the little wealth that I had. I have nothing to do with politics, thus it was very unfair to subject me to such barbaric treatment. My whole family including parents in Buhera relied on proceeds from this small shop. Do you expect me to vote for the party that these raucous youths belong to?
Suppose I was punished for being apolitical. What about the man who owns a small shop next to mine. I feel pity for him. The man loves or is it loved the MDC-T with a passion. Everything on him revolves around this party. Unfortunately he was not spared. He was recently in Dubai where he had gone to buy cellphones and other communication gadgets in bulk in anticipation of the forthcoming Christmas season. Alas, everything was looted. I am yet to see him to find out if he is still fond of a party that is a haven for criminals.
While this should not be misconstrued as an open support for Zanu PF, that party had its one million men march where a sea of its youths converged in Harare without an incident. We did not close our shops and in any case, there was a boost in sales on this particular day as youths from outside Harare took that opportunity to shop. One would expect such big gathering to be more violent than when a mere plus or minus 300 MDC-T youths gather.
If I want to join politics today, your guess is as good as mine as to which party I will join. Somebody has to put a stop to this nonsense.
Questions have been haunting my mind all along on what could have caused that poor ranking. The riotous demonstrations that rocked Harare yesterday thanks to the MDC-T rowdy youths provided an answer to my questions. The MDC-T and its appendages such as the shadowy #ThisFlag campaign, Tajamuka/ Sejikile and #My MyZimbabwe Youths have contributed immensely to the bad worldview of the nation. They have turned this beautiful nation into a country of demonstrations, a country that is not investor friendly.
Of course section 59 of our constitution gives citizens the right to demonstrate. However, that right is further qualified by stating that the right must be exercised peacefully and by unarmed protesters. What we have been witnessing particularly in Harare is an absolute violation of section 59. The way this section has been abused, now calls for its thorough review before further damages are done on the socio-economic fabric of this nation.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in its wisdom has been denying some of these dubious organizations permission to hold demonstrations. Unfortunately, many a times, the courts rendered null and void such denial citing section 59. There is need for the security sector to work in sync with the judiciary for the maintenance of peace and tranquility in this country. The police have a duty to maintain peace in this country. They assess the security situation before making any decision on requests for permission to hold demonstrations. When they say no, most likely they would have foreseen precarious developments ahead. The courts must not overturn such security decisions for the sake of it, lest our nation is turned into a Syria. A symbol risk-benefit analysis will surely inform the courts on what is good for the nation.
Surely, with the level of chaos prevailing in the country, EIU is justified for placing Zimbabwe on 133rd position out of the140 countries included in its 2016 Livability study. There is no investor who can risk his capital to invest in a country with political parties that think that they can assume power through looting other people's hard earned wealth. It is unfortunate that the elders of the MDC-T do not see any wrong in what their youths did. Instead, they always want to shift blame to infiltrators.
Iam personally one of the victims of the rowdy MDC-T youths' demonstrations after my little shop in town was ransacked. My stock worth several thousands of dollars was looted and Iam now grounded to zero. I worked very hard to acquire the little wealth that I had. I have nothing to do with politics, thus it was very unfair to subject me to such barbaric treatment. My whole family including parents in Buhera relied on proceeds from this small shop. Do you expect me to vote for the party that these raucous youths belong to?
Suppose I was punished for being apolitical. What about the man who owns a small shop next to mine. I feel pity for him. The man loves or is it loved the MDC-T with a passion. Everything on him revolves around this party. Unfortunately he was not spared. He was recently in Dubai where he had gone to buy cellphones and other communication gadgets in bulk in anticipation of the forthcoming Christmas season. Alas, everything was looted. I am yet to see him to find out if he is still fond of a party that is a haven for criminals.
While this should not be misconstrued as an open support for Zanu PF, that party had its one million men march where a sea of its youths converged in Harare without an incident. We did not close our shops and in any case, there was a boost in sales on this particular day as youths from outside Harare took that opportunity to shop. One would expect such big gathering to be more violent than when a mere plus or minus 300 MDC-T youths gather.
If I want to join politics today, your guess is as good as mine as to which party I will join. Somebody has to put a stop to this nonsense.
Source - Rufaro Mufundirwa
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