Opinion / Letters
A letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa
09 Apr 2025 at 12:31hrs | Views
Dear President Mnangagwa,
President Mnangagwa, please release Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists incarcerated in Zimbabwe prisons. I believe prisons are for people who have committed crimes in various degrees, according to the law, are unfit to live in communities anymore: They pose a danger to communities. Mr. Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists did not commit a crime, according to me, Mr. President; they were exercising their rights to demonstrate, rights enshrined in the Zimbabwean constitution. In deep recesses of every human mind are traces of humanity that make us human. In that humanity we share, I am appealing to you, Mr. Mnangagwa, to set Mr. Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists free. I am not saying, explicitly, have mercy on them. There is no mercy to appeal you Mr. President, they are not criminals who deserve mercy for rightfully demonstrating: they are activists, or have they turned criminals for demonstrating. You have said so many times that you are a constitutionalist, President. You are uplifting the very constitution if you set them free. Please Mr. Mnangagwa, open your prison gates and set them free, today or tomorrow.
I live in the Diaspora. I pay great attention to political events taking place in Zimbabwe, a country I was born. I am following the uncertainties taking place, triggered by the failing economy in the country. The beef is, the way I understood it, your left-hand man Chiwenga would like to be President: segments of Zanu Youth are pushing for 2030, Anenge achipo. Somehow it defeats my mind, why is the succession issue deeply debated and attracting the public to sort it out on your behalf. In Blessed Mhlanga, you are punishing the messenger. We know the importance of journalism in any democracy. Their rights are protected by the constitution. What crime did Mhlanga commit just by interviewing Mr. Geza? Your bone of contention should be the message, where it comes from, and who made the statement?
I have written several articles regarding the rationale behind Mr. Geza's uprising. I was quick to say that in Geza, it is a pseudo revolution, it will not be successful. In any needle there are two threads; either they meet or disperse. The mobilization made the past three months to demonstrate on the 31 st was laughable. So many social media houses supported Mr. Geza because the people yearn for change in Zimbabwe. The poverty line is very high, life is not getting better but worse by the day. Vendors are not allowed to sell their products at places of choice. The people, women especially are constricted, right, left and center; they cannot make means meet to survive, put bread and butter on the table for their families. government is not assisting the very niche that needs your intervention to improve lives.
Your intelligence should have realized two issues: why Mr. Geza has revolted from Zanu party: what reasons, why he has turned against the party that nurtured him for so long. The second reason is, why the population was mesmerized by Mr. Gesa speaking with two sides of his mouth, and blindly the population joined him because Blessed Geza was speaking the language they wanted to hear: the language of change! Young people were duped to go out into the streets and demonstrate on M31st. We told the young people never to follow blindly the message coming from individuals making scant preparations to demonstrate so that Chiwenga and Geza become President & VP.
You promised the people CHANGE when you took over from Mr. Mugabe in 2017, you have fulfilled absolutely nothing. We see on social media Wicknell Chivayo literally playing with millions of moneys at the glare of the cameras. Zimbabweans live in abject poverty: they see a Zimbabwean Wicknell gloating with bales US$ money that is out of their reach to make life better for the common good. It looks so sarcastic and very insulting for Wicknell to give presents to the chosen: cars that cost half a million dollars. Yet hospitals are not working, they have become death beds; roads, the entire country are death traps, schools' country- wide are dilapidated. The industry has almost collapsed. These are reasons why the people resonate with Geza's message of change; can trust just anyone in sheep's skin, accept him as a genuine leader of a revolution that will change your government to bring a difference to the current situation.
The 109 activists are innocent people who listened to the call made by Nyokayemabhunu to go out into the streets to demonstrate and to bring down your government. Be it Geza or the young man Nyokayemabhunu were not on the ground. They sent people for slaughter, and it happened the way we anticipated: There are 109 innocent activists in your prisons: a show of muscle, sending a message to those who will dare to demonstrate again. These activists are young people who should never be in prison, by a stretch of imagination. Your Zanu PF government has failed them: You must make corrections on your social delivery services, and how to improve the lives of the coming generations: the duties of top civil servants; you included Mr. President.
Mr. President, please tackle the succession battle between you and Chiwenga. Our youth are suffering enough: to arrest them and imprison them for the coming hundreds of days will not solve the succession battle you are waging with Chiwenga. Incarcerating the innocent exacerbates deep hostility towards you and your family. Remember, you have a large family of children and children's children who will live in this country when we have long passed on. It is not possible to appeal to General Chiwenga: he is supposed to be the one talking to you to set the activists free: they were demonstrating on his behalf, apparently Chiwenga shows
his cowardice. He must honor these uncertainties; they are purely his making: he wants to be the next president: there are no changes to be expected in him even if he became president tomorrow.
I am writing this letter to someone I know, I met you at the University of Zambia: I was with my brother-in-law: Mr. Masipeta who was Dean of Students back then; you hung around with other law "Rhodesian" students at UNZA, visiting Professor Christopher Ishewokunze at his department. It is purely for this reason, someone I have met in exile in Zambia, that I appeal to you to set Mr. Mhlanga and 109 activists free. It may sound naïve, I am desperate to have these activists set free, and Mr. Mhlanga reuniting with his wife and family again.
The universe would smile if you opened your prison gates today or tomorrow. Prisons are for criminals, and certainly not for activists and voice messengers of the likes of Mr. Mhlanga. Thanking you in advance. Written by, Nomazulu Thata, Germany
President Mnangagwa, please release Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists incarcerated in Zimbabwe prisons. I believe prisons are for people who have committed crimes in various degrees, according to the law, are unfit to live in communities anymore: They pose a danger to communities. Mr. Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists did not commit a crime, according to me, Mr. President; they were exercising their rights to demonstrate, rights enshrined in the Zimbabwean constitution. In deep recesses of every human mind are traces of humanity that make us human. In that humanity we share, I am appealing to you, Mr. Mnangagwa, to set Mr. Blessed Mhlanga and 109 activists free. I am not saying, explicitly, have mercy on them. There is no mercy to appeal you Mr. President, they are not criminals who deserve mercy for rightfully demonstrating: they are activists, or have they turned criminals for demonstrating. You have said so many times that you are a constitutionalist, President. You are uplifting the very constitution if you set them free. Please Mr. Mnangagwa, open your prison gates and set them free, today or tomorrow.
I live in the Diaspora. I pay great attention to political events taking place in Zimbabwe, a country I was born. I am following the uncertainties taking place, triggered by the failing economy in the country. The beef is, the way I understood it, your left-hand man Chiwenga would like to be President: segments of Zanu Youth are pushing for 2030, Anenge achipo. Somehow it defeats my mind, why is the succession issue deeply debated and attracting the public to sort it out on your behalf. In Blessed Mhlanga, you are punishing the messenger. We know the importance of journalism in any democracy. Their rights are protected by the constitution. What crime did Mhlanga commit just by interviewing Mr. Geza? Your bone of contention should be the message, where it comes from, and who made the statement?
I have written several articles regarding the rationale behind Mr. Geza's uprising. I was quick to say that in Geza, it is a pseudo revolution, it will not be successful. In any needle there are two threads; either they meet or disperse. The mobilization made the past three months to demonstrate on the 31 st was laughable. So many social media houses supported Mr. Geza because the people yearn for change in Zimbabwe. The poverty line is very high, life is not getting better but worse by the day. Vendors are not allowed to sell their products at places of choice. The people, women especially are constricted, right, left and center; they cannot make means meet to survive, put bread and butter on the table for their families. government is not assisting the very niche that needs your intervention to improve lives.
Your intelligence should have realized two issues: why Mr. Geza has revolted from Zanu party: what reasons, why he has turned against the party that nurtured him for so long. The second reason is, why the population was mesmerized by Mr. Gesa speaking with two sides of his mouth, and blindly the population joined him because Blessed Geza was speaking the language they wanted to hear: the language of change! Young people were duped to go out into the streets and demonstrate on M31st. We told the young people never to follow blindly the message coming from individuals making scant preparations to demonstrate so that Chiwenga and Geza become President & VP.
The 109 activists are innocent people who listened to the call made by Nyokayemabhunu to go out into the streets to demonstrate and to bring down your government. Be it Geza or the young man Nyokayemabhunu were not on the ground. They sent people for slaughter, and it happened the way we anticipated: There are 109 innocent activists in your prisons: a show of muscle, sending a message to those who will dare to demonstrate again. These activists are young people who should never be in prison, by a stretch of imagination. Your Zanu PF government has failed them: You must make corrections on your social delivery services, and how to improve the lives of the coming generations: the duties of top civil servants; you included Mr. President.
Mr. President, please tackle the succession battle between you and Chiwenga. Our youth are suffering enough: to arrest them and imprison them for the coming hundreds of days will not solve the succession battle you are waging with Chiwenga. Incarcerating the innocent exacerbates deep hostility towards you and your family. Remember, you have a large family of children and children's children who will live in this country when we have long passed on. It is not possible to appeal to General Chiwenga: he is supposed to be the one talking to you to set the activists free: they were demonstrating on his behalf, apparently Chiwenga shows
his cowardice. He must honor these uncertainties; they are purely his making: he wants to be the next president: there are no changes to be expected in him even if he became president tomorrow.
I am writing this letter to someone I know, I met you at the University of Zambia: I was with my brother-in-law: Mr. Masipeta who was Dean of Students back then; you hung around with other law "Rhodesian" students at UNZA, visiting Professor Christopher Ishewokunze at his department. It is purely for this reason, someone I have met in exile in Zambia, that I appeal to you to set Mr. Mhlanga and 109 activists free. It may sound naïve, I am desperate to have these activists set free, and Mr. Mhlanga reuniting with his wife and family again.
The universe would smile if you opened your prison gates today or tomorrow. Prisons are for criminals, and certainly not for activists and voice messengers of the likes of Mr. Mhlanga. Thanking you in advance. Written by, Nomazulu Thata, Germany
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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