Opinion / Letters
Open Letter: Join us in mourning, President Mugabe - Mandela is resting
06 Dec 2013 at 07:27hrs | Views
Dear President Mugabe
The rest of the world is in mourning. We are in mourning. Nelson Mandela taught us love and forgiveness. Yes, as a human being he had his flaws. The majority of South Africans are still living in abject poverty. However, we cannot take away the fact that he was a great freedom fighter who stood up for his people.
Today, many a people are in mourning, but, yesterday, they once called Nelson Mandela a terrorist. Even the British Prime Minister David Cameron made a decisive break with the Conservative Party's past by admitting that Margaret Thatcher had been wrong to brand Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) "terrorists" during the struggle against apartheid. "The mistakes my party made in the past with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now. The fact that there is so much to celebrate in the new South Africa is not in spite of Mandela and the ANC, it is because of them - and we Conservatives should say so clearly today."
Today, the White South Africans are also in grief and mourning for the same man they once incarcerated and sentenced to life imprisonment. President Mugabe, you have been a prisoner yourself, fighting for justice and equality. I know that you could not attend the funeral of your son, Nhamodzenyika, who died in Ghana, because the racist minority regime of Ian Douglas Smith could not release you from prison. It hurts and I still can feel for you.
However, President Mugabe, show us the love. Where is the love? You are our state President. You represent us in joy and sorrow. I cannot fathom the idea of you not turning up at Madiba's funeral.
Please, President Mugabe, do not ashame me. I am waiting to hear or read your condolence statement on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe. Let sleeping dogs lie, President Mugabe. A one F. Kennedy once said "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on" Today, Madiba is resting; his values and ideals will live on. South Africa may rise or fall after Madiba, but his legacy will live on. His Excellency, do not become the one who could not attend the funeral of a brother.
I am a son of the soil and I believe in Ubuntu, Humanity, Hunhu.
Tendai Kwari
Twitter @tendai.kwari
The rest of the world is in mourning. We are in mourning. Nelson Mandela taught us love and forgiveness. Yes, as a human being he had his flaws. The majority of South Africans are still living in abject poverty. However, we cannot take away the fact that he was a great freedom fighter who stood up for his people.
Today, many a people are in mourning, but, yesterday, they once called Nelson Mandela a terrorist. Even the British Prime Minister David Cameron made a decisive break with the Conservative Party's past by admitting that Margaret Thatcher had been wrong to brand Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) "terrorists" during the struggle against apartheid. "The mistakes my party made in the past with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now. The fact that there is so much to celebrate in the new South Africa is not in spite of Mandela and the ANC, it is because of them - and we Conservatives should say so clearly today."
However, President Mugabe, show us the love. Where is the love? You are our state President. You represent us in joy and sorrow. I cannot fathom the idea of you not turning up at Madiba's funeral.
Please, President Mugabe, do not ashame me. I am waiting to hear or read your condolence statement on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe. Let sleeping dogs lie, President Mugabe. A one F. Kennedy once said "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on" Today, Madiba is resting; his values and ideals will live on. South Africa may rise or fall after Madiba, but his legacy will live on. His Excellency, do not become the one who could not attend the funeral of a brother.
I am a son of the soil and I believe in Ubuntu, Humanity, Hunhu.
Tendai Kwari
Twitter @tendai.kwari
Source - Tendai Kwari
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