Nomusa Garikayi | When Pastor Mawarire left Zimbabwe in the middle of his #ThisFlag street protests many people accused him of giving them the courage to protest against the injustices in the land but when the confrontation heated up he deserted the protesters and escaped to America. Some people called him a coward.
It is sad to note that the some of the Pastor’s critics are still calling him a coward even though he has returned to Zimbabwe and is now in jail. He has since been charged with “subverting a constitutional government” and could face 20 years in jail if he is convicted. (Considering Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013 elections and therefore per se cannot be a constitutional government – but that is another matter).
It must be state here and now that Pastor Mawarire did not commit any crime, the right to peace protest is a universally accepted democratic right. True, Zimbabwe is not a democracy, it is a de facto one-party state, but the more reason for the protest.
If Pastor Mawarire is convicted and sentenced to a lengthy jail term, maybe that will satisfy his critics. They will have had their pound of flesh!
Remember the money lender Shylock in The Merchant of Venice who agrees to loan Antonio some money but asks for a pound of Antonio’s flesh as a guarantee. When Antonio failed to repay the loan by the agreed day, the money lender refuses to be repaid thrice the agreed amount insisted on the pound of flesh! Shylock, the bloodthirsty, vengeful and inflexible!
I think Pastor Mawarire’s pay heed to Trevor Ncube’s humble, philosophical and introspective comment. “I will not judge Pastor Evan at all nor call him a coward. I say so because I myself have no guts to do what he has done & continues to do,” he tweeted.
Just to add to what Trevor Ncube said, what Mawarire achieved in those few weeks before he left for America, was more than what many of us will ever do in a life time! He gave hundreds of thousands if not millions of Zimbabweans hope, courage and a voice to say no to the tyranny of Zanu PF. This is why the regime is mad at him and would want him locked at Chikurumbi Prison a.s.a.p. and throw away the key.
Having given us the hope, courage and the voice; it was up to us to carry the protest forward and not stop until the regime addressed out concerns. We did not need Mawarire to hold our hands every step of the way!
I would not be surprised that the most vocal of Mawarire’s critics are in fact the mean- spirited Shylocks of this world. How many of those calling Mawarire a coward have ever said or done anything critical of the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship much less took part in even one street protest?
Imagine having a flat tyre in a cold rain night. There are those who will never lift a finger to help and expect others to get out in the mud and cold and all the dangers of the night to sort out the problem. I think people like Pastor Mawarire are some of those people who will risk their own person comfort for the good of all.
As for Pastor Mawarire’s critics, they are the selfish individuals who, from the comfort of the car, will wind down the window to scream “Get on with it, I am freezing in here!”
But is the over dependence on one or two leaders not the very essence of our present problem?
We are fighting to end the Mugabe dictatorship and yet are hanging on to the idea that without a strong leader we are totally helpless. We want to remove one dictator and creating another!
Patrick, what Jennings said is very true.
If u keep on defending Mawarire’s exodus I think u ar very wrong and being selfish. We have to face the reality that people have lost confidence in Mawarire bcoz of the time which he left the people. In every struggle we need a strong and brave leader who can fight with his/her team to the last drop not people who run away from a misfiring Peugeot 404.
Mawarire was supposed to apologise to the nation for dumping them. Mawarire silence himself. Of coz from a humanity point of view we should feel pity for him but don’t mix issues. To those who still support Mawarire support him and those who don’t want to support him, let them do so but his team of advisers and supporters should ask themselves that why people are deserting Mawarire.
I think its really bad to link the dwindling support to Tsvangirai, its really bad, Tsvangirai did his party and until today we still have him.
CIO and all the other Zanu PF apologist are stiff-necks; we do not need to worry about “stiffening their necks”. What we must do is expose them and their hidden agenda. If their are going to criticize Pastor Mawarire then they must tell us what it is he has done wrong.
It Pastor Mawarire’s decision and his alone to go to America and, as far as I know, he did not commit any crime!
I wonder how many of Mawarire’s tough critics are jealous opposition members who have never forgiven the Pastor for stealing the lime-light last year. The Pastor had more public attention than the opposition has been able to get.
There is no doubt that CIO and all the other Zanu PF regime’s apologists having the opening they so desperately needed for attacking Mawarire. They could not really attack him for calling for an end to the economic hardships or arresting corrupt leaders. They can attack him for having chickened away and gone to America. His leaving the battle field has now become the biggest crime; far bigger than the economic crimes of mismanagement and corruption and far worse than Zanu PF’s the over 30 000 political murders.
It is disappointing how many ordinary Zimbabweans have been fooled by these Zanu PF stooges and opposition wannabes into believing Pastor Mawarire has done something wrong by going to America. It is total nonsense that only those who have remain in Zimbabwe are the true fghters for change. There are many outside Zimbabwe whose contribution to the fight has been just as important as the contribution by those in the country.
Pastor Mawarire could have made as much contribution to our fight to end this Zanu PF dictatorship when he is in America as he made when he was in Zimbabwe. There are many routes to freedom and not just one! We must be careful not to be fooled by those keen to criticize for their own selfish reason!
I think we should not start any verbal fights about the arrest of Pastor Evan Mawarire or accusations whether he was a coward or cunning to go to the USA during the protests. All this is not helpful to anybody. Criticizing Pastor Mawarire’s critics is counter productive as well, because it only serves to stiffen the necks of his critics. Whatever a human being does, good or bad, fellow humans will always find a fault. They did it with Jesus and they will always do it with fellow human beings. I would rather people proffer advice. Jennings Rukani