Dear Editor,

A shocking decision made by the new President Emmerson Mnangagwa was to declare 21 February, the birthday of former President Mugabe, a national public holiday, ostensibly in response to a request by Zanu PF youths and other Zanu PF structures. Already, the fact that this was in response to Zanu PF structures shows that Comrade Mnangagwa started his reign on the wrong footing. A decision to honor a dictator that way should not have been made as a party decision, but as a national decision which is done in consultation with the people of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe has caused so much harm to the country that the best thing Zimbabweans want to do is to forget about him completely. The best Comrade Mnangagwa should have done could have been to bring the request to Parliament for debate by parliamentarians, followed by a national referendum. Forcing victims of Gururahundi, Murambatsvina and other acts of madness by the Mugabe regime to remember the dictator traumatizes those victims, and I wonder if Comrade Mnangagwa had ever thought about the consequences which his decision bring about to the victims of Zanu PF brutality.

I hope that the new President will realize his mistake and reverse the decision to honor dictator Mugabe by forcing down the throats of anti-corruption Zimbabwe.

Kennedy Kaitano