Elijah Mangwengwende | According to the Bible before his conversion, Paul, then known as Saul, was a zealot, a Pharisee of Pharisees, who intensely persecuted the followers of Jesus. But in a radical turn of events Paul converted on the way to Damascus; spends three years in Arabia; returns to Damascus to preach Jesus as Messiah.

Are we then experiencing similar account in Zimbabwe? Our current President, just like Paul, he is now known as ED, a converted man, not former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa. On his long journey in Mozambique on foot en-route to South Africa, did the President receive a message from God in the form of light just like Apostle Paul?

We now hear the President saying “The voice of people is the voice of God”, was it the message God passed unto him while in the wilderness in Mozambique?

If not, what then are the motivations behind this radical transformation, especially from a man who has been a loyal disciple of Mugabe for nearly 50 years. President Ed calls Mugabe his father, is it that the fatherhood of Mugabe to ED has gone through a tremendous transformation to be a failed father since the day he was sacked from VP post last November or is it that President ED simply forgets.

Without being personal, President ED has been a loyal servant to the former President, he was part and parcel of everything Mugabe did since 1980, and it is hard to separate Mugabe and Mnangagwa, in reality they are like Siamese twins.

What I want to highlight today is, do we in our reasonable senses expect those responsible for our misery become our Messiahs when they reward our individual selves with crumbs to repair the very shoes that their system damaged?

Are we promoting an innocuous disintegration of a political fabric that we seek to build because our stomachs are empty to the extent of following our yesteryear persecutors considering the pain we endured under the leadership of ZANU PF, are we going to simply forget the brutality of our security services under the stewardship of the very apostles preaching peace and development today?

I know amongst our citizens, there are those who have mastered the art of vulturism, they will always disembark the train moments before it derails, they betray anyone and follow whoever they think may fatten their pockets, am surprised even senior opposition figures have blindly followed the grave train abandoning the democratic project hoping to enrich themselves under the “new dispensation”.

But in most cases such people becomes unintended casualties and often stand in amazement in the way of a derailed train and crushed to death or beyond redemption.

Whether individual survival is more important than good-for-all is something that the future generations must intercourse with. It is up to the young generation of today to make informed decisions on whether to board a train going to nowhere, a train driven by people who stole their future over the years, degreed but no hope to gain employment, by now most graduates no longer remember what they studied at universities, to those parents who lost life savings due to economic mismanagement by President Ed and his party, think hard on whether you can trust same people again to reimburse your hard earned cash. To those who lost their loved ones, is it that you can simply forgive and forget?

To the lost comrades in opposition, ask yourselves whether Sekuru Mushore is interested in power struggles. Our people want bread, butter and milk on the table, stable electric power for irrigation projects, modern transport, jobs for the sons and daughters who recently graduated from universities and colleges, no comrades you are missing the point, those who are calling for elective congress at this crucial juncture are bent on realising the ZANU PF dream of a total wipe out of opposition through infiltration which is a betrayal of villagers from Buhera to Dotito, Manana to Matopos with whom their hopes of new Zimbabwe now lies with the incoming of visionary leadership of President Nelson Chamisa.

The current dichotomy calls for crucial reflections amongst ourselves as a people on what we see as our future, as our vision for tomorrow, and ultimately our legacy and gift to future generations. We are obligated to defend and create a future for successive generations as envisaged by President Chamisa and upholding the very core liberation ideals that spoke to popular participation in political and economic life, that is democracy.

This is the time to regroup, provide leadership and take charge of the revolution. Comrades fall, the final Revolution Beckons and motherland spills hopes for mankind.

Elijah Mangwengwende writes in his personal capacity and an advocate for democracy, better future for the youths and our senior citizens