By Obert Gutu| A lot of people, some of them close family members and even respectedbusiness friends and colleagues, have openly wondered whether or not I have changed my brand of politics. In certain hostile political circles, I have actually been branded a political turncoat, a sell-out, a Zanu PF agent and all sorts of false, malicious, unjustified and terribly ill-informed accusations. Well, the fact of the matter is that my brand of politics hasn’t and in fact, will never change.

I’m the sort of person who doesn’t shy away from speaking truth to
power, always, every time and indeed, anywhere and everywhere. That’s
me! I’m a prisoner of my conscience and my politics is deeply
influenced by my principles and convictions. As Malcolm X once said :
” It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong
direction.” Ever since I got myself involved in active politics many,
many years ago, I have resolutely stood by what I believe in and in a
nutshell this is : peace, love, solidarity, non-violence, integrity,
honesty, empathy, the rule of law and constitutionalism. To those
amongst the readers who happen to know me closely enough, I am pretty
sure you will agree with me that I have passionately stood by the
afore-mentioned guiding principles in my political career. Basically,
therefore, I don’t believe in opportunism or rather, sacrificing my
strongly-held principles for short-term personal gain.

I’m a very proud citizen of Zimbabwe, a proud citizen of Africa and
above everything else, a proud citizen of the world. Where the overall
interests of Zimbabwe supersede and overtake my own private and
personal interests, I don’t hesitate to sacrifice my personal
interests for the common good of my beloved country and continent.
This is the major reason that informed how I reached my Damascus
moment regarding the issue of sanctions against Zimbabwe. Here and
now, I will fully admit that at one time I was thoroughly misguided in
actively supporting and actually calling for the imposition of
sanctions against Zimbabwe. At that juncture, I rather stupidly and
naively believed that the imposition of sanctions would naturally lead
to the full and total democratisation of Zimbabwe.

I was wrong ; totally wrong. The reality is that sanctions actually cause more harm, political suffering and socio-economic agony to the majority of
innocent Zimbabweans , most of whom are not even political activists.
Sanctions don’t hurt the ruling elite inasmuch as they hurt the
ordinary man and woman in the street and in the village or township.
After undertaking a thorough and deep study and introspection on the
effect of sanctions on the generality of the people of Zimbabwe, I
then reached my Damascus moment and began to appreciate how evil,
toxic and retrogressive sanctions are against the welfare of the
majority of my Zimbabwean compatriots. Thus, I’m unashamedly and
passionately calling for the lifting of all forms of sanctions that
were imposed against Zimbabwe by the major Western powers such as the
United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Some social media terrorists have gone on a concerted campaign to
denigrate and malign my political image by painting me as someone who
has sold his soul to the ruling Zanu PF political party. They are
completely and totally wrong. I have always been a Zimbabwean patriot
to the bare bones and as such, I have never, ever shied away from
articulating and defending what is in the best interests of my beloved
country, Zimbabwe. Some of my political adversaries have even gone
further to falsely allege that I have been bought over by Zanu PF and
that I have been paid millions of dollars to ”betray the struggle”
whatever that means. Of course, nothing could be further from the
truth.

I haven’t received a single penny from Zanu PF or from anyone
for that matter in order to become their propagandist and to betray
and abandon my deeply-held political beliefs, convictions and
principles. In my scheme of things, Zimbabwe always comes first. If
that strong conviction qualifies me to be called a sell-out and a
political turncoat,then so be it. I’m the least bothered by these
false, unfounded, malicious and defamatory allegations against me. I
will continue to tell, articulate and defend the Zimbabwean story
without fear and/or favour. I don’t need to be paid in order for me to
be a patriot. I don’t need to be paid to speak out and tell the world
what I believe in. Put simply and succinctly, I don’t need to be paid
by anyone in order to advocate for the socio-economic advancement of
Zimbabwe by calling for the immediate removal of all forms of
sanctions against my homeland.

Written by Obert Chaurura Gutu

Obert Gutu is a Zimbabwean lawyer. He is the MDC-T Vice-President and
he is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Negona Legal
Consultancy & Public Governance Institute LLC.