24 August 2019
The savage attack on lawyer Doug Coltart who was simply carrying out his work as a Legal Practitioner for the Association of Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) is further evidence that all pretence is gone and we are now dealing with a brutal illegitimate regime that has now turned full scale.
lndeed, it now seems that the regime is increasingly making dictator Robert Mugabe now look like an angel. At least with him we knew where we stood.
But this is not so with the illegitimate regime. Having initially assumed office after a coup and having been misled that we were turning the corner it has become evident that this was a false dawn.
We in the MDC now feel vindicated. We have been saying it, time and again that this is neither a New Dispensation nor a Second Republic but a continuation of the repression which started under the racist colonial regime and was perfected by Mugabe and now its deja vu.
The hopes of the long suffering Zimbabwean people have been dashed and the dream of November 2017 has turned into a terrible nightmare.
The New Deception is no longer subtle and we thought that the era where professionals doing their job would be brutalized was gone but alas we are back to square one.
The failure by the illegitimate regime to uphold the rule of law is astounding.
ARTUZ is a bona fide trade union and as such exempt from the provisions of POSA but to the powers that be this matters not and that exception is not recognized.
Further to that the excessive use of force and overreaction is clearly unwarranted if indeed we want to be taken seriously as a democratic country.
Following the brutalization of some journalists who were simply trying to cover events on the 16th of August 2019 it was not surprising that something more frightening was to occur in the dead of the night when Samantha Kureya aka Gonyeti received some uninvited visitors who abducted and tortured her.
While we know that the culprits are unlikely to be apprehended what we find reprehensible and disgusting is the Twitter post allegedly under the handle of a Deputy Minister Energy Mutodi that this is an abduction skit.
This is not new as a former Minister Moven Mahachi made a bizarre claim that journalists the late Mark Chavhunduka and Ray Choto who had been tortured had scratched themselves.
This level of insensitivity and callousness is not expected and should have been buried with the demise of racism and apartheid but is alive and well with our new rulers.
We in the MDC cherish the freedoms and rights which are enshrined in our Constitution and we will continue fighting for a truly democratic system which Zimbabweans deserve.
Innocent Gonese
MDC Secretary for Justice and Legal Affairs