Open Letter to Mnangangwa
‘The masses see you as a perpetrator of injustice, a villain and an oppressor than a liberator’

Mr. President, they say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So my theme is going to be; together we can win the future. The right policies lead to right results. But let me tell you without being a Jewish prophet or being related to one that we have lost the future, because masquerading as an experienced surgeon you have been prescribing wrong prescriptions, which have in turn reacted catastrophically, paralyzing the economy and throwing the whole country into economic malaise and disarray.

My letter therefore is meant to express my deepest sorrow and grief over the state of affairs prevailing in the country. Despite promising us a heaven on earth upon seizing power, your little finger has proved to be thicker than Mugabe’s loins, and where he chastised us with whips you have chastised us with scorpions. The wild lamentations and groaning from the suffering masses have forced me to take pen and paper and write to you.

The Zimbabwe we see today that seems so insane is a result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the country differently you must be willing to change your philosophies and let the past slip away. The country expects you to be effective in your job, not to be a person who is all hat and no cattle.

Mr. President, I know my views and opinions will suffer a barrage of attacks from your praise and worship team masquerading as servants of the masses yet they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Your team will lambast, lampoon and ridicule me, but you know what; I DON’T CARE, for I believe any man that’s got the guts to sell his soul for justice has got the power to change the world. Unlike you and your cronies I’m not doing it for greed, but for the right reasons.

At the risk of seeming ridiculous let me say your actions are a total disregard of revolutionary principles, for a true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a revolutionary lacking this quality. Mind you revolutionaries are not selfish but selfless. They have genuine interest in people’s welfare not themselves.

At the pretext of being champions of democracy your party has turned into a deadly organized crime syndicate hence becoming a potent engine by which unscrupulous, cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men have been enabled to subvert the power of the people for themselves and feast undisturbed on the choicest portions of the national cake, whilst the whole nation is languishing in abject poverty.

The opulence, extravagance and lavish lifestyle led by your accomplices against a backdrop of frail, fragile and starving masses is a far cry from what you preach. The second Republic has therefore remained elusive and a pipe dream to say the least. Mr. President economic development and democracy can’t exist without a true commitment to reform. I know criticism may not be agreeable but it’s necessary, for it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. Unfortunately, your problem is that you prefer to be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.

I know anarchy is in your blood hence when pushed killing is as easy as breathing because you believe death is the solution to all problems. Being an ardent disciple of Maoist philosophies, you think power comes from the barrel of a gun. Like Stalin you believe it’s enough for people to know there was an election, but it’s not them who decide the outcome but those who count the votes. Remember whatever possession you gain by the sword cannot last but the love gained by kindness and moderation is certain and durable.

Mr. President, Mugabe was a better evil, at least he had brains; you are dumb. Since taking over the reins the country has been on free fall. You seem to be out of touch with reality, instead of injecting a new lease of life to the economy; you have decided to stick to a bunch of old men out of touch with reality, who are obsessed with past glories and clueless about present day challenges.

Allow me to say you are worse than the colonialists, because you have turned out to be a monster that eats its own children. You have turned daylight into darkest night. The problems bedeviling the country now are deeply rooted in a bad government system, the lack of free elections, independent courts and freedom of speech.

Mr. President is torturing and murdering opponents your version of the struggle? I believe the struggle was for ending poverty, greed, despair and inequality. You can’t talk about economy until you talk about poverty, until you talk about greed, until you address all the wrongs only then will we grab each other’s hands and sing in unison ‘ one at last …one at last..’ For the time being stop saying you love us, because you don’t. Strive to leave Zimbabwe a better place than you found it. Your prime mandate is therefore helping us but if you can’t at least don’t hurt us.

Our country is dying from internal rottenness. Jefferson said, once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles, every other correction is either useless or a new evil. Zimbabwe is bored and it’s high time you retire from active politics and pave way for young and energetic leaders who have the verve to pull the country out of the quagmire.

I sign off with a heavy, sorrowful and brooding heart because you have failed to live up to our expectations. Your only concern is fattening your pockets and globetrotting ignoring the suffering masses that are languishing in agony.

I know you will take my views for a joke, but remember, ‘Ears that do not listen to advice accompany the head when it is chopped off.’ As you sit in the comfort zone of your artificial paradise just know that in the public eye you are more of a villain than a hero. The masses see you as a perpetrator of injustice and oppressor than a liberator.

Remember whenever man takes the law into their own hands and treat the masses as pawns for sacrifice the loser is the law, and when the law loses freedom languishes.
I rest my case.

Tendai Manika. Zimbabwe Initiative for peace and Reconciliation.