PERSECUTION OF OPPOSITION; REGIME SOWING SEEDS OF CIVIL UNREST & DISOBEDIENCE: MDC VETERANS ACTIVISTS ASSOCIATION (MDC VAA)
29 April 2021
The Regime is living dangerously and treading on loose ground by continually clamping down voices of reason and opposition activists on frivolous and trumped up charges.
The weaponisation of the law by the regime to suppress the mass and crush dissent fecundifies the nation for civil unrest and disobedience.
The Regime is sliding the nation back to the Liberation Struggle era where the then colonial regime crushed dissent with impunity until there was no room left for the citizens to breath leaving them with no option but to fight for their birth rights.
The arrest of the MDC Alliance Youth Chairperson, Cde Luther Obey Sithole and many others on crimes of conscience is a clear testimony that the Regime is hell-bent on crushing Dissent and silencing the voices of reason than in addressing the people’s grievances.They are arresting to investigate and not investigate to arrest, which is rather unfortunate as they are pushing the people to the edge.They are stretching the people’s tolerance beyond the limits.
The Regime is playing Russian Roulette with our future.
The Regime has waged a war against the voices of reason in the media, civil society and outspoken opposition Activists.They arrested the MDC Youth Alliance Organizing Secretary, Godfrey Kurauone, for singing; they arrested Makomborero Haruzivishe for alleged graffiti; they arrested Takudzwa Ngadziore for speaking to journalists; they arrested Hon Joanna Mamombe, Netsai Marowa, and Cecilia Chimbiri for convening a press conference; they arrested the people’s journalist Hopewell Chin’ono for exposing corruption fronted by the first family; they arrested Hon Job Wiwa Sikhala for his quest for corporate governance panctuated by transparency, accountability and equity.The list of Social Democrats who are languishing in prison and who are being arrested is growing by the day as the regime moves in to threaten and intimidate the masses.
Democracy is under seige as the Regime decimates the Constitution and abuses the Parliament to remake the National Constitution to puke on our freedoms and liberties and consolidate their iron grip on the masses. Worse still only a handful of people are amending what millions ascended to.
All these persecutions are happening on the backdrop of a Presidential Amnesty where dangerous criminals were pardoned yet prisoners of conscience were left to languish in jail. Hardcore criminals are let loose but those who fight for people’s rights are left to rot in prison. The Regime is perceiving Prisoners of conscience as more dangerous than the dangerous criminals.
As weird as it may sound,the Regime arrested Legwani Mavhunga,Vongai Tome and others for standing in solidarity with their leadership at court. When and where has solidarity become a chargeable criminal offence?
The Regime has pushed the people into a corner and may we remind them that a cornered People is a dangerous People.
The Regime has masterminded a blitz against the people and anyone perceived to be against it.The abitrary arrests, harrasment and illegal detentions are not new in Zimbabwean politics as they were Ian Douglas Smith’s tools to break the nationalists’ spirits. However, all this persecution does not break a real revolutionary’s spirit but it emboldens the resolve to fight the dictator to the end.
The arbitrary arrests, illegal political detentions, all the other acts of political victimisation and persecution fertlises the egg of civil unrest and civil disobedience.
On this note, may we remind the regime to self introspect and juxtapose itself with the Smith Regime. Is it not now behaving worse than the Smith Regime?
Is it not sowing the seeds of civil unrest and disobedience by persecuting opposition parties, activists, journalists and civic society?
Our expensive advice to the regime is for it to :
a) free all prisoners of conscience.
b) stop forthwith the arrests of the voices of reason and opposition Activists on trumped up charges or politically motivated crimes.
It’s high time that the Regime listen to the voices of reason and solve the people’s grievances than to whip them neshamu inomunyu.
You can arrest all Activists and any discerning voice but you can never kill an idea whose time has come. Remember that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
As Veterans of this Democratic Struggle we call on the Regime to order, and to Nation building, and not ignitor of civil unrest.
We all want a better Zimbabwe for all Zimbabweans irregardless of political affiliation, colour, race or tribe.
Thank you!
Blessing Mandava
(National Spokesperson)
For and on behalf of The MDC Veterans Activists (MDC VAA)
