By Farai Maguwu| Civil society Organizations (CSOs) play an important role in enhancing transparency and good governance.

The goal of our activism is the need to create a society that guarantees human security for all Zimbabweans today, tomorrow and forever. A society that is free from fear and want and where the sanctity of life is adored.

A normal society is good for you, your parents, your kids, your relatives and our society at large. These fundamental truths are self-evident. We have dozens of once powerful ZANU PF officials who now wallow in poverty, regretting that they didn’t use their time in government and their proximity to power to create a society they would love to live in even when their days in government are over.

Even former President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s strong man who ruled with an iron fist for 37 long years, died a very bitter and miserable man. When he was disposed, he began to see the evil of the system he created and presided over for close to four decades.

As his political fortunes waned at the turn of the millennium, Mugabe started suffering from the law of diminishing returns whereby he needed to invest more resources in repression, bribery and corruption in order to prolong his stay in power. The cost of repression was raised as more and more Zimbabweans demanded governance reforms and Mugabe used every available resource for power retention whilst ignoring service delivery.

Fearing an ignominious and ignoble exit from power, Mugabe then dragged our once disciplined and professional security sector into politics by triggering the liberation rhetoric wherein he called on them to defend the gains of independence. War Veterans were also activated. Mugabe only realized his folly in November 2017 when the machinery he had oiled turned on him.

Dethroned, humiliated and powerless, Mugabe began to speak our language, demanding that human rights and the constitution must be respected. He bemoaned loss of people who died trying to protect him because the institutions had been rendered ineffective. Fir the first time in our lifetime, Mugabe expressed concern with the safety and security of the ordinary Zimbabwean.

Current President Emmerson Mnangagwa survived death by a whisker and walked to Mozambique on foot (at least according to him) in November 2017. Given his well-documented liberation war history, isn’t it a shame that such a person ends up seeking refuge in foreign lands because our institutions could not protect him. Mnangagwa had committed no crime. Harbouring presidential ambitions is not a crime under Zimbabwe’s laws.

Fortunately for him, Mnangagwa managed to return in dramatic fashion to overthrow Mugabe and establish himself as the new leader. Some of Mugabe’s loyalists who were feeding the nation with daily dosages of propaganda, with their lips dripping with words of defiance, nullification and interposition are now living in exile, with their tails neatly tucked between their legs.

They long to be allowed back home. Dydimus Mutasa, who spoke like a god and accused of using power to commit violence against his own people, is now a pale shadow of his former self. Jabulani Sibanda, the former War Veterans leader once waged a terror campaign in Masvingo with the backing of state security but today one would be forgiven to think he died a decade or so ago.

Joyce Mujuru and Rugare Gumbo have completely disappeared from the political radar since their unceremonious exit from ZANU PF. Kudzanai Chipanga, a prototype of Tafadzwa Mugwadi, is fondly remembered for his famous ‘apolojersey.’ All these bitter lessons teach us that a nation built on strong institutions is better and safer than one ruled by strong men.

Some of the people mentioned above should be our political lights to whom we turn to for advice. They should be a crowd of witnesses watching carefully that those in authority do not get drunk with power to the point of putting our institutions into their pockets.

They should be holding seminars in universities, colleges and hotels, teaching the young generation leadership skills so they take Zimbabwe forward. But because they chose to be thugs and not leaders, today they are an eyesore, inducted into Zimbabwe’s hall of shame in the court of public opinion. People shake their heads upon sight of them.

They are remembered for extreme cruelty and indifference to human suffering. But they too, like Mugabe, are bitter as they struggle to adjust to the miserable life they condemned their fellow citizens to. Last night, I listened to former Cabinet Minister Saviour Kasukuwere during the Dewa Mavhinga online commemoration.

He said ‘you can only understand the other side when you yourself become a victim’. These are very wise words.No one will enjoy power forever. We came from society and to society we shall return. It is only logical that we use power to build a strong society that will receive and protect us when we leave office. This society is not built along party lines.

Zimbabwe is not ZANU PF and ZANU PF is not Zimbabwe. Unless something radically changes, the next group of ZANU PF leaders will send the current ones into exile nekuti chinenge chava chinhu chavo. We are saying that is sooooo wrong. The cycle of political chaos, power grabs, killings etc must end and an era of stability, unity and sustainable economic growth ushered in.

No one must be followed by state security agents because you belong to the losing ZANU PF faction. Similarly no one must lose their lives or property because they are members of the opposition. Mugabe left us many lessons, one of which being that anyone can join the opposition. The fact that Mugabe died in the opposition, calling for reforms of state institutions, is a very significant endorsement of those calling for dialogue and transformation of our state institutions so they serve citizens and not a political party.

If leaders fail to protect and strengthens institutions, then the institutions will fail to protect them during their hour of need. We want a country governed by laws and strong institutions. We want a country where your farm is not repossessed because you belong to the losing faction in ZANU PF. A country where leaders are not forced into exile because their faction has been kicked out of power.

A country where the courts are not molested by the incumbent so as to deny you the justice you deserve. A country where your savings are safe in the bank.

We want a Zimbabwe where all people are free and have opportunities to pursue their dreams and fulfil them.

All this calls for leadership. As our national anthem says, God bless our nation with exemplary leaders. A new and prosperous Zimbabwe is possible!