Date: 15 February 2018

Open Letter to HE  E. D. Mnangagwa President of the Republic of Zimbabwe

Re: Bestowing Hero Status on Dr. Richard  Morgan Tsvangirai

Your Excellence the above refers.

On behalf of the common man in the street of Zimbabwe, I write to notify (not plead with) you that the above mentioned gallant son of Zimbabwe is accorded Hero Status by us the common people of Zimbabwe.

This may not be procedural according to past declarations but is the honest belief of the mourning masses of Zimbabwe. The decision was unanimously arrived at  in view of a number of considerations. This was in the belief that he made tremendous contribution towards the effort to deliver a just and democratic political dispensation in post independent Zimbabwe. He was persecuted, harassed, insulted and unjustly prosecuted but held on to his honorable ideal of justice for everyone. Even when the government of the day cruelly stole his election to the presidency in 2008, he humbly accepted a lowly position while the loser assumed a loftier but undeserved presidency. All this was done to help the suffering masses of Zimbabwe. You will be the first one to agree that Zimbabweans enjoyed relative peace and wealth in that period and that period alone.

He remained a lawful citizen even in the face of overwhelming injustices and continued to urge his supporters to observe the rule of law when the government of the day failed to. It is in this regard that we the people of Zimbabwe with the powers bestowed on us as proud citizens of this nation declare Richard Morgan Tsvangirai  national Hero Status despite what action you will take as the leader of the government of the day. Whether you decide  to stick to the primitive and partisan method of awarding hero status to members of your party or war veterans only, that remains entirely your prerogative. That will not change our resolution or demean the status that this man was a true democrat who stood with the people during very difficult circumstances while you and your party had deserted us to enrich yourselves at our expense. He voiced our concerns while you were busy singing praises to a dictator and his wife founding a new Borrowdale Brooke club for the elite oblivious of the suffering masses whose rights you ceaselessly trampled upon.

What you do in the following few days will inform us of whether you have decided to take Zimbabwe forward on a new trajectory of openness and responsiveness or remain stuck in the narrow minded, obsolete and archaic systems of government your predecessor and mentor pursued to the discord and polarization of our beautiful nation. Another chance has been presented to you to absolve yourself from a tainted and vindictive past.

Looking forward to your response.

Yours faithfully

Charles Chidavaenzi(Justice for the Povo Rep)