By Thokozile Usuwana| The entire course of black history is mapped out with a lot of tumultuous landmarking events, catastrophies and turning points that define the outline of our present day existence.
For the majority of these occurrences, certain individuals stand out as the ambassador faces of the changes that came after their efforts. We have Nelson Mandela who was the president of the ANC, imprisoned for 27years for standing up against apartheid and was later the president of South Africa after his release.
Rosa Parks, one of America’s major symbols of the civil rights movement, was arrested in Montgomery Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. The list is endless but for the sake of brevity the above mentioned faces paint a bright enough picture …
Fast forwarding to present day Zimbabwe, our country is being ravaged by E.D Mnangagwa who is often seen in the blazing sun wearing a scarf that I believe is some sort of talisman behind all his tyrannical, callous and diabolical rule.
The army, of which he previously was Minister of before becoming the vice president, ascended him into presidency via a coup in 2017. Many became very optimistic about the future of Zimbabwe at this point but MDC members and supporters knew the optimism is only short lived.
ZANU-PF is the cloth from which E. Mnangagwa was cut from. Even the most primitive human with the minimum requirement for basic mental capacity could have seen the devastation that loomed over our country at the time of the coup.
Sadly, no human being even with an IQ of the whole human population could have predicted the extent of the scourge that comes with Mnangagwa even with the retrospect of the Mugabe administration.
The year on all our calendars reads 2019 and all around us civilisation has taken great leaps but the ZANU-PF is still living the age in which it is oppressing those that have a different political voice to their own. There is a Shona saying that says, “ Avhunduka chati kwatara hunge ane chiturikwa” which means that only he that has a guilty conscience is the one at will be restless and easily spooked.
This is exactly what I am seeing in Emmerson Mnangagwa right now. The deployment of the army onto the streets to act as law enforcement to stipulate the illegal imprisonment of oppositional party supporters and activists is the manifestation of his angst and fretfulness.
The past few months has seen the incarceration of MDC supporters for unproven offences e.g for the killing of a policeman for which Last Maengahama is behind bars for despite all the evidence proving his innocence.
Farirai Gumbonzvanda , the bright intelligent young lady who is also the founder of Rozaria Memorial Trust was arrested together with four other activists for allegedly plotting to topple Mnangagwa. Tungamirai Madzokera, Farai Winners Chidziva and Choto are among the multitudes of political prisoners for whom MDC supporters from different political provinces are demonstrating for the release of.
It is appalling that in this day and age, human beings are oppressing each other because they have a different political opinions. Using the previously mentioned shona proverb reference, when a leader has an inkling that an individual wants to overthrow his government, surely it is because there are serious flaws with his leadership or lack thereof.
I, personally attended and was active in a demonstration against the oppression and incarceration of our people held in Reading on the 1st of June 2019*. It was just not MDC supporters within the South West district involved, turn up was from all across the province including from Manchester, London etc.
All the travel expenses incurred by our fellow members out of their own pockets so we can all have one voice to cry out together against this oppressive and poor excuse of a government.
The end is in sight but it is darkest before dawn and the pain that we are feeling and expressing so outwardly is a pre-notion of a brighter future for our Zimbabwe under the MDC government led by our President Nelson Chamisa.
As with any other areas in life , whenever there is any force applied to any situation, negative forces start to show their faces. Pessimists were quick to dismiss our efforts like messengers from the devil government itself. Excessive pressure produces beautiful diamonds.
The pressure from the ZANU PF will produce freedom and democracy and the pressure from us will produce a well led and anointed government and the successful and safe release of prisoners. Whichever way, it is a win-win situation for MDC even if it is going to take a lot of blood sweat and tears.