By Sindile Ncube- For a long time now, every April 18th, many Zimbabweans bemoan the phrase ‘independence day’ because they don’t feel independent at all.
Many Zimbabweans feel the day is imposed on the,, they feel like a people that have been invaded by a foreign force. The fact is, what happened in 1980 is that Zimbabwe was taken over by a mafia government led by Zanu pf.
They took over the country from another mafia government led by racist Rhodesians. It so happens that this mafia government led by Zanu pf doesn’t have the competence and simply doesn’t give a damn about creating a society where things work.
That being said, there are still dishonest (perhaps misled) people out there who believe that the 1980s was a period in which Zimbabwe was a normal functioning country doing things for the good of the people and what-what. These people arrogantly ignore the fact that thousands of Ndebele people were being slaughtered in broad daylight by the Zanu using a death squad army trained by the North Koreans.
After 41 years, I think Zimbabweans should now realise that Zanu does not regard them as stakeholders in the country because they really believe that Zimbabwe is their private property. The right of Zimbabweans to oppose Zanu is not recognised and we see this by the way general elections are rigged.
Moreover, as we continue to observe, the right of a Zimbabwean to oppose Zanu is often regarded as a criminal offence by a puppet judicial system that has Zanu’s grubby hands up its backside.
Of course, there are a few but loud class of people who claim that they are prospering in Zimbabwe and they are doing so without the need for approval from Zanu. These people will cite several examples of the freedoms Zimbabweans enjoy. However, what these people fail to acknowledge is that if their political stance was different from what it is right now then they would not be so booming about Zimbabwe and Zanu.
The fact of the matter is, in Zimbabwe, people have freedoms so long as those freedoms do not oppose Zanu pf or seek government accountability. In other words, in Zimbabwe, you are free so long as you don’t complain about the mess in the country or want to choose another group of people to form a government.
Even if you don’t complain and keep your head biried in the sand you will still be subject to harsh economic conditions and probably resigned to life as a vendor of some sort. A life that will most likely be taken away by treatable health conditions because of the inaccessibility of basic healthcare.
This is where we are 41 years since 1980. We are in captivity, there is no such thing as independence for most Zimbabweans. We can only enjoy independence when all of us are treated as stakeholders in the country and that point will only come when Zanu is gone.