By Bernard Bwoni
It is now become a
cliché in Zimbabwe for the opposition to ‘demand’ the resignation of President
Mugabe at every opportunity the media give them a little bit of space. The
moment the President sighs, speaks, walk down a flight of stairs or combs his
hair the local opposition always predictably spring into action ‘demanding’ his
retirement. The demands continue to take many interestingly weird twists and
turns. Zimbabwe unfortunately is burdened with a dysfunctional, disappointing
and desperate opposition which clearly lacks a shadow strategy and hence their
‘desperate demands’ for the President to relinquish his elected post, not
through the normal channels which all democracy self-proclaimed champions
should know fully well is via the ballot box. If the opposition indeed spend as
much time on formulating a robust shadow strategy as they do on ‘demanding’ the
resignation of President Mugabe then surely this country would certainly be on
the sure path towards economic recovery. One would be mistaken into thinking the
MDC-T has a specific ‘Demand Department’ whose sole purpose is to monitor
President Mugabe’s manner of speech or any action he may naturally take so as
to formulate their increasingly predictable demands to accelerate their passage
into the corridors of State house. Tsvangirai has clearly said that he wants to
escalate the economic crisis to ‘force President Mugabe out of power’ and further
expedite his own self-serving quest to land the Presidency. There is no attempt
whatsoever from the local opposition to come up with any sustainable
alternative solutions to the country’s economic problems expect to make some
doomed demands which are purely negative and not good for the country. It is a
case of pessimistic preoccupations overwhelming progressive priorities.
Earlier in the
week a handful of MDC-T supporters led by their leaders attempted to disrupt
the ongoing Summit in Harare and they claimed that their "demand" was
for President Mugabe to resign. A "demand" which surely defies all
known logic and clear as mud for it seems they were "demanding" was
for SADC to force President Mugabe's hand into resigning three years away from
the 2018 elections. SADC and AU monitored Zimbabwe's 2013 elections and
declared them as free, fair and credible and it boggles the mind how the
opposition came to the conclusion that suddenly SADC would turn around and tell
President Mugabe to resign in response to these "demands". Instead of
wasting valuable time on "demanding" what clearly is impossible
surely the opposition should be focusing on coming up with a robust and
believable shadow strategy. But then this is too much to expect from them.
In the same week,
the local opposition and their opposition media sources went into overdrive
with yet more ‘demands’ for President Mugabe to resign after twisting his
statement about Kalangas who have migrated to South Africa for work. When it
comes to the President everything he says or does is always and often taken out
of context to create the desired effect. Many local opposition media sources
have gone into overdrive, charging the President and trying to stir things up
and set a totally different context to the actual content and meaning of the
President's words. The President was clearly talking about past references and
his exact wording was ‘they were’ (vaizikanwa) and not ‘they are’ as local
media and other spurious online sources are falsely claiming. He clearly said
that they 'were' and not they 'are' and there is a fundamental difference
between those two statements. The President said that the Kalangas used to
regularly travel to South Africa due to their close proximity to that country
and many ended up working on farms and other lowly paying jobs because of
insufficient educational qualifications. He clearly said that some of those
uneducated ended up getting involved in criminal activities and hence the
reference to ‘crooks’. At no point did the President say the Kalanga community
was full of ‘uneducated criminals’ as many are saying but his reference was
clearly about a specific group of people who migrated to South Africa with no
qualifications, ended up working menial jobs and some ended up committing
criminal offences.
President Mugabe’s
name is synonymous with unity, nation building, empowerment and he is true father of Zimbabwe who knows and respect
all Zimbabweans irrespective of region of origin. His reference which many have
gone on to dissect, operate on and perform unethical reconstructive media
surgery to suit their own specific agendas, was about the past reference to a
minority section and not the whole Kalanga community. The President is very
much aware that Zimbabweans are educated because it was his and the ruling
party’s policies which made this education possible.
Then came an issue
as fraudulently claimed by the opposition local press and some like-minded
online blogs of the ‘supposed clash’ between President Mugabe and Khama of
Botswana over xenophobia attacks in South Africa. It was a case of some
uncorroborated "exclusive reports" by some ‘inside sources’ of what
Khama is supposed to have said in a 'closed session' and there is no mention of
what President Mugabe is supposed to have said for Khama to "clash with
him". Some online readers and commentators went on to furnish these
spurious claims of the clash as actual facts. There is however a fundamental
difference between what you want to have been said and what was said. All we
get from the online blogs and other opposition media sources is speculation
being tabled as facts. President Mugabe is seasoned politician who articulately
puts his views across openly and honestly and if anyone clashes with those
views then that is another matter altogether. Again the opposition cried wolf
and you guessed it, ‘demanded’ that President Mugabe leave office.
The debate that
has been raging following on from the xenophobic murders in South Africa was
about the ‘root causes’ and the question that was posed by Zuma about
introspection into why people from Africa were in South Africa. The local
opposition in Zimbabwe of course had to find a way into the limelight by yes
you guessed it again, demanding for the resignation of President Mugabe for his
role in world migration. People have migrated and moved around the world since
time immemorial and for anyone to blame President Mugabe for their nomadic ways
is nothing short of comical and preposterous. People are all over the world for
various reasons and Zimbabweans are no exception and Zuma’s request for
introspection is fatuous. Zimbabwe has welcomed migrants as long back as the
Rozvi Empire and many have also left the country willingly. Many are where ever
they are legally or illegally out of choice and that has absolutely nothing to
do with President Mugabe. There are plenty South Africans in the UK and USA and
same can be said of Khama's own people. There are many Zimbabweans in the UK
and USA and all came here freely and settled on their own accord. No
African should be a foreigner on any corner of the African continent and all
Africans should feel at home in any part of the continent as the intricacies of
the cradle of mankind should be embraced rather than frowned upon.
Many went to UK,
USA, SA and Botswana whatever means they used is their own choice. Let us be
clear on the meaning of the word choice for many would say that they left
Zimbabwe because they had no 'choice' and that is just not true. Everybody had
a choice to either leave or stay. Some chose to leave and others chose to stay.
Nobody was chased away from Zimbabwe and that is exactly my point and those who
blame the President for their own wish to leave the country and try different
things are being devious and dishonest. There are many Zimbabweans who decided
not to leave the country and they are carrying on with their lives in Zimbabwe.
Many chose to stay are doing better things than the majority who diced with the
diaspora. Nobody is saying that things are easy but life goes on in Zimbabwe. Whatever
each individual’s circumstances are, the choice is often theirs to make unless of
course if they are children. It is easy to try and abdicate the consequences of
the choices we make to try and blame it all on President Mugabe. In Zimbabwe
there is peace, there is land to farm, there are opportunities if you exert
yourself, and most importantly there is peace. Most if not all of us have a
choice to either stay in our peaceful land called Zimbabwe or move to other
parts of the world to face the unknown. President Mugabe and the ruling party’s
land reform and economic empowerment policies are key drivers for passage
towards genuine prosperity and a fissure in the path of the regime change
machinations fronted by the local opposition. However these policies were like
an avalanche, impossible to miss and difficult to bring to standstill.
bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
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