By Bernard Bwoni
They are “stupid”, “a complete joke”,
“mediocre”, “dull and dumb”, “blind and poor souls” and “crazy morons”. These
are some of the scathing terms and expressions used by some oppositions
officials and supporters to describe the hundreds of thousands who attended the
ruling party’s Youth Wing organised Million Man March in Harare recently. There
were also some of the outrageous statements used such as “you should have said
one million fools march”, “they are dumb to attend that stupid march”, “they
were frogmarched and bussed to the march” and “no sane person would attend such
a march”. These were some more disparaging remarks coming from within the opposition
circles to describe those who came to Harare for the march. There were some
explicit attacks on the physical characteristics and appearance of some of
those who attended with such assertions, “emaciated looks of the stupid
marchers” and “poor skin pigmentation of crazy morons” being thrown about.
Zimbabwean music ace Oliver Mtukudzi was not spared for performing at the
occasion and there was outrage from all ranks of the opposition. The MDC-T spokesperson
went on to boldly state, “I reiterate that Tuku has sold his soul for a few
pieces of silver. Period!”. The opposition was unforgiving to those who
attended that march and the attacks came flying from all angles. There were
allegations and counter-allegations of those who attended as “having no brains”
and having been forced in their many thousands to attend. Some of the
statements directed at those who attended the march are too graphic and
despicable to repeat. If those are the depth the opposition will sink, then
surely the ruling party will govern for the next millennium.
The reactions from the opposition
officials and some of their members leaves a sour taste and this is points to
an urgent need of a complete regeneration before they can attain the required
standards required to govern. Those people who attended the march are adults
who have the ability to think independently and make very independent decisions
like all of us. Thus, for the opposition ranks to label them “morons, stupid
and dumb” for thinking for themselves and making their own decisions to attend
that march is a blitz on the freedoms that the opposition repeatedly claim to
champion. The undue slander exposes the opposition in Zimbabwe as hypocrites
and the contempt they have for the poor and grassroots of Zimbabwe. Those
people who were being described as “mediocre, foolish, silly” and many other
descriptions way too colourful to print are the very same people who vote.
Voters come in all manner of shades, shapes and physical appearances. The
ridiculing remarks from the opposition were uncalled for and unnecessary. This
is an opposition that needs to start looking inwards to begin to understand
their endless shortfalls when it comes to elections.
This contemptuous offensive against
ordinary Zimbabweans clearly exposes an opposition that separate itself from
the poor and to very different standards from them. Those people who were
gathered in Harare are ordinary citizens who made a conscious decision to
attend a march and the ‘elitist’ opposition got into a grisly sweat and started
hurling insults to discredit them. Those jibes thrown at the ordinary people of
Zimbabwe who chose to attend the march exposes the opposition as seriously
lacking in strategy to counter the dominance of the ruling party in Zimbabwe’s
politics. The obsessions of the opposition when cornered focuses on ordinary
Zimbabweans who have minds of their own and minds to think independently. These
are ordinary people who came to the sober conclusion that they would travel
many kilometres to attend a march organised by a party of their choice. They
are free to do that in the same vein the opposition supporters are free to do
the same without attracting such vile depiction. The opposition responded to
the ruling party’s million-man march by holding their own rally in Bulawayo and
no insults came flying their way. They were accorded respect to exercise their
right to march without unjustified insults.
The opposition in Zimbabwe lacks
grassroots appeal because of their elitist ideals and foundations. They do not
understand the grassroots and never will. Those supposedly “emaciated and
poor-looking people” are ordinary Zimbabweans who make up a big chunk of the
electorate. I doubt very much they will take it lightly being referred to in
those despicable terms for simply exercising their right to choose which march
to attend. The opposition recently had a similar march, although not as well
attended, and their supporters did not have expletives aimed at them. The
Zimbabwe opposition ‘elites’ have this “them” and “us” mentality when it comes
to the grassroots. This easily explains why they have failed dismally to make
inroads in all grassroots constituencies. They are quite contended to scratch
the surface of the Zimbabwe electoral playing field in the urban constituencies
and then cry foul when the ruling party wins with a landslide.
The “poor and emaciated” people who the
opposition were busy mocking and looking down upon in fact look up to politicians
and that is politicians who do not look down on them. The reasons why the ruling
party wins the hearts of these “poor and emaciated” people is due to the
respect ZANU-PF extends to them. These are ordinary Zimbabweans who face daily
challenges and to call them all manner of names is disrespect of the highest
order. The condescending and dismissive undertones and attitude from the
opposition ranks only repels voters and hence their perennial second fiddle
status. The degrading remarks by the opposition suggest the social distance
that exists between the ‘elitist’ Zimbabwe opposition and the grassroots. That
is the ground that opposition will always struggle to gain on the ruling party
which inhales and exhales the grassroots. The opposition pays scant attention
to the same grassroots they despise so much and then cry foul when these “emaciated
and poor people” vote for the ruling party in large numbers.
The Zimbabwe opposition is paralysed by
its politics of power for the sake of power and they pay very little attention
if any to those people who really matter. Attention is being solely paid to the
urban voters whilst neglecting and looking down upon the grassroots. The
snobbish attitude exhibited by those in the opposition extends to dismissing
the inconvenient truths about them. The response from the ordinary Zimbabweans
to these unwarranted attacks is a vote for the party that accords them the
respect they deserve. Those people being demonised for attending the march are
just like any other citizen and they should be accorded the respect befitting
any other citizen. The Zimbabwe Constitution is very clear on freedoms and
these “poor and emaciated” people exercised one of those freedoms when they
gathered in Harare.
bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
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