| |
Back to Index
Can
Zimbabweans catch the revolutionary fires that have engulfed The
Middle East?
Radio VOP
February 03, 2011
View this article
on the Radio VOP website
"This
can never happen in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are cowards," said
Alec Sithole, while watching the uprisings in Egypt on CNN this
week.
"Yes, Zimbabweans will wait for you start doing it before
they think of joining you," responded a workmate.
The two had been watching with keen interest events unfolding in
Egypt where millions have invaded the streets to rid themselves
of a 30 year old dictatorship under incumbent leader Hosni Mubarak.
Some observers say the Egyptian political situation bears striking
similarities with that of Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe
still clings to power despite allegations he stole the 2008
election from Movement of Democratic Change leader, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Political commentators say both countries are still under the rule
of octogenarian leaders who have ruled their countries for 30 years
and do not hesitate to use coercive methods to repel any challenge
to their rule. Both countries have leaders who rely on the loyal
support of the military as bastions of their political survival
and both have presided over governments fraught with corruption.
Weeks before the Egyptian protests, the world also saw Tunisian
dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali being overthrown by angry protestors
who said they had enough of bad governance.
Prominent political commentator, John Makumbe, said Zimbabweans
who were slowly recovering from economic hardships may decide to
use the same methods that have been used by angry protestors in
Egypt and Tunisia.
"Many people now have full stomachs. They can afford to actually
participate in political activity," said Makumbe. "They
can organise and gather and actually do fantastic things. When people
are starving, they wake up and look for the next meal and so a dictator
can harass them and do all kinds of things to them."
Tsvangirai last week told Fox News in Davos that oppression was
being resented and people all over the world, including Zimbabweans,
were justified in demanding for their rights.
"That was the whole purpose of our struggle for the last 10
years," he said, adding: "The aspect of incumbents leaving
power to their children, dynasties, as we may call it that is very
resented by the people." However, Tsholotsho North Member
of Parliament Professor Jonathan Moyo said the Arab style protests
in Zimbabwe were a "pipe dream". Moyo claimed Tsvangirai
was funded and supported by the same governments that have been
propping up Mubarak's regime in Cairo.
"It's a case of one puppet laughing at another puppet
and not seeing the irony," Moyo was quoted in the media, "He
is claiming it will happen in his own country. If it does happen
in Zimbabwe, surely the puppet would be the target."
The public expressed mixed feelings about events in the Middle East
with some saying it can never happen in Zimbabwe for different reasons.
"Zimbabweans fear being shot at if they run into the streets,"
says Arnold Matonga, a cell phone dealer in Harare. "Many still
remember how in 1998 soldiers were deployed in residential areas
to torture those implicated as having taken part in food riots.
Besides, Zimbabweans are preoccupied with survival."
Cynthia Mahlangu, a teacher at a primary school in Harare, said
"Zimbabweans have had several cases in the past 10 years that
should have provoked mass uprisings but they squandered them."
She cited the acute food, cash and power shortages experienced in
the past few years and the 2008 cholera catastrophe that killed
thousands as potential cases that should have provided the spark
for mass protests. She also said the withholding of election results
for a month in 2008 by Mugabe was another test of the patience of
Zimbabweans and was a potential opportunity for them to take to
the streets but there was no action.
According to Mahlangu, the closest case of an uprising was in December
2008 when civilians failed to join soldiers who went looting shops
in protest over cash shortages.
Some said Tsvangirai no longer had the energy to stir such protests
after fighting Mugabe's regime for a decade. "He no
longer has the strength to face Mugabe because he knows how vicious
a dictator he can be," says Tymon Malunga, another Harare
resident.
"Tsvangirai feels he would rather concentrate on pushing Mugabe
to implement democratic reforms so that he can assume power through
the ballot," said Malunga.
"Comments he made in Davos are mere grandstanding by him. He
is the least person who would want Zimbabwe to slide into chaos
that would create a power vacuum. There is no guarantee he is the
one who would fill up that vacuum should Mugabe be forced out through
popular revolt. He knows the military will simply take over should
Mugabe be overthrown."
"He is also aware Zimbabweans will not heed his calls for
an uprising. We saw this in 2003 when his calls for the final push
failed. Being someone who has represented a very strong sentiment
within the populace, it was strange that he was brutalised by Mugabe's
regime in Highfields in 2007 but that was not enough to galvanise
Zimbabweans into action.
"Besides, the mere mention of a protest will see war veterans
and militant supporters of Mugabe bussed into the city centre to
repel the protest. We saw it a few years ago when a march organised
by the NCA (National
Constitutional Assembly) was violently broken down by war veterans
armed with sticks."
Others, however, said Mugabe should be defeated through the ballot
while some said they were banking on divine intervention given Mugabe's
twilight age.
Visit the Radio
VOP fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
