| |
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Post-election violence 2008 - Index of articles & images
Mugabe
and his trusty henchmen solely responsible for political violence
in Zimbabwe
Mutsa Murenje
May 16, 2008
The phenomenon of political
violence has in recent years become both a delicate and topical
issue. Public concern about political violence has been growing
and has produced a variety of emotional reactions, from horror to
total denial of its existence. Accelerated political violence has,
however, been recognized as one of the most serious problems confronting
the world. The political violence crisis has hurt primarily developing
countries, but it entails global consequences. The phenomenon is
occurring globally, in different types of nations, and for different
reasons. In Zimbabwe, in particular, there seems to be no lasting
solution to the problem of political violence and it now takes on
the character of an inescapable concern.
It is my innermost conviction
and humble submission in this polemical contribution that recognition
of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights
of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,
justice and peace not only in Zimbabwe but also in the region and
world at large. Disregard and contempt for human rights in Zimbabwe
have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience
of mankind particularly students, civil society members and opposition
activists. But we all know, don-t we, that the advent of a
society in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and
belief and freedom from fear and want remains the highest aspiration
of the people of Zimbabwe.
A barrage of overwhelming
and preponderant evidence shows beyond any shadow of doubt that
political violence is inevitable in Zimbabwe because it has been
determined by our history of colonialism. Violence was there even
during the time of the liberation struggle. In the foreword to the
late Professor Masipula Sithole-s Zimbabwe: Struggles-within-the-struggle,
Henry Muradzikwa writes that: Only the most naïve among us
would make us believe the struggle was without ghastly internal
atrocities and that one often heard the ominous phrase, 'revolutionary
justice- during the liberation struggle. According to him,
gruesome murders were committed under that phrase and this included
the elimination of your own for personal political advantage. These
are poignant truths which should never be allowed to soil the pages
of our gallant history.
Ko paGukurahundi,
hondo yeminda, Murambatsvina
and even during the deaths of opposition cadres like Talent Mabika,
Tichaona Chiminya, Trymore Midzi, Matthew Pfebve, Tonderai Machiridza,
Gift Tandare and many more? How many people have been displaced
ever since the harmonised elections of March 29? How many have been
murdered? Who is responsible for all this? Members of the opposition
are the ones who have been victims of political violence since independence
and cannot therefore be held responsible for orchestrating violence
against themselves. The point is it is Mugabe and his trusty henchmen
who are solely responsible for all this. I am saying this with a
straight face, and without fear and apology. This is so because
Mugabe derives his power from coercive elements (not from the people!),
from the police to the army, the laws and courts and the torture
chambers. At his disposal, he has vast amounts of money to bribe
the people and the media to spread his propaganda.
Paulo Freire in Pedagogy
of the Oppressed, pages 37-38 writes that: Violence is initiated
by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognize others
as persons-not by those who are oppressed, exploited and unrecognized.
It is not the unloved who initiate disaffection, but those who cannot
love because they love only themselves. It is not the helpless,
subject to terror, who initiate terror, but the violent who with
their power create the concrete situation which begets the "rejects
of life". It is not the tyrannized who initiate despotism,
but the tyrants. It is not those whose humanity is denied them who
negate humankind, but those who denied that humanity (thus negating
their own self as well). Force is used not by those who have become
weak under the preponderance of the strong, but by the strong who
have emasculated them.
For the oppressors, however,
it is always the oppressed (whom obviously they never call "the
oppressed" but-depending on whether they are countrymen or
not-"those people" or "the blind and envious masses"
or "savages" or "natives" or "subversives")
who are disaffected, who are "violent", "barbaric",
"wicked", or "ferocious" when they react
to the violence of the oppressors.
Justice and freedom are
what we want. If these we had then we would be more than willing
to go about the business of living. It is criminal that we should
spend the most productive times of our lives fighting for freedom
that by virtue of birth should be ours and that our greatest minds
live in perpetual fear of harassment, assassination, imprisonment
or exile. Credibility is the most important possession of a leader
VaMugabe. The secret of a healthy, tension free existence is to
develop sufficient tolerance of conflicting ideas and viewpoints.
Love and respect for human life, that love that forever binds brother
to sister, to country, to the human race has been the basis of the
struggle for a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe.
In conclusion, my hunch
is that opposition forces, after having exhausted all legal means,
after watching their members strewn on the streets with bullet holes
for the simple demand of freedom, have no other choice but to forcefully
seek freedom. In other words, it is the brutality of the government,
its stubbornness in the face of change; its eagerness to torture
and murder that brings violence unto itself. I put it to you dear
Zimbabweans.
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
|
