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Woe unto the dictator
Rejoice Ngwenya
January 01, 2012

Those like me of non-nervous, rock solid linguistic disposition, nonetheless endowed with maverick analytical skills, 2012 is our year. Look forward to it with much gleeful anticipation as we punch life-sapping holes into the myth of infallibility and invincibility of The Dictator. Applaud our courage and zeal to take head on proponents of the 'Dear Leader- mentality; zealots tranquilised and consumed by paralysing cronyism.

I do not postulate on a moral high ground as I have none, only compelled by conviction and a raging sense of patriotism. Such commitment to national duty is not your usual self-praise marinated in nationalistic self-delusion and so much vaunted by The Dictator. Neither do I experience remorse hurling brickbats at nauseating tendencies of authoritarian absurdities! I hope that, through my 2012 fifty or so www.newsday.co.zw writings, The Dictator will be so overwhelmed by a sense of guilt as to fall honourably on his proverbial sword. In the process, his groveling cronies, and the caricatures of Zimbabwe-s ruling elite personified by diamond looters, greedy generals, career ministers and 'blood- farmers who dominate the country-s political food chain - unashamedly and gluttonously plundering national treasure - will for once fatally succumb to monetary salmonella. It is only then Zimbabwe can regenerate.

2012 is the year when the surreal liberal democracy assumes humanity. This is the year when victims of Gukurahundi lay claim to the front seats in the theatre of vengeance as they enjoy a 3D perspective of their persecutors squirm in the dock of public humiliation. We want 2012 to elevate the memories of Bhalagwe to national stardom by painting fluorescent graffiti and pouring scorn around the hypothetical hallowed walls of State House. I want to remind The Dictator, weekly, that our tears will dry only after moistening the roses on his tomb. The anguish of the thousands who perished from the bayonet of Gukurahundi will, in 2012, be recitals for every song, every poem, byline and progressive work of art - only to undermine The Dictator.

If you therefore seek balanced opinion and political correctness on the 'virtues and vices of benevolent dictatorship- in my column, I am not on your side. If you are in the 'Ngwazi- cult of hero worshipping, then each paragraph, each line, each word and letter must of necessity stab your soul and transform your throat into a repository of emotional lumps. I shall seek no credibility from cronies, or accolades from adversaries of liberal democracy. I want them - each time they see my 'byline- - to expect and get a roasting of their perishable populist ideology. Whenever I meet The Dictator-s Parliamentary emissary, his Senator, Minister, supporter, sympathiser or apologist, I want them to embrace me as their self-styled, self-anointed ideological executioner. It is not for me to praise The Dictator. This is a preserve of ZBC, The Herald and Sunday Mail. I do not owe my life to him. I possess no expropriated farm, Reserve Bank tractor or Fort Hare scholarship. On the contrary, it is The Dictator who is indebted to me. From 1980, he disparaged my fellow amaNdebele, presided over a command structure that mutilated thousands at Bhalagwe and even when survivors joined MDC in 1998, cheated them in elections, got them arrested and labeled them puppets of Western imperialism. It is The Dictator who impoverished my country and made my citizenship worthless.

So if you pursue 'constructive criticism- of The Dictator, this is not the byline to be associated with in 2012. Here, I am a purveyor contemptuous sarcasm.

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