Mugabe’s Stooges make threats to prophetic voices.
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(+5 rating, 1 votes) Loading ...By CLYDE CHOKUPETA
Published: March 15, 2010
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I refer to a secretive correspondence sent to me by one “Wallace”; with threats to my person should I not stop commenting on the political situation in Zimbabwe. In that communication, “Wallace” takes issue with my contribution to newspapers about the role of the military in propping up the quasi-military regime in Zimbabwe, as well as my other contributions on the socio-economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. He however makes threats without revealing who he is or who he represents. He may be a sympathizer and supporter of the regime of Mr Mugabe, some security official on a rogue mission to threaten and silence, or a young and idle mind out to have some fun. I respond openly by requesting a real identity – where he lives, where he works, who his principals are, etc. “Wallace” prefers to remain anonymous and claim that lies are written about Zimbabwe. I take pride in knowing that he reads my articles, which unfortunately has not made him stop and take stock of the situation prevailing in our beloved country, but has rather prompted him to want to silence my person by threats of physical harm.
It is an ugly political deformity in a country like Zimbabwe to have someone (or a body) that refuses to see the decay that has been inflicted upon fellow Zimbabweans by a group of bloodthirsty thugs claiming political legitimacy through manipulated electoral events and processes. By what logic would one argue in defence of such chicanery? Again, I ask if “Wallace” (whoever he is/or represents) is real. Or he is a masked stooge sent out to eliminate off the face of the earth constructive engagement on Zimbabwe? While violence works well for the cornered, it does no justification for Zimbabwe, a country that has endured years of violence, plunder, looting and individual enrichment of a select few to the detriment of the majority. In Wallace’s myopic view, one voice eliminated by the Mugabe regime he studiously supports is work done and objective achieved, yet what he and his ilk amazingly fail to realize is the need for change amid realistic promises of a better future. That is what people voted for and that is what people have always dreamt of. Those who lost the elections in 2008 are surviving on violence. As I write, I know I have been luck in surviving this far, whereas there are many other political critics and human rights activists who were eliminated. What Wallace and team need to be reminded of is that when you got to fetch something under the bed, you should be ready to bend. The inclusive government has lessened the problems of ordinary people, but that is not what we want. We want complete independence from thugs and muggers belonging to Kasukuwere’s national youth service, the green bombers.
The regime might torture, maim and kill people as it has done without fail in the last 27 years, but it offers no alternatives to the suffering it has visited upon Zimbabwe over the years. Eliminate people, as many as they can, but surely, that’s no solution to the present quandary of quagmire we find ourselves in. People are fed up and it is prudent for Mugabe to heed this and pave way for change and better change. Killing those who offer constructive arguments and alternatives would require eliminating more than half of Zimbabwe and remain with the few sympathizers, who count to 43% of the electorate according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s dubious results of the 2008 poll.
In all honesty and sincerity, Wallace would not get away with the secrecy that characterizes his professional life in a new Zimbabwe. In his email, he rightly notes that “the dictator is going and the whole of ZANU PF is going and they will of course lose the run off”. This statement shows his knowledge of the populace and conditions on the ground, yet unlike the dishonest steward in the gospels, he ignores the impeding end. His continued support of a system that is non committal to any progressive idea is akin to flogging a dead horse, exemplifying total confusion! Why threaten constructive engagement towards a new and better dispensation? Of course Wallace is paid to do so, but life’s worth is not only measured in monetary terms or through acquisition of trinkets dished out by the regime in exchange for support.
Wallace advises me not to share his ‘message’ with anyone lest an arrest would be made. An arrest based on what charges? He still remains with no identity, nameless like a dummy on a shop display, yet strategically positioned to access instruments of violence unfettered. He is afraid of trouble in a new dispensation if he makes any disclosure of his identity. This new dispensation is soon coming whether Wallace and fellow Mugabe sympathizers like it or not.
Lastly, Wallace, where is the heroism of our erstwhile liberators when more than 80% of the population ekes out a dire existence under conditions of extreme poverty, hyperinflation, mass emigration of professionals, collapse of the education and health system, unbridled oppression and corruption and state-sanctioned violence? If Wallace is real and not a stooge of the regime, why not freely engage me in a debate in the public media? We would then argue out our convictions and allow the audience to judge the philosophical sense of each side. Eliminating individuals as his threats suggest may eliminate the voice expounding particular thoughts but the thoughts will not be eliminated, for they are societal thoughts triggered by merely observing the surroundings. To all those who might have been threatened by Mugabemaniacs, my simple advice is, follow the bees in order to eat the honey. We have come a long way; we have eaten the whole cow and cannot say finally we are unable to finish the tail. We are there!
Capulet B. Chakupeta
Pretoria, South Africa
Count your days if you are still alive. They do not only make threats, they follow up and with the military at hand, better count your days.
Wakatysidzirwa shasha, when Bob wasn’t to fry your ass, he doesnt waster time threatening, he sends the men in dark glasses and thats all.
You can say that again. mugabe is a robber and can rob you of your life, I lost my hisband and will never forgive that old rascal who sits in state house