ZwNews.com
“Dear Moms, Sabina Mugabe, since the November coup I have not been able to visit you and bring you flowers. So today as we commemorate 9 years since your passing on, I am writing this letter to you instead. I am sorry to tell you that the Zimbabweans who were victims of ‘kuitiswa’ (to be used and discarded) citizens used to pacify the coup are experiencing unprecedented levels of suffering and poverty.”
The above were the words from former President; Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao in a letter he recently wrote to his mother post-humously.
He bemoans how Zimbabweans are now worse off since the coup. Citizens helped the coup plotters achieve their goals, but are subject to inhumane treatment from the same people they helped climb the ladder of power.
Many alarms were rang but no one took heed, and the people are now regretting.
The Blue Ocean Coup strategy presentation by Jonathan Moyo during a heated ZANU-PF political bureau meeting gave blow to blow account of an impending coup that would end Mugabe’s long grip on power.
Years down the line Mugabe is regretting for not have listened, he is likely going to die a bitter man, both to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his betrayal, and to himself for not having had heeded Moyo’s warning.
Mugabe could be guilty of not having had taken the warning, but Zimbabweans at large have their own regrets to tell also.
Their hatred for Mugabe at the time, blinded them of the type of a person they embraced as their political messiah, Mnangagwa. The coup plotters used the masses to sanitise their selfish desires, for them it was not about ‘the criminals surrounding the president’ as they alleged, but it was all about being close to the feeding trough, now they are in charge, corruption is ripening from a blooming flower to a pod with seeds inside.
Whoever tries to push them away from the feeding bowl, they arrest, persecute, torture, or even kill.
Zhuwao warned the people about being used, but not one person took it, they thought it was a case of sour grapes, since the coup meant the fall of his uncle, Bob.
Not only did Zhuwao warned, former prime minister in the Government of National Unity, and MDC founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai, once asked one local journalist during the coup;
“Are you happy?” The journalist responded; “Yes I am very happy Mr Tsvangirai; Mugabe is gone.”
Then Tsvangirai said; “Chenjerai kufarira n’anga inobata mai chibharo” (Be careful not to embrace a witchdoctor who rapes your mother).
For Zimbabweans the hatred for Mugabe blinded them, and for Bob, his self-centred ego blinded him from heeding the coup warning, and years down the road, both Mugabe and citizens are regretting.
As the nation celebrated the Defence Forces Day, yesterday, this publication moved away from the ‘madding crowd’ at the main event held at the National Sports Stadium, sought a human face and took it onto the streets to get the mood of those who chose not to grace the main event.
“As for me, I felt being betrayed after having had put my trust in Mnangagwa and today we are worse off. That betrayal has since taken away all this day’s significance. The day is now monotonous and boring,” said one former history teacher at a local high school.
The former is at bitter and for him, the holiday has lost its meaning. “This regime has a long history for murdering its sons and daughters, then cherish burying them at the shrine.
“When Mnangagwa took over the reins, we thought the script would change. But he has proven to be even more ruthless, the nation has since sank even deeper,” he added.
Renowned political commentator Elder Mabhunu agrees that the heroes holiday has lost its glitter.
“Only yesterday, 13 August 2019, while some were celebrating the Defence Forces Day, Tatenda Mombeyarara, a pro-democracy activist and Blessing Kanotunga MDC Youth Chairperson for Mufakose were kidnapped during the night by state security and subjected to severe assault and torture.
“What then is the significance of commemorating the day? Mugabe wouldn’t allow this, especially on the very day of the commemorations,” says Mabhunu.
Meanwhile, former Sunday Mail editor Brezhnev Malaba, also bemoans the current state of politics in Zimbabwe, that has demeaned the Heroes Day, to the extent that the country needs to be liberated again.
“I cherish the immense sacrifices of our liberators, but I am shattered by the realisation that we have morphed into a country that must be liberated from its liberators.
“There’s nothing heroic about poverty, economic decay, corruption and state-sponsored murder,” he posted on his microblog, twitter handle.
