Christmas and new year was a truly a nightmare to the people of Zimbabwe , I remember that when other nationalities were preparing for the festivities with their families and relatives the Zimbabweans were busy migrating into the diaspora to scavenge for food for their relatives dying from hunger and cholera. The Zimbabweans were busy looking for menial jobs, especially teachers whose monthly income can no longer buy a loaf of bread. The festive season was truly hell for these innocent people as they were struggling to live and not die from hunger, while others are already getting finished from the cholera epidemic. Is there someone who really cares about humanity, something surely must be done pronto because the Zimbabwean people are threatened with extinction.
Zimbabweans suffering from cholera
During Christmas I met an old lady of about seventy five years old looking for copper to sell ,I asked her how much she makes out of it per day and she said around ten pula, but she will have scavenged for the whole day for this copper. I requested her to go to Zimbabwe and let her children and grandchildren come and do these odd jobs. She looked at me with tears flowing freely from her eyes and she explained to me that most her children had died from HIV Aids while some were bed ridden with cholera. She discovered all of a sudden that she was now the bread winner. She started wailing explaining to me that she was a pensioner who had hoped that it was time for her to rest, but life had let her down. I could not take any more of her story ,so I gave her something and let her on her way as they are many Zimbabweans in that situation. It was too much for me to stomach, otherwise I would have ended up at lobatse mental hospital from stress.
If I go back to the memory lane I would honestly confess that life used to be good in Zimbabwe, at least on Christmas day all Zimbabweans could afford bread, jam, rice and chicken. Everyone would be calling you to their house to eat because there is plenty. In the rural areas younger man would buy lemon cream biscuits, half a loaf of bread and two litre coke for a date with a younger lady. We used to take bread with jam and put in small plastic bags and rush for the township where you could hear the Leornard Dembo beat reverberating from a distance. We would go there and dance with dust covering the whole place. It was much better in the towns . Citizens of Africa and rest of the world, please understand ,Ordinary Zimbabweans are not looking for rolls Royce, audi or Mercedes Benz, they are looking for food to survive .There are stared with death from starvation and bad governance which includes abductions, violence, murders. They want to be able to go to work and be able to come back with a tabloid newspaper , like the voice and a loaf of bread to laugh with their families. When the Zimbabweans put their plea of basic needs ,they are labeled agents of regime change, traitors and friends of the west by the ZANU Pf regime. As a result they are dying like flies in the villages where the media cannot access this information. Where is the God of the widows, orphans and the poverty stricken? Let him save these priceless souls from perishing at the hands of this monstrous regime. Their death is like that of any ordinary chicken slaughtered for their plushy congress , no record and noticing. Is there value for life in this regime? I leave that for you to answer. What has gone wrong with our beautiful nation?
In our African custom we know that a father can protect his children with the last drop of his blood, a father toils in the fields for his children. He is ready to work the whole week in the mine pits risking his life for his children, even a she hen calls her cheeks under her wings in the face of danger, preferring to perish herself and save the young ones. My question is what is going on Zimbabwe? Which leadership is Mugabe regime standing for? Is it for the people of Zimbabwe or themselves? If its for the people then they should surrender and call capable leadership from the land. The ZANU PF regime has even failed to implement the GPA with their own blood brother Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC which leaves them with one option, to surrender the leadership.
When a husband fights with his wife it is in our African tradition for neighbours to intervene, even if you paid the bride price alone, so the move by Botswana should be applauded. African History shall not forget the good deeds of Botswana as Africa is transforming to a new breed of leadership. A true neighbour should rush to help and it’s a fact that once there is a crisis it becomes everyone’s problem. If it’s a fire people would come from different directions and put it off with different means they see fit. If the neighbour kept on being bullish and beating his wife in the presence of neighbours claiming that its his home ,all the men in the village would be asked to beat him up and tie him with a rope until he accepts that he is living in a open system where you need to co-exist .
President Tsvangirai was chosen by the Zimbabweans on 29 March 2008 to lead them,he is therefore got the mandate of the people.He should also be applauded for not betraying the mandate of the people. We the people of Zimbabwe made our choice and our choice should be respected .He should not give in to pressure from anyone because the ordinary Zimbabweans are fully behind him. The GPA should be implemented as it was documented and agreed not to be bullied. ZANU PF is now like a bus which has lost brakes and wheel steering is out of control. Its like the driver has given up and left the bus to fate and has resorted to chatting with passengers while anticipating anything as the bus is moving at will .Everyday is a miracle for the passengers in this bus.
2009 has come and surely it should restore our wounded pride and I say to you suffering Zimbabweans do not loose hope, Zimbabwe is coming back, this time better than ever.
Simbarashe Chirimubwe is the leader of Concerned Africans Association(CAA) and Global Zimbabwe Forum(GZF) Coordinator for Africa
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