POLITICIANS’ DEATH THAT HAVE PAINED ME

I watched part of Mugabe’s funeral today. I still don’t feel anything. I felt content when a relative of his said Mugabe died a sad man. I am not happy he did not face justice in this life. He caused the unnecessary suffering and death of many innocent Zimbabweans. A number of children grew-up without parents after they were murdered or ran away from Zimbabwe. Many marriages failed due to migration and economic hardships. Mugabe never asked for forgiveness from us his victims so I don’t see why I should forgive him. Us Africans we are too quick to forgive without punishing offenders. World war 2 ended in 1945 and they are still hunting and punishing Nazi mass murderers 74 years later.

I look at the death of politicians that have pained me over the years. When President Samora Machel died in the 80s, I was still in primary school in Amaveni, Kwekwe then. When President Machel’s death was announced, you could see the anguish on adults’ faces. Zimbabwe’s war of liberation was waged mainly from Zambia and Mozambique. A number of police officers had been guerillas fighting from Mozambique. I still consider Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda as my presidents also. Zimbabwean soldiers were also fighting in the Mozambique civil war and there were many refugees from Mozambique in Zimbabwe especially in our village in Murewa.

Those in high school started explaining theories of how Samora Machel’s plane might have been brought down by the South African then Apartheid government and that made us very angry. During Cold War those in high school were telling us about nuclear bombs and it seemed to me that the world would end any moment. In the 80s death was not very common, it was before the Aids pandemic started wreaking havoc especially from the early 90s. The first time I saw a dead person was outside Amaveni Police station when a person had disembarked from the United bus at the bus stop and the person went on to ground collapsed and died.

The next dead person I saw was my father at the end of 1990. When I was about to finish high school, Sidney Malunga died many people were very upset about his death, we genuinely believed that he has been silenced for being vocal. In 1999 Joshua Nkomo died. Joshua Nkomo’s life story inspires me. Many people don’t know that he supported Strive Masiyiwa when he was trying to get a licence for Econet. It was written in the independent newspapers that time that Joyce Mujuru then Minister of Communications allegedly disrespected Vice President Nkomo regarding the Econet Licence saga.

I walked to and from Heroes Acre to voluntarily attend Joshua Nkomo’s funeral and that was the only time I ever visited Heroes Acre. Yitzhak Rabin’s the former prime minister of Israel, his death also pained me. The death of Learnmore Jongwe in prison also pained me. My eldest cousin was an aide to Vice President Simon Muzenda and the death of Muzenda also pained me. In 2005 when I visited Gutu for the first time after I had gone with my father in law for his meetings, I spent some minutes seeing Muzenda’s dilapidated buildings for his businesses that had closed down.

The death of Princess Diana also pained me. My brother in law had also been an aide to General Zvinavashe, the death of General Zvinavashe also pained me. In 2006 I met retired General Chin’ombe at his farm in Mhangura and he inspired me to start a piggery project, when he died I was sad. When Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the circumstances of her death really pained me. When Nelson Mandela died, I was very sad, I consider Nelson Mandela to be one of the most consequential leaders to ever come out of Africa.

Last year when Morgan Tsvangirai dies, I did not want to believe that it was true and I really shed some tears. Morgan Tsvangirai is a true hero of our time. I remember him through successive electoral thefts he always used to calm us supporters. He always preached that he would only get to power through the ballot. After the 2002 presidential elections it was clear the election had been rigged. I voted at Avondale primary school, the queue was not moving at all. After voting I visited Chitungwiza where MaNyoni was registered to vote, the queue was not moving at all. Zanu-PF government wanted to frustrate urban voters.

That night MDC got a court order to extend the vote the next day. When people started to vote, police started arresting people accusing them of voting twice, by doing that action people stopped voting fearing arrests. My wife’s cousin mainini Anna (may her soul continue resting in peace) was one of the people arrested and taken to Makoni police station. After the election was stopped she and other people was released without charges. When I say Robert Mugabe was a devil this just one of the examples.

There were other deaths such as Chenjerai “Hitler” Hunzvi who spearheaded farm occupations, the death of DRC dictator Laurent Kabila that I was indifferent to. Zimbabwean government was not happy that people seemed to be happy that Kabila had been assassinated.

We should always say the truth about our leaders’ conducts. Like what Dr Noah Manyika wrote last week, if you now start saying Mugabe was good what incentive is there to force our leaders to change their ways🤷🏿‍♂️ Mnangagwa should know that if he continues on this path, Zimbabweans will urinate on his grave also