MDC-T glorifies oppression

Tafara Shumba
AT a recent public seminar organised by the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), one man, an MDC-T supporter received a standing ovation for making a silly statement.

There was ululation and a deafening clapping of hands. His statement even got endorsement from MDC-T spokesperson, Mr Obert Gutu. What had this man really said to merit such praise?

The man, who is in his 50s, old enough to have witnessed the cruelty of the Smith regime, said life was far much better during the colonial period than today. The audience in the auditorium went into rupture over that statement. A silly statement thrills silly men.

It is sad and strange that 35 years after independence, which came as a result of heroic sacrifices by the gallant sons and daughters of this country, some people still believe that the Smith regime was better.

Even in the Bible, some people longed for a past evil epoch because of temporary hardships.

They even went to an extent of beseeching Moses and Aaron to take them back to Egypt where they lived under undignified bondage of Pharaoh.

It is not surprising that this man could be one of those natives employed in the mercenary enterprise by the colonial regime administration to unleash cruelty on his kindred. Of course, many sell-outs availed themselves as willing tools in the perpetration of the wicked colonialism.

This group of people saw and they still see nothing wrong in the way Smith treated Africans as animals.

They enjoyed eating what fell from the white man’s table. As such, they see no evil in the colonial rule of the same.

Unfortunately, this man vomited his unintelligible comment in the presence of the young people who mistaken his vociferousness for a fact. Worse still with the endorsement from Mr Gutu, the gullible youths were completely misguided. The need to guard the youths from misguiding elements who use their mouths more than their minds inspired the writing of this article.

Even Mr Morgan Tsvangirai himself is on record saying he missed Rhodesia. In July 2014 during the launch of a national youth assembly jobs campaign, Mr Tsvangirai said: “When I was a worker in the mine in 1975, I was being paid Z$450, but those were equal to pounds. Takamwa doro tikange ticharutsa nemari iyi, but, of course, those were the old days, handichamwi zvangu, but we recall those days with nostalgia.”

The MDC-T is a party that is missing a bigoted system. It is a party that celebrates and glorifies oppression. A party with a leader who longs for beer, instead of means of production. It is a party with officials who have the cheek to grace the reunion of the Rhodesian Forces commemoration, an event that honours former Rhodesian soldiers. What do you expect from his lieutenants?

The subject under discussion on this particular day was on the topical vending issue. It was from this debate that these hallucinations cropped up.

Mr Gutu and this fantasist must tell the audience the status of vending during the time they wish to roll back. An honest analysis of the vending situation then would leave the same youths baying for the blood of Mr Gutu and those missing Rhodesia.

You cannot compare independent Zimbabwe with the colonial government that promulgated a number of laws and policies that regulated the co-existence of white settlers and the blacks in urban set-ups.

These laws ensured total subjugation of the indigenous people.

The infamous Pass Laws of 1902 regulated the movement of Africans in the white settler areas. There were streets in the Central Business District (CBD) of Harare and other cities where Africans were barred. An African could be arrested merely for walking along the First Street, let alone vending. The surface of the same streets is literally obscured by wares of the illegal street vendors.

It takes someone high as a kite to compare lives in the two eras.

The majority of the MDC-T supporters were evidently high on drugs while others were even taking larger in the auditorium.

It is important to remind them that they were not even allowed to drink that clear beer in the Rhodesian days. It is a mystery and suspicious that Mr Tsvangirai drank it to the extent of throwing up.

It is, therefore, an insult to the gallant sons and daughters of this country, who lost limbs and precious lives fighting against that regime.