Morgan: Puppet that forgets its strings

Munyaradzi Huni Sunday Mail Deputy Editor
Ooh, Morgan, poor Morgan! Just stop it there, will you?
Your piece entitled; “Madiba’s hero status earned,” that was published in the Daily News on December 18 2013, clearly exposes how out of depth and how desperate you are for relevance after the crushing and embarrassing defeat on July 31 this year.
You Morgan of all the people, I mean of all the right-thinking people out there, you want to lecture to Zimbabweans about Nelson Mandela, you want to lecture to Zimbabweans how one becomes a deserved hero and you want to lecture to us about the ANC. No, Morgan that you just can’t do.

Yes, 1980, brought with it freedom of expression in Zimbabwe and you are free to express your views, but surely you want to compare your puppet party, the MDC to the ANC? You want to equate the ANC struggle to the MDC’s so-called struggle? I am not sure, but the ANC must be very offended by your reckless remarks and if ever you met Mandela for those two hours you claim, then his corpse must already be turning in its grave in Qunu, Eastern Cape.

Surely, Morgan how can you seek relevance at a funeral? How can you use death to cry for attention? How can you use Mandela to cling to the leadership of your crumbling party? No, Morgan can we have a bit of dignity? African tradition dictates that we respect the dead?

Now, let’s go back to your Daily News piece. It’s clear from the picture that the newspaper used that no one really noticed you when you went for that burial. Of course, I am fully aware that people don’t attend funerals to be noticed but your write up clearly shows that you were sweating for attention. You tried to seize the opportunity when former South African president Thabo Mbeki was hugging another mourner at the burial to peep, in the hope that cameras would zoom on you. Unfortunately, you were not a subject of interest and all we see in that picture is your faint and blurred desperate-looking face.

Too bad because the days when the white-controlled media in South Africa were crazy about you are gone. The days when your arrival in South Africa meant some excitement for Lindiwe Zulu and others of like-mind are gone. The Prime Minister’s robes are gone. It’s now poor you thanks to July 31.

In the offending article you wrote: “We may sit as a motley group in our puny political entities, claiming that we are ‘giving’ or ‘conferring’ hero status on individuals, but Madiba’s example is that people earn their hero status in their lifetime through the work they do for their communities and their countries.”

Well, well, Morgan I know what you are trying to drive at. I know what this is all about. We aren’t small children Morgan.
It’s clear there is something haunting you, something giving you sleepless nights. You want to know Morgan and let me tell you right now, you are not a candidate for our National Heroes Acre. No, no, no! That revered place is not meant for cowards, sell outs and puppets.

Zanu-PF, the revolutionary party that brought freedom and independence to this country through blood, death, pain, sacrifice and torture will continue determining who deserves national hero status. Those national heroes, as you rightly wrote, earned their status through the liberation struggle and that’s why cowards like you, who ran away from the struggle won’t be buried at that national shrine. I have interviewed many veterans of the liberation struggle and I know what I am talking about here.

And like President Mugabe has said in the past, “kana muchida tsvagaiwo chenyu churu chekuviga enyu magamba.” Picture this: A heroes acre where people like Morgan, Roy Bennett, Tendai Biti and Zwambila will be buried while Ian Smith’s remains would be exhumed and reburied at this shrine of shame. Morgan please give us a break! We may be facing challenges, but Zimbabwe is a country of serious people.

But then, I know poor Morgan like all ideologically bankrupt puppets, will try to put up a brave face and say “no, no, I don’t want to be buried at the national shrine.” Well, fair and fine Morgan you can choose your final resting place but stop worrying about those being buried at the National Heroes Acre. Your statement above is a poor attempt at asking whether you qualify to be buried at the revered shrine. Come again poor Morgan, tell us the story that’s haunting you.

You continued your piece saying: Throughout his life (Mandela), he was not only preoccupied with the pursuit of liberation and freedom in South Africa but the rest of humankind and he was clearly touched by how those who had started on a promising note had now disappointed the millions in Zimbabwe.

“. . . The evidence some of us have had to brave in our own countries is that sometimes age comes alone, without any iota of wisdom and unaccompanied by any shred of statecraft or competence.” Morgan, honestly this is sickening coming from you.

You really want to drag President Mugabe into this charade? Honestly? Come on Morgan? Did you see the frenzy that greeted President Mugabe’s arrival at the FNB stadium during Madiba’s memorial service? Why Morgan do you think South Africans like our President that much? Why? Have you ever sobered up and thought deeply why President Mugabe is a hero for South Africans? Why were South Africans booing their own leader, President Zuma and giving President Mugabe such a standing ovation? Think Morgan, think!

Maybe we are asking for too much from you considering your several challenges but dear Morgan, the truth of the matter is that South Africans feel they are not yet free from the yoke of apartheid. Whites still have an iron grip on the economy while blacks are languishing in abject poverty. The economic and social gap between the advantaged whites and the disadvantaged blacks is widening at a rate that has reached dangerous levels.

Blacks in South Africa have nothing to show for all the hyped claim that South Africa got independent in 1994. The Whiteman in South Africa is still untouchable and is still running the economy while blacks only come in as providers of cheap labour. The bomb is ticking in South Africa. No wonder why a young man called Julius Malema is causing whites sleepless nights.

Don’t be fooled by those high-rising buildings, don’t be fooled by the few elite blacks who are being pushed to the front as evidence that blacks are equal to whites, don’t be fooled by the rand and don’t even be fooled by their well-sponsored football and music industry — the supposed Rainbow Nation is bleeding profusely.

So Morgan, who between President Mugabe and Mandela has let his people down? You will obviously come up with the usual nonsense saying “Zimbabwe is struggling yet South Africa is recording significant economic growth?” What growth and whose growth? You will say “Zimbabweans are facing a difficult time now and yet South Africans are enjoying themselves.” Agreed, Zimbabweans are going through a difficult time and that’s understandable because the country is going through an economic struggle so that blacks own their economy and resources.

And while puppets may find it difficult to understand, there is no enjoyable struggle. Any struggle comes with a lot of hardships and pain.
It’s actually an insult to compare the living standards of a people in the middle of a struggle, an economic struggle for that matter in our case, to a people whose struggle has not even began as is the case with South Africa.