Chronicle Editor
Stephen Mpofu, Perspective
THIS country’s forthcoming elections on August 23 should not appear to all and sundry on the African continent and, indeed, on the globe at large as the usual, old game that also sees loquacious but fake patriots worming their way into important power structures which determine the future of a country.
On the contrary, the harmonised elections should be, and be seen by all as a revalidation of the revolutionary spirit that habited and emboldened the gallant sons and daughters of the Zimbabwean soil — with some of them even sacrificing their precious lives to herald for all of us alive today on April 18, 1980 the freedom that we enjoy today with our nation thumbing its nose, as it were, on Western imperialist nations that imposed economic sanctions on this country but in a failed bid to oust the revolutionary Zanu-PF from power.
What that revolutionary spirit must therefore do, and be seen by all to accomplish its purpose, is to cause voters to overwhelmingly choose fiercely patriotic, new faces while returning similarly patriotic men and women to the various structures of power for our country to march on politically, economically and socially into brave new futures until the angel of God blows the trumpet to bring this world of trials and tribulations to its end.
That unstoppable march to earn the accolade black beauty Zimbabwe is actually not out of reach with, for instance, the joint African Union and Comesa team now in the country saying a few days ago that it was impressed with the absence of pre-election violence which should be an example for African sister republics.
Members of both ruling and opposition parties must surely hug themselves with glee with that praise continuing to ring in their ears now, during the elections and afterwards so that this country must become a model of abidance with law and order at all times and this as a prerequisite for peace, national unity and unhindered national development for the good of all.
The bottom line here is that Zimbabweans should observe the supremacy of our country’s no-nonsense laws and refuse to be coerced or bribed by the politically weak who desire to worm their way to power by all means and at any cost to their image.
In this case, youths must say “No” to being wielded, as it were, as knobkerries for political parties that want to get into power for power’s sake but with no love for the unity of all as a powerful force for peace, stability national, development and joy for all citizens of our beloved motherland.
Which also suggests here that Zimbabwe’s various information media have, as always, a critical role to play by exposing any and all malevolent political parties or individuals that kowtow to imperialist forces hell-bent on reversing the gains of freedom and independence in our motherland with neo-colonialism which, for instance, the Western economic embargo that imposers have still not renounced was and still is heinously intended as a rope to tighten and choke any incumbent revolutionary Government in this country.
The consoling truth is that good losers in elections always have a better chance of victory the next time provided they come up with developmental programmes that are better than those of incumbent political parties and are also seen by voters as unwavering patriotic organisations insular to heinous, foreign political indoctrination.
So let’s all look forward to clean polls influenced by a revolutionary spirit that must never, ever be allowed to become extinct.
Online Reporter