Letters

For those who might have missed it, Mutasa is quoted as having said: After all the party consultations, Cde Lesabe was not declared a national heroine since she did not end her tenure in Zanu (PF) after leaving to join the Dumiso Dabengwa-led ZAPU.

This reminds us of the words of the words of Lao Tzu (between 6th and 4th centuries BC): He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know. Not that we are bothered by the denial by Zanu (PF) in conferring our dear heroine of the status she clearly deserves, for we are aware that for once they got something right. They were wise enough to understand that doing so would damage their party.

Who in their right minds would have allowed a heroine like Lesabe to lie next to celebrated thieves, rapists and blood-sucking vampires? Allowing that to happen would be akin to dishonouring and shaming the spirits of those who suffered at the hands of an unrepentant regime.

If anyone can take Mutasa seriously they can as well believe in Rotina Mavhunga who fooled him and his gang that diesel can mysteriously ooze from hard rocks. We refuse to be fooled by Mutasa and all associated with his dying party.

His party is a paddock full of tribal fundamentalists who believe that a certain tribal group is superior to others. Instead of Mutasa going hysterical about our Thenjiwe, he must explain why he and others had targeted sanctions extended against them. This is a clear indictment of those among us whose hands are dirty with crimes against innocent Zimbabweans.

We thank colleagues from ZANU NDONGA for publicly grieving with us in this difficult time.

Mso Ndlovu – Director of Communications, ZAPU

Please help with school fees

EDITOR – I am doing form 6 at Marondera High. I am encountering problems raising school fees and standard uniforms. Would you kindly assist me through your widely read publication to bring my plight to the attention of the generous donor community. Regular dismissals from school due to my failure to pay fees have impacted negatively on my performance. I hope your good organization will assist me as you have done for other poor members from various communities in the past.

Since schools opened this year, I have failed to return to school due to non availability of school fees. My contact cell number is 0772 378 531. – Lloyd Chinyama, ochinyama2011@gmail.com

Lessons from the Magreb

EDITOR – What started off as an outrageous and irrational self-mortification protest by Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia has snowballed into a revolution of unprecedented proportions in the Magreb area. Like a wild Australian blaze, the fire that was literally ignited by this Tunisian vendor has spread into many a country in the Middle East. Governments or dictatorships have toppled and many more in the region are tentatively holding out – but the ground is now very shaky. And at the rate at which events are unravelling, a few more scalps might fall.

This revolution has given us hope that rulers who have previously appeared politically immortal can indeed be dispatched. We might not trace the exact footsteps of our brothers in the Middle East but certainly the same outcome can be achieved in Zimbabwe hopefully less violently.

One of the most important lessons that we can draw from the situation in Egypt and Tunisia is that no amount of systematic brutality can stop the implacable will of the masses. No amount of bullets and batons can debar the inexorable wheels of change; all they add are stripes of honour.

It was spontaneously ignited by ordinary folk. The people were galvanized by the lack of delivery on basic issues of governance. That magnetic core around which the people rallied was not some politically educated high sounding platitude pedalled by some ambitious politician.

But it was rather the simple bread and butter issue affecting the sons and daughters who could not find employment despite their willingness and ability to work, the mothers who could not provide for their children a decent meal each day despite always shouting their lungs out at political rallies, the fathers who could not clothe their families. – P S Dhliwayo, Matabeleland