They had obtained police clearance and 15 top members of the MDC-T in ward 14 met to discuss their lives. Among the crowd sat the 76-year-old Deputy Organising Secretary, Brian Mapira, in his Mai Susan Tsvangirai T-shirt.
Little did he know that that would be the last day he would don his MDC regalia after drunken Zanu (PF) supporters descended on the crowd with bricks and axes.
“We were about to finish the rally when Zanu (PF) supporters came. They said we should stop our meeting. 30 of them came and chased us, because of my age I could not keep up with other supporters and they caught me. They then ordered that I remove my T-shirt and I obliged, they took it and then beat me up,” said Mapira.
“I am not afraid of death, what I fear more is that if I do not do something then I am abandoning my children to perpetual poverty and I cannot do that. Right now my wife is home and she is in pain because of the neck injuries she sustained in 2008 June elections.
“I want a Zimbabwe that we wanted to see in the 1970s; a Zimbabwe that will give her children jobs and were everyone is equal regardless of political affiliation. If I die in that struggle then I will be happy to leave that legacy for my children and grandchildren.”
In the communal lands of Murewa where Zanu (PF) has lost ground to Tsvangirai’s MDC, people like Mapira are symbols of resilience. They eke a hard existence, watch their grandchildren stay at home because they do not have the school fees, and till the overused land because they did not benefit from President Robert Mugabe’s land reform.
Post published in: News