Poorly advising him and deceiving him on issues of principle, on issues that bedevil our nation, on the course that a new Zimbabwe should take. My generation, the one whose future was abrogated and violently taken from our feet, the children from 1980 onwards, the ones who got some education but where never able to use it productively for our country.
We do envy your courage Mr President but we pity your lack of understanding on who we are, what we want and what future we aspire for. We are forever grateful for being born after the liberation struggle, we are forever grateful for the freedom fighters that delivered a free Zimbabwe that brought us the education we got but we are also saddened by where Zimbabwe is today. We are sure that the ones that perished in pursuit of a free Zimbabwe, the ones that were driven by the need for democracy did not have this current Zimbabwe in mind, one that is ruled by decree, one where state systems are abused at the hand of the liberator so as to selfishly protect personal interests and power.
It is a sad development that it took the whole of SADC and one Morgan Tsvangirai to remind the President and his party that Zimbabwe is not just about “ power, it is about its People” about the future of our Nation. One in which we the generation of the 80s and everybody else have opportunities to use our natural resources, education and skills to rebuild our country, our economy, our agriculture, our schools, our roads, our hospitals and all that is Zimbabwe’s. We are tired of being scattered all over the world just to make a decent living.
We are not pleased Mr President, we are not happy comrade leader and we are saying our vote is our gun (for a lack of a better metaphor); our vote is our hope that we can democratically rebuild the Zimbabwe that you once aspired to. A democratic Zimbabwe where the constitution is respected, a Zimbabwe where there is clear separation of power. A Zimbabwe where power and politics is left to the people of Zimbabwe young and old, one in which the soldiers and the police protect our vote and our wishes.
A Zimbabwe where cabinet and the executive lead our government and implement our policies, where parliament pass laws and develop pro-growth and just policies that benefit us, where the judiciary helps the executive and parliament to protect our rights as citizens and as a people.
We want you Mr President to witness that New Zimbabwe we aspire for, we want you and my grandfather and the rest of our elders in Zimbabwe to witness the downing of a new era, a democratic, developmental and sustainable Zimbabwe. It is a waste of your valuable time and spirit to still bog you with the strenuous affairs of the state and less alone running it. We feel it is not fair to you and to your family to see your wisdom and character being publicly exploited and humiliated at the same time by a selfish few.
It’s unfortunate that they continue to hoodwink you and this time they went too far I must say, misleading you in front of the whole world. We don’t want anyone to take advantage of your age and the inevitable decline of your faculties especially in public, Dear Cde Leader, your Excellence we the generation that you call the ‘born frees’, we are grateful but we feel “it is time” for you and other octogenarians to gracefully bow out without this unnecessary humiliation it will taint your sanitised legacy and image forever.
We want to assure you that it is not betrayal to us your children to say I have done my part, we are forever grateful to your statesmanship and leadership but it is time for you to pass the buck so that our Nation moves forward…
Bonzo Mukwasha … Educated, exiled, unemployed youth…
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis