Having been away from home for a long time, attending Simba Makoni’s rally was something to look forward to. It was the best way to celebrate Good Friday.
My intention was to see for myself whether he had indeed tipped the scales, cut the sacred cow, and provided the community with the hope for a better morrow.
The atmosphere was exuberant at Kamunhu shopping center. Always the hive of agitated activity; the little space behind the gigantic Spar shops provided the community with yet another opportunity to ponder on whom they will vote for.
Makoni piped the tunes of a new beginning and the crowd hummed in time with him. A new beginning means distancing himself from Zanu PF.
“When a couple exchanges the vows of marriage, the congregation is called upon to be witness to the event” he began in the vernacular, “Today, I am calling on the people of Mabvuku to bear witness to my disengagement from ZANU PF. I declared myself independent of ZANU PF on 5 February 2008.” With this Makoni dispelled rumors that he was being fronted by Mugabe in the hopes of luring the young and disenchanted back into the fold.
‘ZANU PF has failed to meet the needs of its people. It is found wanting on solutions to end the current political and economic malaise’ said Makoni. He sighted the debacle with the diesel n’anga; who took entire Ministries for a ride with her ‘promise of diesel flowing from a flat rock-bed in Chinhoyi some months ago.
Makoni did not need to remind people about the travails in Zimbabwe. Earlier in the rally, school children sung dirges on the failing education system, the appalling health delivery, the current political malaise, and indeed, the need for power in the mold of Simba.
His insistence is that the problems will be solved together with the community. Every individual counts. Whether we are to read this as a call to participatory democracy is an issue for another day. Suffice to say that it is a call that is different from the “Morgan is More!” provided by Morgan Tsvangirai and the “Rule by the Fist” as propounded by Mugabe.
It must set Mugabe’s heart thudding to imagine how his own cabinet minister can turn on him the way Simba has. Simba is not the first, and neither will he be the last. The elections may very well be the death knell on ZANU PF as a regime.
Interesting that children should recite heart wrenching poetry at Makoni’s rally. Young girls and boys decried the lack of teachers, the economic hurdles; the pain of living in a country where the leader holds on to power with an iron fist. One little girl fought back tears as she narrated a poem on what life has become for her and kin…The rally captured hearts and minds.
The MDC Mutambara faction made a good show of support with Trudy Stevenson in attendance. Democratic processes can only have true meaning in Zimbabwe if they are to be united.
Winds of change are upon Zimbabwe, and people are getting ready.
One gets a sense that there will be a lot more tolerance this time. The television station is flighting adverts from all contesting parties, and attempts are being made to provide adequate space for discussion through the same.
