It never ceases to thoroughly perplex me, if not downright shocking, whenever those in the Zimbabwe ruling elite engage in their usual self-congratulatory delusions of how they have managed to maintain peace throughout the country \u2013 particularly, with the aid of the country\u2019s security forces \u2013 as nothing can be further from the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such a distasteful claim can only be made by someone who is either a chronic liar, or suffering from serious schizophrenic detachment from reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prevailing situation in Zimbabwe can only be best described by one of the most emotionally charged and touching music videos to ever grace the country\u2019s television screens \u2013 \u2018Tozesa Baba\u2019 by internationally acclaimed icon, legend and hero, Oliver Mtukudzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Household in Turmoil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who can forget the wife, profusely trembling and sweating with indescribable fear, like a reed in a fast-flowing stream, the moment she hears her returning husband\u2019s footsteps \u2013 as he enters the house in a drunken stupor, holding a bottle of beer in one hand, and if I am not mistaken, an axe in the other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As expected, the \u2018man of the house\u2019 appears to bark out some threats, as the son shrinks even further under the table, which can hardly fit two small boys \u2013 as his father forcefully grabs his mother\u2019s hand and drags her into the bedroom\u2026with the obvious connotations of marital rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, as far as the distorted and disturbed Zimbabwe elitist opportunistic ruling clique would be concerned, there was peace and tranquility in that house \u2013 considering that there were no incidents in that music video clip of any typical physical violence \u2013 as no one was battered to a pulp, the man did not smash his beer bottle on his wife\u2019s head, and no chairs and tables sent flying in all directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, that is exactly how the regime regards the situation in the country, as they wax lyrically about how there is peace in the country, and no crisis to talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reality of Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat peace, whose peace? What justice, whose justice?\u201d, another popular Zimbabwean dub poet Albert Nyathi once chanted, in his renowned 1994 tribute to slain South African anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could anyone seriously claim that there was peace in that Mtukudzi music video home? As much as there was no physical war, but the wife was certainly not at peace, neither was their son (who had to hide from his own father under a kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Baruch Spinoza once aptly put it, \u201cPeace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, popular genius Albert Einstein, rounded it off by saying, \u201cPeace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of justice, of law, of order \u2014in short, of government\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I further ask, \u201cWas there justice for the wife and her son in that household, even though that particular clip never showed any graphic acts of physical violence?\u201d \u2013 taking into consideration that Mtukudzi actually penned that piece as an anti-domestic violence awareness song, thus the title, \u201cTozesa Baba\u201d, which means, \u201cWe fear our father (or husband).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I go on to ask, \u201cWas there no crisis in that household?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, as much as the disingenuous and clearly devious Harare administration may attempt to deceive the world \u2013 and, in the process, itself \u2013 into believing that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, since there are no dead bodies, of people shot by security forces, scattered all over the country, the status quo is most certainly nowhere near peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Country Living in Fear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering that the nation is living in constant fear, largely due to the worrying increase in reports of state-sponsored repression, brutality, abductions, torture, sexual abuse, and arbitrary arrests of ordinary citizens, journalists, lawyers, as well as human rights, labor and opposition activists\u2026going as far as unbridled insults, tribalistic slants, and veiled threats targeted at clergymen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the saying goes, \u201cThe past always defines the future\u201d \u2013 the cold-blooded gunning down by security forces of scores of unarmed and defenseless protesting civilians in August 2018, and January 2019, is still vivid in the minds of Zimbabweans \u2013 further evoked by the ceaseless vitriolic, obscene, and shameless threats regularly spewed by the regime, compounded by the constant eerie omnipresence of armed military officers, ostensibly to enforce COVID-19 lockdowns and curfews, but have been accused of wantonly trampling on citizens\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can anyone say there is peace in Zimbabwe, when the \u2018father\u2019 gorges himself with the fineries and opulence of life, whilst the \u2018wife and children\u2019 have nothing to eat, go to bed hungry, have nothing to wear, and the children not going to school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us never forget that there are several aspects of abuse \u2013 including, physical, emotional, economic, and sexual \u2013 at least one of which every Zimbabwean has tragically experienced, as a norm rather than an exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, as much as there may not be bloodshed and corpses strewn on the streets of Zimbabwe, there is definitely no peace in the country \u2013 as the dark cloud of crude corruption, cold-hearted hatred, vile vindictiveness threateningly hanging over every citizen\u2019s head is morbid enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It never ceases to thoroughly perplex me, if not downright shocking, whenever those in the Zimbabwe ruling elite engage in their usual self-congratulatory delusions of how they have managed to maintain peace throughout the country \u2013 particularly, with the aid of the country\u2019s security forces \u2013 as nothing can be further from the truth. Such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavuchinyani.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}