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Without truth, reconciliation and national healing Zimbabwe is doomed
Considering all its obnoxious attitudes, cultures and stupid political differences, the most unfortunate state for humanity is that we, whether we like it or not, are all trapped together on this earth.
And there is no way out.
The innocents, who are the majority in this our world, have become the worst victims of our stupidity and greed.
For us to stay alive as humanity, we either get along and survive together or we simply perish.
And that is what is not happening in our beloved Zimbabwe today; the guilty and the pretenders are making sure that they go down with the innocent.
This world is full of prophets of Armageddon, who prefer that we all die together instead of letting only the guilty face judgement.
In the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah , many innocents were destroyed as the Lord punished a few hundred powerful and guilty people, like the ZANU-PF moguls, who were poisoning, not only their country but nations afar.
The innocent perished with their innocence.
Thus, in Zimbabwe , Joshua Nkomo is compelled to burn in the same hell fires with the murderous Robert Mugabe and yet Nkomo was Mugabe’s victim.
Not exactly Jesus and Barnabas on the crosses at Golgotha but the sinner on the other cross, like Mugabe, is surprisingly given a pardon.
Disgusting, I say.
In that false and askew Shangri-La, Jairos Jiri would burn with Joseph Chinotimba.
In that world that Mugabe has made my country to be, Mother Theresa would burn with Grace Mugabe.
God have mercy!
There is so much pain in this world.
Throughout history, nations have fought endless wars and managed to resolve absolutely nothing.
We have read about the First and Second World Wars, yet there were many wars before and after.
Every country has had a war, either against itself or against its neighbour.
Be that as it may, I am intrigued with a certain trend in the aftermath of these wars.
Most sensible countries who have been at war with themselves immediately established what has now become known as ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ to, so to speak, lay the ghosts to rest.
Countries that have had internal conflicts have, at one time or other, set up Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to ‘exorcise the ghosts’.
From Argentina, Canada, Chile and El Salvador, all the way to South Korea, United States of America, East Timor and South Africa, not to mention Ghana, Liberia, Morocco and Sierra Leone, there have been Truth And Reconciliation Commissions to help their citizens to recover from the traumatic conflicts they endured.
Zimbabwe has had not only a turbulent past, but a volatile and violent birth.
In an effort to remove an evil system, we killed those who resisted our march to freedom and killed countless others of our own. Many of our people were caught in the crossfire, while many were accused of being sell-outs and were rewarded with summary executions without proper process to sift the truth.
The liberation war was traumatic on all our citizens and Zimbabweans still need closure, which, to this day, has not been afforded them.
After independence, Robert Mugabe became greedy enough to want Zimbabweans to subscribe to a one party state. To achieve that, he had to destroy all other political parties, the largest of which was Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU.
Starting with the massacres at Entumbane, Mugabe’s wickedness matured into sheer evil and malevolence against the citizens he was supposed to be protecting.
The Gukurahundi massacres remain a blight on our historical chart and it was caused, not by foreigners but by our own leaders in their quest for power and more power.
But Mugabe did not end there, he went on to kill countless more people just because he suspected them of being more sympathetic to an opposition party other than to his own.
To show that Mugabe’s evil knows no tribal lines, he went on to slaughter countless people from the opposition parties and starved old men, women and children because he suspected them of supporting a rival party.
Is there any pride when Mugabe compares the figures of the number of the dead between those he killed and those killed by colonial rulers?
At least the colonialists fought against black people who wanted to liberate their country; they wanted to maintain their privileges.
Today, who is Mugabe fighting when the number of dead under his rule exceeds those killed by colonialists.
Pamberi na Robert Mugabe, indeed! He is our distinguished messiah of death.
Then came the Movement for Democratic Change.
Mugabe showed his bottomless pit of evil. The carnage still continues.
Sheer lack of choice arm-twisted him into accepting a role in the government of national unity with the MDC from whose perch he continues to kill our people to this day.
One of the cabinet ministries Mugabe agreed to create was that tasked with national healing and reconciliation.
It was a half-hearted attempt to con the people because this very important ministry was not given any legal power nor were parameters set for its work.
It was not created by an act of parliament, which could have given it power to summon witnesses, power to forgive and power to grant reparations, etc.
The National Healing and Reconciliation ministry, run by three ministers, has been in existence for more than a year now and the only significant thing they have achieved to date is to get musician Oliver Mtukudzi to make an album encouraging people to forgive each other and to encourage the nation to heal.
I am sure victims of Mugabe and ZANU-PF cannot wait for the album to be released so that they can heal and reconcile.
The heart of the matter is that there is not going to be any national healing without reconciliation.
And there is not going to be any reconciliation without forgiveness and forgiveness can only come about after confessions and admission and requests for forgiveness.
This, unfortunately, can only come about after open discussions are held where people confess; where people get answers and where the wrong and the wronged sit down to admit to each other that wrongs were done and forgiveness is sought.
To make matters worse, Robert Mugabe, the biggest culprit in all this mayhem, has neither acknowledged any wrong doing nor asked for forgiveness.
He should, of necessity, be the first to give evidence and ask for forgiveness so that those who murdered, raped and maimed people can understand the seriousness not only of confessing but of requesting forgiveness.
We have put our nation through too much trauma and we should be thankful that we at least have the opportunity to correct our own mistakes. Let’s do that.
The MDC, whose followers bore the brunt of state sponsored violence, should have given priority to the ministry of National Healing and Reconciliation.
We have not heard of any calls or invitations to people to come forward and give testimony.
Just yesterday, a woman, whose husband was abducted while on MDC election duty in 2000, pleaded for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission just so she could retrieve her husband’s remains from wherever they are.
Has Sekai Holland responded to her? Oh, she is busy making an album!
The MDC should have fought for the ministry to be given more legal authority and, by now, they should have visited many parts of the country hearing testimony. They should be ready today to give recommendations and publish at least part of their findings.
But instead, Sekai Holland, one of the ministers responsible, shamefully announces that the ministry is collaborating with a lone musician to produce an album promoting national healing and reconciliation, something the three ministers, the government and three political parties have failed to do in more than a year.
This shows a grave lack of seriousness on the part of all involved.
What do you think?
Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com.
How can a ministry with so much work to be done concentrate on workshops and making music albums?
Why does the MDC not take this seriously by pushing parliament to give this organ more authority and publicity so that those affected can come forward to give testimony?
The importance and necessity of reconciliation should not be underestimated because the future of our country lies on it.
Government and all political parties should lead by example.
Let them be serious for once instead of globe-trotting to useless conferences and travelling to far away countries to receive awards for fighting for freedom and justice when, in fact, we have no freedom and justice in our country today.
Let us be serious.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday May 13, 2010.
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