TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE
From the programme Heart of the Matter

I had the privilege of being the only invited journalist to a briefing by MDC National Chairman, Lovemore Moyo, MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and his vice president, Thokozani Khupe.
They spoke well and explained several issues that were of concern to the thirty-something group of invited Zimbabweans.
I could not help to feel that were people given such information in daily briefings, it would go a long way in consolidating support for the talks among the people, a point I made to them but, of course, was reminded that certain trade-offs are necessary in delicate negotiations, such as these.

I was personally interested in the post Mugabe era. I am very concerned about the unnecessary deaths mindlessly rained on the people by ZANU-PF.
Families were destroyed with parents and children made to disappear. I cannot, for the life of me, believe that our nation shall ever contemplate that it is business as usual when we think of those killed for the glorification of a dictator.
The issue of those killed by this government before, during and after independence is one that is going to be very difficult to lay to rest, especially if it is handled in a cavalier manner for the convenience of political parties and leading individuals at the expense of the people.

Amnesty is the “official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offences”.
Surely, the MDC is not thinking of this?
Take Mugabe, for example. If he is granted amnesty, it means he had been to court and was convicted of, among other things, genocide, but his successor government might just decide to pardon him and let him spend time on his pig farm as a free man, a status he denied Zimbabwean citizens since he became Prime Minister and, later, President.

Amnesty is offensive in that those against whom those crimes were committed have no say. Politicians just forgive each other for their own conveniences. Amnesty is offensive in that it does not take into consideration the feelings of those whose parents, brothers, sisters and other relatives perished for no reason at all.
It is highly offensive to me that a man who murderers another man at a beer hall is sentenced to death and his death sentence is actually carried out by the government, the very same government that would pardon a man who, through deliberate abuse of office and betrayal of public trust, killed thousands of innocent people just to boost his own ego and to hold on to power because people no longer liked his policies.
Yet we always hoped the state is the custodian of justice!

It gets worse.
There is what they call immunity and it is “the protection or exemption from something, especially an obligation or penalty”.
Surely, the MDC is not really thinking about this?
Take Mugabe, for example. If he is granted immunity, he will go home to Zvimba and be free to continue abusing people and the hogs on his farm.
Immunity is offensive because a government that we are going to vote into power hoping to be afforded the opportunity of closure will protect and exempt the men who are terrorizing us and them today.
Imagine the MDC protecting Mugabe from fellow citizens?

As we talk today, Mugabe’s goons continue terrorizing people in Manicaland, abducting, kidnapping and assaulting opposition party activists.
As we talk today, many people cannot go back to their homes because of Mugabe’s supporters.
These are the people who are floating around words like amnesty and immunity at any opportunity they get, especially at the talks in South Africa.
How can immunity and amnesty be granted to men who never admitted committing any crime and who, while waiting for an answer to their request for immunity, continue to kill and abuse people, including those same ones who are supposed to grant them their request?

As MDC National Chairman was taking me back to my residence after the briefing, I revisited the issue of immunity and amnesty and he repeated more or less the same thing he had said in the briefing and that is that in the interests of Zimbabwe, the MDC was prepared to accept some unacceptable things, like amnesty and immunity.
On the whole, it does make sense that agreements to free Zimbabwe should not be derailed by a request for amnesty or immunity from Mugabe.
The reasoning seems to be: give the man what he wants and save lives and rebuild the nation.
It’s not that easy as any successor to Mugabe, be they ZANU-PF, MDC or something in between, will find out.
Can the people of Zimbabwe really forgive Mugabe and most of his people?
I find this difficult to believe.

As for me, I am in a quandary. I am a Christian, a former Catholic alter boy who was taught to forgive those that trespass against us as those we trespass against are bound to forgive us too.
But I can’t.
Mugabe need not forgive a single Zimbabwean because no single Zimbabwean ever did him any wrong.
I know my God is listening and I hope He understands why I cannot forgive. I do not, and I repeat, I do not forgive these men because they continue with their evil ways. They continue committing the same crimes for which they seek immunity and amnesty.
They are starving children and chasing parents into the mountains and want to be forgiven while they scout for more families to destroy and kill. They are denying people they injure access to hospitals which they control.

If my refusal to forgive Mugabe, my homeboy Emerson Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, Perence Shiri, and all those who played cheerleaders to the murder of Zimbabweans will condemn me to the fires of hell, then I am prepared for that.
I will find Mugabe and his cronies there as well and none of us will have the advantage of fireproof gear.
We will be fighting on equal terms and there is nothing I would cherish more.
That, my compatriots, is the way it is today, Thursday. August 21, 2008.