‘You Cannot Suffocate An Idea With Water Cannons, Sjambokes And Propaganda’

You can not defeat an idea whose time has arrived. You can not suffocate an idea with water cannons, sjambokes and propaganda. I used to under-estimate the old – fashioned phrase that action speaks louder than words.

The phrase has gained traction in the wake of the Mass Stay Away that gained momentum on Wednesday 6th. My brethren the Mass Stay Away is solidly a home- grown initiative with an endogenous impetus that is irresistable.

Bussiness came to a standstill across the whole country of Zimbabwe as the masses responded to calls for a Mass Stay Away as means of expressing revulsion at the ineptittude of the pyromaniac ZANU-PF government.

Pyromania is a pattern of deliberate settings of fires for pleasure or satisfaction derived from the relief of tension experienced before the fire setting. The predilection for pyromania by President RG Mugabe and the entire ZANUPF leadership is a cause for concern.

Previously Mass Stay aways had failed to yield tangible results as people appeared to have lost hope in politicians’ driven solutions to the crisis in the country but suffice to say politics is always characterised by “change and continuity”. There seem to be a seismic change on the part of the masses.

In as much as the struggle in Zimbabwe will not be achieved through tweeting and tweeting alone, one cannot downplay the pivotal role played by social media in spreading the message. Social media can be used in politics to spread the message, mobilise the masses for a particular course of action.

As everyone expected by Wednesday morning the government had attempted to temper with the network in a bid to shut down social media. Such is a knee jerk reaction. A product of an Ostrich mentality. A clear manifestation that the ZANU PF Cdes are running short of ideas.

Mass Stay Away are used to express disechantment against the government and are normally very effective in a country with production. It’s on the wall that the masses are disgruntled with a plethora of issues against the government.

The nurses and teachers are clamouring for their salaries to be looked on, the protesters at Beitbridge are against the import ban of foodsstuffs and the masses in general are disillusioned and frustrated with ever escalating levels of poverty, corruption and indifference of the profligate ZANU PF government.

As is the norm the ZANU PF led government will remain in denial, concoting consipiracy theories and laying the blame on the so called Third force and Western imperialists. Such a scenario where leaders fail to heed the demands of the masses can result in a calamitous scenario if the Arab spring is to go by.

It’s evidently self- defeating on the part of ZANU-PF to pretend that all is well. Such an Ostrich mentality of shying away from the root cause of the problem normally result in half-baked solutions that will only serve to postporne the inevitable.

One peculiar thing about this Mass Stay Away is that it was not coordinated by the politicians. No one was seen with a microphone or placards urging the masses to Stay away. The civilians just coordinated themselves and resolved to peacefully stay away. That’s the power of passive resistance.

Newton third law of motion espouse that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The ZANU-PF leadership has to bear this in mind. The Mass Stay Away that took place is a result of their misdeeds which include electoral swindle.

That is the price of illegitimacy and a self- inflicted tsunami on their part. The major problem with the ZANU-PF leadership is a cognitive disposition of magnification and minimisation. They magnify less important issues and trivialise important issues.

It is against this background that the Emperor will be once again misinformed by the political eunachs that the Mass Stay Away was just a “storm in a teacup” by regime change agents. Such puerile narratives are honestly now out-dated.

Zimbabweans are generally a peaceful people but events on the ground indicate that they have been pushed to the wall by the predatory regime. As was the Arab Spring, the more you press a spring the more it bounces. President Robert Mugabe must do a noble thing and just resign because the situation on the ground indicate that the masses will bounce harder.

They are sitting on a ticking time bomb. It will not be good for his legacy. It will cause chaos, the chaos will be a necessary evil since desperate times solicit desperate remedies.

These certified failures in ZANU-PF have failed the masses. They have filled their cup of iniquity and the earlier they vacate the State house the better.Fallen no more to rise is ZANU-PF.

Wilton Nyasha Machimbira, a Political Analyst. source-bulawayo24