On the 18th of November Citizens March and 'Kuitiswa' ...

There are many people out there who are of the opinion that on the 18^th of November 2017 Zimbabweans were used by the Zimbabwean Defence Forces to push a ZDF agenda that had little to do with the people.

I cannot speak for all Zimbabweans who voluntarily went onto the streets of Harare to peaceful march in support of the resignation of RGM, I speak on behalf of October Madness alone. ZDF helped me with a longstanding problem. I did not want a 93 year old President anymore and judging by his actions and the content of his speeches he still wanted to be my President! I honestly feel like he was WELL past the best years of his Presidency and his retirement was overdue. He was no longer a man at work, he had ceased to be a civil servant. No problems were being solved and no opportunities were being created. If anything more problems were being created by the day! The Government was working for the interests of a selected few and my name was not on this exclusive list!

The ANC has led South Africa uninterruptedly for 13 years, under the leadership of now 5 Presidents. No one person owns the party and therefore no one person gets to “own” the country. I am not saying that the South African Political System is perfect but I am saying that by allowing party leadership to change, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, the party has managed to stay in power. There are lessons to be learnt from the ANC.

I went to march because I strongly suspect that if RGM had not retired when he did and the party congress had proceeded as planned GM was going to become the Vice President!!!! It was going to happen and I am of the unapologetic opinion that this appointment would have had disastrous results! It didn’t happen but the very thought of it still makes me quiver!

I spent my day in the street because at the moment that was the only gun in my arsenal. That was the only voice that I had. All the conversations I was having and opinions I was sharing left right and centre were just that, conversations and opinions. At that moment the only thing I could do to express what I wanted was to be on the streets. Letting my opinion be heard! The next opportunity would have been next year’s election.

I have no regrets about my presence at the march, if anything it was one of the most memorable days of my life. It opened my eyes to the existence of a Zimbabwe I have only dreamt about. Unbeknown to me this Zimbabwe has always been there, it has just been subdued and buried beneath the weight of problems and disappointment. I fist bumped and high five so many strangers on that day, I spoke and laughed with people I will never see again. Strangers chanted songs and I responded enthusiastically as if we had sang together the previous day. We were happy, we were one, we were peaceful and more importantly we were HOPEFUL.

ZDF was responsible for encouraging us to come out in our numbers but they had nothing to do with our actual presence there. They also had nothing to do with how we joyfully and peacefully conducted ourselves that day. My guess is that ZDF was equally as surprised by the Zimbabweans as everyone else.

I do not know whether this new guy is going to succeed, I do not know if he will “make things better”, I am not even sure I like him. But I do know that at this moment he is a man at work with a mammoth task ahead of him who is trying to demonstrate that he is up for the job because I am pretty sure being elected next year is important to him. I also know that hope is a powerful tool that can easily transform a Nations perspective about their future...

Kana ndakaitiswa ne ZDF takaitisana (if I was taken advantage of by ZDF then we took advantage of each other).

Asante Sana...