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Elliot Ziwira Senior Writer

Yesterday was supposed to be the “mother of all shutdowns” as keyboard troopers, hiding behind the internet façade, and working in cahoots with other scoundrels in student and trade union movements, pushed for a stay-at-home protest aimed at destabilising the State under the guise of economic challenges.

Indeed, they exercised their constitutional right to dream, and call for what is supposed to be against what is; frantically tweeting like the birds of wisdom they fancy themselves to be – freely and without incident.

Reminiscent of the June 5, 2018 call by the MDC Alliance to “shut down” Harare, unless their demands for the implementation of so-called electoral reforms before the watershed harmonised elections on July 30 of the same year were met; the country remained open; with business going on as usual.

Ranting and flexing his amateurish political muscles, Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance leader then, now leading the CCC faction of that party, spurred on by Tendai Biti, called for a protest march to force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to adhere to its demands, threatening to bring business in the capital to a standstill.

Indeed, they marched, and delivered their petition to ZEC offices at Mahachi Quantum Building in Harare, but the capital remained open.

When democracy prevails over political gamesmanship

Politics has a way with individual psyches. Somehow it creates myopia in individuals – politicians themselves or their followers.

It is a make belief game where winners and losers alike take to the podium to celebrate in their own losing or winning way.

On Saturday, and ahead of the said protest, President Mnangagwa announced measures to curb market indiscipline and boost confidence in the economy through making the Zimbabwe dollar a convenient medium of exchange in domestic transactions, while dis-incentivising use of the US dollar.

Also, the President announced that the Government was opening up the public transport sector to other players to complement the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) in the provision of services in urban areas under set regulations.

“The liberalisation of the public transport system shall be done under terms and conditions to be published by the Government. The police would need to ensure that law and order is adhered to as the behaviour on our roads needs to be seriously attended to,” said the President.

“Non-adherence to the rules and regulations to be gazetted would not be tolerated.”

As a listening servant leader, the President timely responded to the people of Zimbabwe’s outcry to have Zupco capacitated to meet demand, which had seen commuters, particularly workers, spending hours in queues waiting for transport to and from work.

As all this is happening for the common good, in the fashion of losers and self-justifiers, the internet activists and their cohorts were already celebrating premature goals, saying it was because of them that the President addressed the issues.

From the tone of their chirping and agitated clawing on keyboards, perched on their imaginary impregnable nests, it was clear that they were heading for a humiliating crash from grace.

It dawned on them that the envisaged protest would be a flop. That is the beauty of politics – self-ululation.

However, when losers begin to believe in themselves – believing that they are winning in their losing way, then politics becomes a tricky game – where numbers become only figures.

Figures are meaningless and far from reach if the rules appear to be one-sided, and only prevail on social media platforms. Since numbers are important in political games, they have to be seen for their appealing and confidence boosting nature.

Regime change enablers called on all and sundry to partake in the protest by staying at home, and cripple business.

For whose benefit one wonders!

Well, that is democracy; all the people of Zimbabwe have a democratic right to free expression.

It is, indeed, refreshing that our politics in the Second Republic, with President Mnangagwa at the helm, has matured and allows for free articulation of expression in a democratic way.

Peace-loving Zimbabweans, however, understand that democracy goes beyond the right to protest in whatever way, but also allows for choices that question political gamesmanship which massage individual egos of people like Chamisa.

Scalding ourselves, creating jobs for others

There are those among us who have sold their souls to the devil, all for the love of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram heroism.

They smile in glee and reap abundantly from the negativity spewed by the ever excitable international media, which relentlessly trains its remorseless lenses on Zimbabwe.

As Zimbabweans, we ought to know who we are, so that it becomes easier for us to know what makes us one, even in the face of challenges; for we toil together, rejoice together and despair as one nation.

Alive to our struggles, and the reality of our situation, we locate ourselves in the global sphere, and claim as our space that which no one else can lay title to.

We should be inspired by George William Curtis, who observes that “a man’s country is not a certain piece of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle, and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”

For loyalty, patriotism and principle to hold forte, and for nationhood to subsist, it is crucial that individuals making up families, groups, communities and countries invariably become citizens and think in terms of citizenship.

Zimbabwe is our birth right; our motherland, and the only thing that belongs to us and we belong to.

There is no other land that we lay claim to, and there is no other nation that can claim us either; for national flags are not mere flapping cloths that can be pulled down, changed and hoisted again.

National flags are emblems of a people’s honour which cannot be exchanged for gold, no matter the odds at stake.

Therefore, only finding all that is perceived to be bad about one’s country defeats the essence of responsible citizenship and calling for shutdowns is akin to shutting down the mind.

Who benefits if as brothers and sisters we rise against each other in the name of democracy?

Shutdowns are never known to be progressive – they are destructive.

Calling for a stay-at-home protest is murder as it has the effect of destroying livelihoods.

When your neighbour’s children are orphaned, with their source of livelihood destroyed, would you say yours are better off as you smile all the way to the bank?

Would you say you had won, (un)patriotic citizens of the Motherland?

Nobody wins in protests, either peaceful or violent, just as nobody wins in war.

There are no victors, only losers and corpses.

Zimbabwe is our country, our Motherland. We know no other. Yes, we are going through challenging times, it is true. But, will it help us much if we are to destroy the only thing that we have – our humanity?

The opposition calls for shutdowns which scuttle any efforts to grow our economy, yet our appetite for both jobs and food remain whetted.

As we trudge on to the golden future time, our situation cannot be aided by protests. As the majority gets poorer both in spirit and body owing to the opposition’s call for sanctions and protests, they get richer through donor money from the West.

Because it is in their nature for protests to turn violent, perpetrators of violence are jailed.

Not born criminals, in the heat of the moment they allow that ancient part of the human mind usually excited by trauma to be evoked by those with ulterior motives, purporting to be champions of democracy.

When the jailhouse tames them, we ask ourselves if madness should be an excuse at law.  That day should come, and indeed, it shall come when we become each other’s keepers without having to rely on outsiders to tell us what is good for us.

There is a need to beam to the outside world the true story of our land, our reality; without exaggeration, without malice, knowing that after all else has been said, and/or done we remain custodians of our aspirations.

We remain architects of our destiny; nyika inovakwa nevene vayo! And for us to keep the future time in sight we need to find each other.

We need love and unity of purpose now more than any other time.

We should keep our feet firmly on the ground and say no to protests in a world where the love of money overwhelms reason, and democracy wears so many faces that it is easier to miss it in the maze than locate it.