ZIMBABWE: A NATION WITHOUT PEACE
It is truly shocking when the ruling elite in Zimbabwe celebrate their so-called success in maintaining peace across the country. They often claim that peace is due to the security forces. However, this could not be further from the truth.
Such claims can only come from someone who is either a chronic liar or detached from reality. The current situation in Zimbabwe is best described by the music video “Tozesa Baba” by the legendary Oliver Mtukudzi.
In this video, a wife trembles with fear when she hears her husband returning home drunk, holding a bottle of beer and possibly an axe. He threatens her, and their son hides under the table, terrified. The husband drags his wife into the bedroom, implying marital rape.
According to Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, there was peace in that household because there was no physical violence. However, the wife and son were far from at peace. This is how the regime views the country, claiming there is peace and no crisis.
“What peace, whose peace? What justice, whose justice?” asked Zimbabwean poet Albert Nyathi in his tribute to anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani. Could anyone claim there was peace in the household in Mtukudzi’s video? There was no physical war, but the wife and son were certainly not at peace.
Baruch Spinoza once said, “Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.” Albert Einstein added, “Peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of justice, of law, of order — in short, of government.”
Was there justice for the wife and her son in that household, even without physical violence? Mtukudzi wrote “Tozesa Baba” to raise awareness about domestic violence. The title means “We fear our father (or husband).”
Was there no crisis in that household? Just like in Zimbabwe, where the regime tries to deceive the world and themselves into believing there is no crisis because there are no dead bodies on the streets, the situation is far from peaceful.
The nation lives in constant fear due to state-sponsored repression, brutality, abductions, torture, sexual abuse, and arbitrary arrests of ordinary citizens, journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists. Clergymen face insults, tribalistic slurs, and threats.
The past always defines the future. The cold-blooded killing of unarmed civilians by security forces in August 2018 and January 2019 is still vivid in Zimbabweans’ minds. The regime’s constant threats and the omnipresence of armed military officers, supposedly enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns, further instill fear.
Can anyone say there is peace in Zimbabwe when the “father” enjoys luxury while the “wife and children” have nothing to eat, go to bed hungry, have nothing to wear, and the children do not go to school?
Abuse has many forms: physical, emotional, economic, and sexual. Every Zimbabwean has experienced at least one form of abuse, not as an exception but as a norm.
There may not be bloodshed on the streets, but there is no peace in Zimbabwe. Corruption, hatred, and vindictiveness hang over every citizen. There is definitely a crisis in Zimbabwe, and #ZimbabweanLivesMatter.
