My satire:Time to Fight





I come from a country where minding your own business is the ideal thing to do. With unemployment rates escalating and economic woes looming, we just move forward and hope for a better tomorrow as long as we have a meal to get by.



Never mind that the city where you drive your car is filled with many children of school going age who are on the street begging for 'coins' to buy a hot meal on the street because they are no longer going to school. The same streets have potholes enough to be labelled as ‘boreholes.’ What I can just do is make sure my car window is closed so I’m not bothered by these 'rascals.' Never mind that rape cases are soaring, families cover up for the perpetrators because they are the bread winners. The judicial system is skewed towards those who can afford. Never mind that some women sleep on the street after spending the whole day trying to earn a living but can't afford to raise enough for bus fare to go back home. We simply forge ahead and kept quiet, minding our daily business.



If we talked, it was inside the protection of our homes, cars or with our confidante, it was never in public places. I remember one day as I travelled to my maternal grandmother's rural home in a public transport. The previous week, one of the government officials had ordered the demolition of houses built on unapproved land. Mind you, these residents had bought these residential stands from approved dealers. Now, Government having realised that the land barons had sold land to unsuspecting citizens who had either finished constructing their houses or were almost done building on this prohibited grounds without adequate warning went ahead to order that the houses be demolished. It was heartbreaking to see young children watching helplessly as their houses were toppled, women cried and husbands stood in shock.



This was the backdrop of the discussions that were taking place in the commuter bus that I was travelling in. In fear I kept my mouth shut as many others. The person who stood out the most was a gentleman sitting in the front seat near the driver .He was shouting obscenities about the government. I just whispered in my heart telling him to be quiet, why was he saying the things we only said behind closed doors? When we had travelled about 50km from the city, the gentleman sitting to my right ordered the driver to park the bus by the roadside. He had been extremely quiet throughout the journey. To everyone's utter shock he said 'Sir, you have been lashing at the government, especially the President calling him old (our president is 92 years old), so I’m going to take you to him so you can say it right to his face.'



It was chilling seeing this quiet man turn into a scary monster, we left the two of them in the middle of nowhere, we don't know what happened thereafter, and we just proceeded with our journey in total silence. We only shared a few words agreeing that one should never curse the government in public because it has eyes and ears everywhere. This paints the atmosphere that characterised our daily existence. Walls of fear enveloped our very existence. Fear was the marrow in our bones. We were inseparable with fear.



It is shocking to see how we have transformed to be a vocal people who know their rights and are ready to voice their frustrations anytime and anywhere. Credit should be given to the use of social media to mobilise people for the same aims. Every Zimbabwean living in the country or abroad has grievances towards the government. Some were forced into asylum while others went abroad in search of better living conditions. Of late, there have been unaccounted disappearances ofjournalists who would try to voice ourconcerns. Corruption is at the peak with public confessions by officials that USD15 Billion dollars disappeared unaccounted for and some Ministers owning properties throughout the country while many citizens are having their shelter demolished in broad daylight.



What became the last straw was when the Vice President of the country refused to stay in a house that had been availed to him and chose and still chooses to stay in a hotel at the expense of the taxpayer. Civil servants are having their salary dates pushed forward while they are expected to pay bills. Police roadblocks are everywhere throughout the city squeezing the few pennies in the pockets of motorists. All these socio-political doldrums coupled with drought currently being experienced in the country has led to the awakening of the public voice. The mainstream media has let us down as it only airs propaganda to protect the ruling class instead of airing the exact obtaining situation. We end up relying on external media as well as social media .On that note, there have been many warnings towards the “abuse of social media” and there are threats of being disconnected just as was the case in 2008 when those with satellite dishes were disconnected so we could all watch what was dished out by the state owned media. So much for democracy!



However, against this seemingly disheartening background the citizens have found their voices through social media. One such example is the advent of hashtags bringing people together to speak out against corruption and other ills by the government. One such hashtag that has opened the voice of the citizens is called #this flag started by a local pastor called Evan Mawarire. Many people have mobilised each other on social media and even conducted three days of shutdown asking the Government to listen to the pleas of the people.



It is very encouraging to see that people have chosen to open their mouths and shout out that they require change of policies and actions so that they live well .Now people are hoping for a better Zimbabwe through coming together and sharing their pains and hoping that the Government will hear our voices so as to avoid bloodshed or civil unrest.



The battle is far from over but having people opening their mouths to voice their illsis a big step in tumbling the walls of fear and saying it as it is. All this details the power of social media.



Picture credit :zimnews.net

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