Today is the last day of 2017. I just gave myself four hours of 'me time' I the morning reflecting on the year which was a tough year for me and most Zimbabweans. It's hard enough balancing fighting personal struggles which carry a heavy burden on my life since I was laid off at NRZ and standing firm and resolute in rebuilding Zimbabwe against all the odds.
I spent eleven months going to court at least three times a week and that wasn't easy and it left me failing to make ends meet as I spent most of my time in court rooms. That didn't derail my struggle for a better Zimbabwe.
January was a very difficult month as I was trying to ascertain how the year would be like. I spent most of my time chasing my outstanding terminal benefits as NRZ was dilly dallying in paying out my outstanding salaries and terminal benefits. It just didn't make sense for me anymore to chant the Mugabe must go mantra. After meeting with some like minded colleagues and cross pollinating ideas, we decided to have a campaign which started on 1 February 2017 which was dubbed #21DaysofActivism.
#21DaysofActivism was a campaign to protest against former President Robert Mugabe’s birthday bash as he turned 93 years old on February 21,2017.
The campaign highlighted 21 human rights issues which affected the Zimbabweans during Mugabe's regime and which are still affecting citizens under the current government. The demands were that, former President Mugabe had to address 21 issues before he ate the birthday cake.
The 21 issues were as follows: eviction of vendors from streets, corruption, electoral reforms, women’s rights, unemployment, access to natural resources, presidential age limit, student welfare, national peace and reconciliation, cash crisis, state of prisons, alignment of laws to the constitution, disability issues, human rights, access to health care, service delivery, devolution of power, media and freedom of expression, police brutality and constitutionalism.
Year in and year out, former President Mugabe’s birthday approach was characterised by the ruling party’s youth league, under the banner of the 21st February Movement, fundraising and praising his supposedly iconic status, ending as usual with thousands of buoyant supporters watching the cutting of a huge cake in a stadium.
For me and my fellow challengers of the government’s 37 year record which included human rights abuses, we felt that it was critically important to tackle the bull by its horns in our quest for the democratization agenda to be fulfilled.
On the first day, Wednesday February 1, 2017, we handed over a letter to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Parliamentary Portfolio on Small and Medium Enterprises and the Mayor of Harare, against the proposed eviction of vendors from the streets.
We kept on writing letters to parliamentary portfolio committees and relevant ministries until the last day of the #21DaysofActivism and government ministers and parliamentary portfolio committees did not bother to respond.
On the 25th of February 2017 when Mugabe was celebrating his birthday, I was with fellow activists at Parirenyatwa Hospital where Doctors were on strike, patients were not being attended and fuel for ambulances had been diverted and donated to Mugabe's birthday bash. Governments response was police brutality and subsequent arrest for trying to expose the former Presidents shortcomings to the world.
I spent the first two weeks of March recuperating from the assault by the police. Couldn't walk for about a week. Towards March monthend Arnold farm villagers were evicted from Arnold farm by former first Lady Grace Mugabe. The evictions were a real eye opener of how Grace would do anything to amass wealth. To be continued...
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