Ranga Mataire — Writing Black
AFTER a week of frothing and waxing lyrical about Ian Douglas Smith -- the last racist ruler of Rhodesia, opposition CCC activists have now found an alibi for maligning the country's image by attempting to derive political capital out of the tragic death of Moreblessing Ali, a Chitungwiza resident.
It all started with the CCC's Zengeza West MP, Job Sikhala, who out of desperation sought to hype the disappearance of the mother of two - Ms Ali as a politically-motivated disappearance.
In fact, the burly legislator, who is given to histrionics antics, went as far as blaming the ruling ZANU PF party for the disappearance of Ms Ali, who until her disappearance was virtually unknown.
While investigations by the Police were ongoing, Sikhala issued threats to the ZRP national spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, in a manner that blighted his standing as a legislator and lawyer.
Even when police investigations later led them to a water hole where the body of Ms Ali was foisted in, Sikhala issued more threats to Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.
Beside threatening Assistant Commissioner Nyathi, Sikhala posted pictures of three women seated in front of a hut saying: "This is Simba Chisango's mother seated in pink jacket at her homestead in Denota, Nyatsime area whose well was found (sick) Moreblessing Ali."
Not done, Sikhala posted a picture of a man he named Simba Chisango, brazenly saying the man is a ZANU-PF terror gang leader in Nyatsime whose mother's well was found the remains of Ms Ali.
Notwithstanding the fact that this sort of behaviour is uncharacteristic of a lawyer, many would agree that Sikhala is a person of interest in the whole tragic incident.
Labelling people and casting aspersions that they are murderers is the sort of antics that attract the full wrath of the law and police must surely act against such individuals who are in the habit of inciting people even for a slightest domestic dispute between or among people.
Freedom of expression must be accompanied by some form of responsibility. We all know that freedom without responsibility is a recipe for anarchy.
We are, however, not surprised by Sikhala's desperate antics that are meant to extract political capital out of a clear criminal act by a probably twisted individual.
A week from now, the Commonwealth Heads of States and Government Meeting (CHOGM) is to be held in Kigali, Rwanda.
Zimbabwe has applied for re-admittance into the body and it is most likely that the issue could be on the agenda.
Piqued by a possible re-admittance of Zimbabwe into this body, CCC activists have been on an overdrive of presenting the Government as a violator of human rights.
It is cheap and preposterous for an opposition political party to attribute every disappearance of people to politics. People always have personal or domestic disputes, some of which may lead to tragic ends like what happened to Ms Ali.
Preliminary investigations by the police pointed to a possible altercation between Ms Ali and her ex-boyfriend Pius Jamba.
It is probably that detail that led police to the body of Ms Ali in a well in Nyatsime.
Instead of waiting for investigations and the law to take its course and the culprits brought to book, the CCC is hyperbolically claiming that the death of Ms Ali was politically motivated.
From all manner of observation, the death of Ms Ali appears to be a pure criminal act arising out of a domestic dispute between herself and her boyfriend. Whatever differences the two had, she did not deserve to die and the perpetrator of such a heinous act must have his time in the courts.
And to their credit, police have remained calm even under extreme provocation from Sikhala.
"The Police reiterates that this is a callous and heinous crime of which all efforts will be made to ensure the suspects are brought to book without fail," police said in a statement.
Ms Ali was a nobody in the realm of Zimbabwean politics and it is a sign of desperation to accuse any political party or institution of masterminding her disappearance and death.
Many criminal acts leading to deaths of individuals are a daily occurrence globally but rarely are such deaths always attributed to politics.
According to missingpeople.org.uk, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the United Kingdom. Over 170 000 people are reported missing every year. Of those missing, 98 000 are adults and 70 000 are children.
Despite the grim statistics, you rarely have politicians clutching onto every disappearance and accusing opponents of having something to do with it.
This can only happen in Zimbabwe where a political party bereft of any ideological grounding, authentic elected leadership and tangible grassroots structures resorts to smearing the country's international image in the vain hope that this will endear them with the electorate.
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It is tragic that a party that embraces a dead genocidal white supremacist coloniser in the mould of Ian Smith pontificates of being the governors of this country.
They surely think that Zimbabweans have short memories or no memory at all.
No one in his right frame of mind accepts this jarring of national memory.
Whoever thought it wise to resurrect Smith's ghost including calling it a "lovely soul" has presented cannon fodder to the ruling ZANU-PF party.
The message has gone to the grassroots that in Zimbabwe, the ruling ZANU PF party is contesting for power with an opposition party that intends to bring back colonialism.
The opposition party identifies itself with a brutal white supremacist who refused to apologise for atrocities he committed while he held office.
The opposition CCC identifies and embraces a man who said he had no regrets for killing over 30 000 Zimbabweans during his rule.
We will not forget that it was Smith who said: "The more we killed, the happier we were."
