LIFE GOES ON Untouchable... and unbothered!
The Gold Mafia exposé caused a lot of hullabaloo in the last couple of days and one might have expected Zimbos to revolt, but oh no.
In a four-part series, the Al Jazeera documentary showed how Zimbabwe was losing billions of US dollars every week through gold smuggling and money laundering by a gang that works closely with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
There has been so much noise, especially on social media, stemming from these revelations, but that is where the dissent ended.
If the past and current regime had not instilled so much fear in our hearts and minds, there would be serious talk of impeaching the President; or perhaps we would have taken to the streets demanding his resignation as evidence brought by Al Jazeera makes him unfit for his position.
But we are so afraid of the consequences if that was to happen.
We know that the army and the riot police would be out in full force, ready to brutally deal with protesters and ready to spill blood. It has happened before, people have lost their lives during protests and now we can never dare.
It is for this reason that life continues as normal despite being hard done by those in power.
Life goes on for them as well and, who knows, they might now be looting more than ever before just to prove that they are untouchable.
Life goes on for London-based Ambassador at Large, Uebert Angel, one of the main Gold Mafias implicated in the exposé. He will continue living the soft life that comes with being an envoy and being the President’s ‘son’.
On Tuesday, the country marked 43 years of independence and President Mnangagwa addressed the nation, making no mention of the damning revelations nor did he condemn corruption.
Instead, he promised that the August general elections would be free and fair - which we all know will not be the case.
He urged Zimbabweans to say no to violence, before, during and after elections - yet his Zanu PF party has always been accused of using violence and intimidation to instill terror in opposition members.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, took to Twitter to declare, “There will be change in Zimbabwe, change is coming. Get ready citizens of this blessed nation.”
This statement sounded so familiar, with someone even reminding Chamisa that he said the same in the last election yet here we are still under the same regime.
The opposition might claim they have many odds against them but I’m tempted to agree with journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, who last week said the opposition was as dead as a dodo as they are nowhere near as proactive as they should be.