COVID-19, ubuntu and the demise of our oppressors

can only do so at their own risk. Those in the know are aware why an entire country has been designated as a hotspot. Many influential States have begun warning their citizens to avoid visiting Zimbabwe due to the heightened health risk it poses.

Zimbabwe’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrously weak and tragically poor, with top regime officials grossly violating lockdown regulations.

For the avoidance of doubt, we are not yet out of the woods. When this pandemic broke out more than a year ago, we thought this was something whose raging fires we could expeditiously douse.

The reality, however, has taught us lessons we will never forget. No one is immune and the pandemic does not select its victims based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual preferences, or political affiliation.

Your Excellency, the implication of this is obvious: COVID-19 ought to unite and not divide us as is the case at present. Of course, this ubuntu principle is only true theoretically because people’s lived experiences determine how they respond to death and dying, especially the death of their sworn enemies and oppressors.

If there is one lesson, we have learnt from the devastation wrought by COVID-19, it is that our focus should be more on preventive public health initiatives such as provision of water and sanitation, including facilitating access to information and participation in line with the nation’s human rights obligations.

In South Africa, for instance, the government has been distributing water by tanker to needy communities and informal settlements. There is also evidence that the government has been working hard on plans to procure and distribute the COVID-19 vaccine.

In contrast, Zimbabwe lacks competent leadership and one can only guess whether there will be any vaccine for the suffering and oppressed people there. Already, we are morbidly aware that food is frequently used as a political tool by the oppressive government. Can it be trusted to distribute the lifesaving vaccine to its political opponents?

For over four decades, Zimbabweans have experienced distress due to loss of resources, belongings, separation from, or death of, loved ones and direct subjection to politically-motivated violence.

Increased morbidity and mortality to politically-exposed persons linked to the oppressive Zanu PF has led to wild scenes of celebration, especially on social media. It is beyond the scope of this treatise to consider the merits and demerits of such an outcome.

Nonetheless, it is worth stating that such outcomes are inevitable and hardly surprising in politically polarised societies such as Zimbabwe. Besides, Zimbabweans have the right to express themselves and that includes celebrating the demise of their oppressors. That is the only way we can raise our voices together and hold our oppressors to account. This should also remind all oppressors that death is, and remains, our lowest common denominator.

In the context of the noble principles of ubuntu, our African philosophy, leaders should be responsible stewards who fairly and equitably distribute national resources. We are sick and tired of harmful, oppressive, and unfair policies and practices by the Zanu PF regime.

End social exclusion, subjugation, and work earnestly to build an inclusive Zimbabwean society. The main object of a social policy is human welfare and social cohesion. We need policies that strengthen institutions to improve human well-being and security and promote inclusion and good leadership.

For many of us, life no longer makes sense at all. As active opponents of the regime, we aspire for a free, just, and democratic Zimbabwe.

As Alfred C Stepan observed “[a] lthough the installation of a democratic regime scarcely heralds the end of political struggle, it does provide a new procedural setting for political life. This setting is not only more just in itself, but in most cases also offers the great masses of the people better opportunities than does authoritarianism to pursue such goals as economic equality, social justice, and political participation”.

Your Excellency, in conclusion, treat us fairly and not cruelly. We want to be treated equally and to be allowed to vote freely for our representatives. Allow us to express ourselves freely, respectfully, and within the law. As for those who want to lecture us on ubuntu they know nothing about, “[m]an’s inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good” (Martin Luther King, Jr). May God help Zimbabwe. The struggle continues unabated!

Thank you.