Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Mugabe and Saddam. Tanonoka Joseph Whande argues that there is no need for weapons of mass destruction because, tyrants are weapons of mass destruction.

Whether the war in Iraq uncovered the weapons of mass destruction or not is irrelevant to my argument, but l have yet to come across a tyrant who does not have mass graves of his people in his country. As far as l am concerned, the heart of the matter is that every tyrant is a weapon of mass destruction so the removal of dictators is every citizen’s imperative. Whether we call it a regime change or anything else, it still demands that dictators, like aching teeth, be removed. They no longer have a place in today’s society.

Russia, France, Britain, and the US all have nuclear and hydrogen weapons and bombs. They all have weapons of mass destruction but as long as these weapons are there somewhere under lock and key, they do not destroy anyone. But when you get a tyrant who is prepared to kill his own people like Saddam Hussein did and other tyrants have done, then these men are themselves weapons of mass destruction.

People have long memories. Iraqis disappeared or were hanged for making or laughing at jokes about Saddam. Here we have someone who legislated that pointing at his car is a criminal offence. We are the wronged ones but we continue to be lied to, to be arrested for nothing, beaten up, raped or maimed. But we have to forget all this as well as our murdered thousands.

We are expected to forget and just forgive because Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo came to tea and said so. It’s not going to work that way. Cruelties to the mind go far deeper than whip cuts and starvation. Our time will come.

Are Zimbabweans willing to pardon people who committed and who continue to commit these atrocities? We, the people, hold the answer, not Obasanjo or Mbeki. We do not ignore evidence; we have faith in ourselves and we are real.

Zimbabwe, get ready to rumble!

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