Letter From A Zimbabwe Prison: Haruzivishe Sends Message To Fighters of Change

It indeed would have been impossible to pull through the seven months (since 17 February 2021) without your indispensable solidarity; from #FreeMako street and social media actions, contributions for my welfare, prison visits, legal representation and continued demands for my freedom through the #MakoMonday initiative.
Makomborero Haruzivishe, Opinion

Dear comrades and friends,

In case you were wondering, I could very well go to jail. I’ve been sued countless times over the past decade for making a gentlemen’s deal with pain.

After being arrested an average of three times a year and tortured countless times since 2011, I’ve learned that pain has its place and I don’t mock its power.

But it is a power that does not touch my soul.

It has now been seven months since I was placed in a state of sub-humanity because of my democratic views.

However, the inhumane conditions I live in, with little or no rights, mentally prepare me for the day when we reclaim our humanity by ensuring that #ZanuPFMustGo, by any means necessary.

Without your essential solidarity, the seven months (since February 17, 2021) would indeed not have been possible; #FreeMako street and social media actions, contributions for my well-being, prison visits, legal representation and continued demands for my freedom through the #MakoMonday initiative.

I really appreciate that and God bless you all for the love.

Much like our broader and collective struggle for a democratic and inclusive Zimbabwe, where the issues and concerns of citizens are heard and addressed, these seven months have not been an easy journey.

The victims of numerous protests for my freedom are proof of this. I met some of them in prison and in court; some had fresh, visible torture wounds. As painful and gross as it is, it reminds us that the most important thing to remember is that we are proud of who we are and what we stand for.

I know some might be interested in knowing about my current torment in prison, but for obvious reasons I cannot share it now.

All I can say for now is that there are experiences that touch the heart but leave the face spotless, like a blow that doesn’t bruise or break the skin but leaves lasting pain in the recipient .

For me, my current situation as a prisoner is this blow.

Of the four counts I faced in February, only one was settled in an apparent farce of justice that led to my conviction and sentencing, which I have since appealed.

Because of unjust condemnation, I was killed in spirit, burned and healed, bruised and resurrected, crucified and resurrected.

It reinforces the art of perseverance in me. Yes, ENDURANCE is the word.

I knew the word but I never had the opportunity to really “feel” the “touch”, being forced to live it by the circumstances imposed on me by the dictatorship of Emmerson Mnangagwa.

In fact, I’m living it, and I’m not blind enough to the capture by the military state to believe it will end anytime soon, because the subsequent capture of the justice system by further injustice cuts into the seven months I have endured to seven Years can prolong beliefs, but for me it no longer matters.

I will hold out until the end.

You know, we have to face the facts; it won’t get better. They keep getting worse.

All we are asking for is a Zimbabwe where every child has a fair chance at a quality education and every adult has a fair chance at a decent income, but all we get is corruption and abuse – yet in 2017 many thought things had changed. but they changed for the worse.

Just another dictator, ED, with an even worse agenda; the perpetuation of military state conquest, a worse form of governance with an increasingly ruthless and ever-expanding network to carry it out.

Before 2017, who knew there was a terrorist network of state agents called the “FERRET” squad, deployed against unsuspecting citizens with specific orders to kidnap, torture and harass them?

Before 2017, who would have known there was a rental company called IMPALA that was hired by the government to bring terrorist squads to our homes and take citizens to torture centers.

Because of these terrorist networks sponsored with our taxes; the thought of real death, no longer the now curable vanity of imprisonment as a single death, becomes such an insistent and strident companion that when shots rang out during my arrest: I was ready.

Despite all this, we must never deviate from the fact that justice is the first condition of humanity and that we deserve pure and undiluted justice.

We must tattoo it on our hearts: “I have the power, you have the power, and together we can make change, because the power of people is stronger than that of individuals in power”.

With this tattoo, we must assert our power by exercising our constitutional rights to freedom of assembly, association, demonstration and petition in the streets, as well as freedom of expression on social media, because the moment came to stop the torments and intensify the organization. After all, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

More importantly, comrades and friends, we must register to vote, because after all, all popular democratic revolutions end in the ballot box.

Worry more about yourself, about the future of our beloved Zimbabwe, the next generation – and less about me because sooner or later I will definitely come out, dead or alive.

Yet, since I had to endure my birthday on April 23, yes, ENDURE, because birthdays in prison are different from birthdays elsewhere. You don’t celebrate your birthday in prison, you suffer it.

When I was 29, I remembered that some say life begins at 40, so I’m 11 at 40. But since the life expectancy for Zimbabwean men is around 30 years, it was very important for me to realize that I had already lived a fulfilling life, so either way, I decide!

I REMAIN IN CHARGE 

  • Makomborero Haruzivishe is a member of the MDC Alliance party led by Nelson Chamisa. He writes this epistle from his cell at Harare Remand Prison in Zimbabwe.
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