THE REAL REASON BEHIND THE ANTI-ED ONSLAUGHT IS NOW CLEAR

By Cde. Nqobizitha Dumakude Khumalo

I have said it before; there is both a hidden hand and purpose behind the unprecedented onslaught against President Mnangagwa.

The onslaught is not on the party per se but is centred on his person and on those deemed to be close to him.

Due to the cyber onslaught against ED, one would think that Zimbabweans are all in jail or in hospital, sick and dying and that hunger is killing people like in Ethiopia in the eighties.

Whilst the country is not a paradise, it is clear that the situation painted on social media is far from what is on the ground.

There were times when the people of Zimbabwe were very excitable.

They could be mobilized into the streets, and Harare could come to a standstill, either with throngs marching in the streets or staying at home.

Today, it is very clear that the average person in the street no longer shares the anger of those who are keen to tarnish the name of President Mnangagwa and his government.

This was clear months ago.

Blessed Geza called people to march into the streets.

Social Media made it appear that the majority of Zimbabweans would throng the streets and that they shared the anger of social media influencers.

We were told that a new government would be in power by a certain date due to the push by the people and the army.

The march was a damp squib.
The streets were empty.

As usual, a “victory” was celebrated.

Social media refused to see the real reason behind the refusal of the people to go into the streets.

They failed to consider that there could be nothing political about that but only fear. To them people had disobeyed the president’s encouragement that people should go to work.
This, to them, was a massive “victory” and Geza himself celebrated it.

Then he tried to follow up on his “victory.”
He called for a stayaway.

A stayaway is something that cannot be stopped by the government. Soldiers cannot beat you in your house and drive you to work. You cannot be arrested for it.

The people refused to heed the call.

They flocked into the streets of Harare.

It was work as usual. Geza’s “victory” was totally wiped out. He was discredited. The first time, it was argued that people agreed with Geza but were afraid to go into the streets.

The second time, there was simply no excuse.
The answer was clear; the anger against Mnangagwa is not shared by the people. It is all on social media.

Why then is it that social media is so obsessed with demonizing and satanizing Mnangagwa, the person?
The answer is simple: the president is delivering.
It is like soccer.

People don’t love a team because it plays well.

They love it because they chose to. If people loved teams because they play well, traditional teams like Dynamos, Highlanders and Caps United would have no supporters now.

The better a rival team performs, the more it is hated by rival supporters.

So the more ED delivers, the more his rivals dislike him.
Most social media influencers are well-to-do people.

They do not support politics because they are poor; they support it because they choose to.
They drive posh cars and live in beautiful houses despite complaining that there is poverty.

Abstracts like democracy, human rights, et cetera mean different things to them from ordinary people, whose definition of the same translates to bread and butter issues.

Telling people that they are the poorest people in the world, that their president is worse than Lucifer, that they are hungry and dying, will never take away the reality that things are improving on the ground.

Bombshell Geza can speak green into yellow but that won’t change anything.

Forbes has said Zimbabwe is now the number one tourist destination in the world. IMF has said Zimbabwe has the fastest-growing economy in SADC.

If the government says this, it is propaganda. Note that if the same institutions had said something negative, online media would have headlined it.

But here it is in black and white, and such improvement is obviously felt on the ground.
That is what makes the people feel confident in the government of President Mnangagwa and refuse to be used against it.

Just a few days ago, Africa’s richest man, Aleko Dangote, visited the country and signed a mega deal with the government.

This was the fourth time he came here, but the first time any deal was signed.

Dangote himself credited President Mnangagwa with “turning the economy around.” This is something that naysayers on Social Media cannot take away.

The people recognizing that ED is making progress are not ZanuPf people.
America has steadily reduced sanctions and is on the verge of repealing ZIDERA.

All this shows that we are going somewhere with President Mnangagwa. However, as in the case of soccer, we have political fans instead of supporters.

We choose to support or not to support a party not because it does well, but because we choose to, and the better it performs, the more we loathe it.

But it is dangerous to support political parties like we support soccer. A few weeks ago, Liverpool FC lost to Manchester City FC.

Manchester City fans went home happy.
They went home happy to find the landlord demanding rent, to an empty bread bin and an empty pantry.
We can afford to be a mob of fans when it comes to soccer, but not so in politics, where the decisions we make can be the difference between life and death.

The way we look at politics should be different from the way we look at soccer.

In politics, we choose the team that plays well, not the one we feel passionate about.

ED is hated because he is performing.
In Shona, they say “muchero unoposherwa ndowakaibva.”
“Isithelo esijikijelwayo ngezivuthiweyo.” (Ndebele.)

ED is being attacked because he delivers.
His opponents realize that if he continues in the manner he does, they will soon be irrelevant.

ED delivers.
Viva 2030.