Letter to the European Union on Zimbabwe

My name is Vincent Musewe, I am African who happens to have been born in Zimbabwe. For the last thirty four years I have watched my country, Zimbabwe, become what I never imagined it could be, because good men kept quiet and did nothing while most sought profit from our pain as you do now.

In my country, I have seen Mugabe retain power and control for its own sake. The dictatorship I have seen has devastated the aspirations if millions of innocent souls whose only sin was to be born in Zimbabwe in these times. That is hugely unfair.

I have seen millions of my brothers and sisters being denied their inalienable right to self-determination. Most can never to live up to their full potential and pursue their dreams without limitation because their "liberator" has become their oppressor.

I have met war veterans, despondent and hopeless because what they truly sacrificed their livelihoods for has been usurped, twisted and adulterated to secure the vested material interests of a few. Our leaders have claimed entitlement to political power through the sacrifice of the sweat and blood of our veterans. That can never be countenanced.

I have watched old men and women, now pensioners, reminisce about the past with a twinkle in their eyes while they remain disillusioned about a future they once imagined. Their wishes of an old age characterised by their dignity and security have been demolished because of the greed and selfishness of the same people you now have exonerated from their responsibility in propping up a dictatorship. That is the truth.

I have seen little black children in the ghetto getting used to being poor and playing in the mud not out of choice, but because they happen to have been born in these times and are oblivious to the fact that they deserve better. We owe them much.

Every day, I see pregnant teen girls, hardly grown up but with babies on their backs because of what my society has become. Poverty breeds poverty.

I have met many of my brothers and sisters who left their motherland and must brave the unfriendly the harsh conditions of life as refugees in Europe, United States, Canada Australia and South Africa. I know they all wish that one day they could be back home where they belong; that one day a man or woman who understands that all of us are born equal and entitled to equal opportunity, freedom and the right to pursue happiness in their own country will rule in Zimbabwe.

My country Zimbabwe will never live to its full potential and we all know why this is so. The wealth of our country has been usurped by those who claim to have liberated us. The values of our society are shameful.

My country Zimbabwe has all its needs; it has the resources which you desperately want, even at the expense of us achieving our dreams. It has all the human capital and capacity to surpass many African countries and yet today we must import what we eat and survive on a dollar a day.

Today our graduates sell airt time at street corners, drive kombis or choose to stay drunk with cheap alcohol to while away their time and soothe the pain of unmet expectations. Their dreams have been deferred.

 At times, I sit and wonder what Zimbabwe could have become. I know that we are much more than what those in ZANU (PF) can dare to imagine. We still hold fast on that dream that we saw in 1980 at our independence. It has been delayed not because it was unrealistic, but because those we gave the responsibility to create that dream have cheated us.

I expected more from your European Union, a union founded on the basis of opportunity, freedom and justice for all. I imagined that you would want for us what you want for your citizens. I was wrong.

The choice made by you to ease the sanctions on Zimbabwe and those responsible for our nightmare cannot be justified nor supported by those of us who know that this government of Zimbabwe neither cares for its people nor is it accountable to them and feels responsible for their development.

Of course we cannot blame you Europeans for the circumstances that we have been complicit in creating. We have created our own dictatorship through inaction and fear. However, we expected an unwavering commitment by yourselves to the principles that hold your European nations together; equity, liberty, justice and freedom. We were wrong.

Africa is weak and its business as usual for them. This is while they quietly compete with us and seek to gain advantage from our economic decline while they quietly encourage our current political leadership to stay on the course which they have chosen. A course only informed by their vested interests which continue to limit our opportunities; a course that disrespects our aspirations and limits our potential as ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe; a path that has cost lives and has resulted in hopelessness, poverty and regression; a path which you Europeans continue to justify in your minds, as long as you get your diamonds and gold from us. That is wrong.

Well I am writing to let you know that Zimbabwe is much more than that. My country will rise despite your complicit action in limiting who we can become. Your recent actions to effectively support and inadvertently strengthen those whom have caused much pain to millions of us and have forsaken the ideals of the liberation struggle. I pray that Zimbabwe will rise notwithstanding.

Your removal of sanctions does not contribute to our freedom and the achievement of our hopes. Your humanitarian aid is much appreciated and I know that you continue to have concern for the poor and sick and the hopeless and the helpless. For that I am grateful. However we need you to support democratic forces in our country than to give us hand outs. We need your moral support of uprooting this dictatorship more so now than ever. We need you to strengthen our people so that they may fight for what is right. That is the right thing to do.

We, the new generation of Zimbabweans truly believe that we have everything we need to create a better and more prosperous Zimbabwe. We the new generation require your support of our dreams and not the support of those whose time has come and gone but continue to oppress us for personal gain.

Let this letter force these truths into your minds; Zimbabweans will never be free as long as ZANU (PF) is in power; my country will never be free until we have a leadership that respects and is accountable to its people ; it will never be free until it has leadership that puts Zimbabwe and its people first. No removal of sanctions or millions of humanitarian aid will change these facts.

Zimbabwe will surely rise but only based on a foundation of respect for our dignity and our unlimited freedom as a people.

The people come first!

Vincent Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on [email protected]

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