What Independence for Zimbabwe?

On April 18th it'll be Zimbabwe's "Independence" Day. From 18th April 1980

A day meant to be celebrated if its true meaning is evident. Is that the case in Zimbabwe?

It doesn't need an expert to see the discrepancy between the word and reality. Unless of course, the word has taken on a new meaning. The coup was meant to bring change and free Zimbabweans from the Mugabe regime yet I wonder if this is truly the change we hoped for.

Can being taken from the hands of one ZanuPF member to another be considered as change at all? Did we just allow ourselves to be fooled into believing this is what we want? Have we just been taken advantage of and manipulated with history repeating itself, only this time, clad in the fashionable name of a "coup?"

You avoid important issues like Gukurahundi like the plague because you don't want to be embroiled in reality. People's lives were affected. They have physical and emotional scars that need to be soothed but of course, why bother about them?

You have more pressing issues like buildings and  infrastructure and opening the country for business! Zimbabwe is open for business you say. It is easy to go around the world with such vigour and enthusiasm to make it seem like you have the nation's best interest at heart yet you turn a deaf ear to the very Zimbabweans you claim to protect.

Is this truly the changed we hoped for,  38 years of oppression, do we need 38 more?

Some may ask, " how dare you ask such, who do you think you are?"

My answer is simple, I, like many others have questions, concerns unspoken and sometimes lost to the business of life that hang above our lives that need to be answered.

Sicelo Sibanda