I am not sure that the words ‘stay away’ mean the same to Botswana as they do in Zimbabwe. The general meaning may be the same but the connotations differ.
In Zimbabwe, the two words became one and has been a noun for years.
Morgan Tsvangirai was Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) who pioneered stay-aways in the mid-1990s – just before they formed the Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999.
Stay-aways became the most eloquent way to get Mugabe’s attention.
In the years that followed, Mugabe introduced heavy-handed policies and legislations that curtailed operating space for both the ZCTU and the fledgling MDC.
This forced the ZCTU/MDC to agitate for confrontation through wildcat strikes and “stay-aways” where they simply told the masses not to report for work on a chosen day.
It was effective and it was painful for both the participants and for those who were being targeted.
But it was overused and its effects started to dwindle, especially after some little group led by one Lovemore Madhuku started calling for stay-aways on dates a week or a few days before the MDC’s chosen dates.
Stay-aways became victims of their own success and, for many years, Zimbabweans hardly heeded calls for stay-aways…until about two weeks ago when a couple of civic groups joined Pastor Evan Mawarire who “shot to prominence as the leader of #ThisFlag movement and whose prolific Facebook video posts articulating the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans thrust him to prominence”.
He posted a 4min 12sec video of himself wrapped in the Zimbabwean flag (https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=B115US105D20141112&p=this+flag+zimbabwe), explaining what the politicians said each colour on the flag represents. His short monologue electrified Zimbabweans at home and abroad as promises from the flag never materialized.
About two weeks ago, with a little help from Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, Mawarire set out on another mission ÔÇô to urge Zimbabweans to stay away from work for a day as a form of protest against Mugabe and the economic situation in the country.
Feeding directly from the violent demonstrations that started at the Beit Bridge border post in protest against the US $30 permits imposed on cross-border traders to be able to bring into Zimbabwe items such as fabrics, coffee creamers, white petroleum jellies, camphor creams and body creams, among others. The permits are valid for three months.
Beit Bridge was on fire, joined by their South African counterparts just across the river at Messina.
Then kombi owners and drivers picked it up in Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Harare and other towns. This led directly into the slated day for the stay away which was very successful as Zimbabwe came to a virtual standstill as doctors, teachers and nurses went on strike for their delayed pay.
On July 6th, 2016 “Zimbabwe came to a virtual standstill, as people largely heeded a call to stay at home to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s failed policies, worsening economic crisis and corruption in one of the country’s most extraordinary days”.
As we approached secondary school level, we started hearing and memorizing quotations from important people in history, idioms, proverbs and such.
For example, we heard that “too much of something is dangerous” and that “familiarity breeds contempt.”
In a classic case of overload, the pressure groups called for another shutdown, hardly a week after the successful one.
This time, people did not pay attention and they went to work instead, not because they did not care but organisers need to remember that calling for a stay-away is asking people to make personal, financial and emotional sacrifices.
There are no safeguards for them against bodily harm; there is an obvious disruption of family life; they have to contend with hostile employers who care about making money from a bad situation such as Zimbabwe is.
It is only fair to give people time to recover. People are at their best when they feel that they are fighting their fight ÔÇô for themselves.
I am glad the first stay away succeeded in spite of economist John Robertson’s rantings to South Africans that, “There isn’t much work being done in the factories anyway, so this will not make much of a difference.”
It did make a difference, Mr. Robertson. A big difference, as the Financial Mail’s Ray Ndlovu wrote: “The first shutdown yielded swift concessions from the government. It paid public servants’ salaries and relaxed a ban on certain imports adopted earlier this month.”
Maybe it might not be much to you, Mr. Robertson, but it means a lot to many people who do not have as many means as you have.
At the time of writing (Saturday), it had been confirmed that after a botched abduction by Mugabe’s notorious and secretive security goons, Evan Mawarire had fled Zimbabwe. He is reportedly already in South Africa on his way to the US where arrangements for political asylum had already been made.
My fears and attention now turn to Magistrate Vakai Chikwekwe who threw out the State’s case against Mawarire and set him free.
However, one thing that caught my attention before, during and after this monumental strike and stay away is that it was designed and successfully executed by the people who deliberately left out political parties.
As much as employment is the “middleman” between a person and his salary, so are political parties middlemen between people and their freedom.
Many a time it is best to go for the target without involving the middleman.
The people went straight for a certain result, the stay-away, and succeeded.
Had they used political parties, those parties would have quarreled, fighting for credit as usual, and spoiled the whole project.
Being sidelined by the people, even for a short while, might teach our political leaders to be serious and to behave.
They have their own problems that have nothing to do with the people. They sacrifice principles for personal gain so they don’t think they owe allegiance to anyone but themselves. Mugabe has two vice presidents while Tsvangirai has three. That’s how we spell ‘ego’.
Meanwhile talks about talks to form a so-called “grand coalition” still flare up once in a while with still nothing achieved.
Former Vice President Mujuru is wondering about her erstwhile supporters who lost their positions in Zanu-Pf because they supported her. Now she is giving them an ultimatum and is demanding that they make up their minds whether or not they want to join her.
She need not worry; they will flock in droves to whoever comes out on top.
We know the greedy under-performing parasites much too well.
