BUT WHY COMRADES?

(To my friends, Ndabezinhle Tidings Ntonga who encouraged me to pursue my vision and Stellah Kakava who kept me going when i didn't think i could...) 

I watched in despair as bulldozers mercilessly rmpaged buildings and people's possessions...
The beasts rolled over homes and left gadgets such as TVs, DvDs, beds etc all in shambles...
Sources of livelihood were shattered with some people remaininf with clothes that they were wearing...
Cheeks dampenned with sorrow ... but what else could we have done?
They called it Operation Murambabtsvina, but, i have to and rughtly so refer to this cataclysm as a manmade Tsunami...
With those loaded FNs whose throats had run dry because of their thirst...
I watched helplessly because all i could do was to do so...
Hearts were broken, dreams were shattered...
The victims were lawful citizens of Zimbabwe who became prey to the government's systematic attack on civillians...
Ordinary Zimbabweans who were survivinfg on honest informal businesses were left stranded...
The messengers enjoyed every moment of their errorful errand...
They had left mercy at the barracks to serve a government without compromise...
Policy makers had conemned the dark and dingy homes ...
Only metal brooms could do justice to them...
The people were forced to dine with lizards, snakes and mice...
Dreams became mere hallucinantions about those big houses at Selborne Park and Burnside...
How i wish i was born a Wayne Rooney... but no i was born to nourish the township...
But why did a government which claimed to be a democracy destroy a substantial part of urban housing...
It reminded me of what i read in the books about the divastating Second World War...
The state used organised violaence and toture against its own peoplewith impunity...
The world powerlessly watched... the magnitude of the crime demaned international response...
Where was Amnesty International, United Nations, African Union and SADC?
They only behaved like sweet mamas pacifying their deliquent child...
When is this going to be delt with?
Anyway was this not suppossed to be a matter of urgent priority even to the Security Council then?
WE SHALL ALWAYS ASK WHY... COMRADES?

(By Sheunesu Reginald Mpofu - Human Rights Defender, Policy Analyst, Free-lance Journalist and Advocate for Political and Social Justice)