By Cde Nhamo Taneta
Last week in Antananarivo, Madagascar, President Emmerson Mnangagwa packed his suitcase from the SADC chairmanship and Zimbabweans got his farewell present.
Not chocolates.
Not a duty-free Malagasy vanilla pack, but convictions for human rights activists.
For Phyllis Pikitai, Daphne Gutsa and Simbarashe Blakistone, the courts gifted them six months in jail, redeemable by US$200 each.
That’s right, true patriots, freedom now comes with a price tag, cheaper than a decent goat in Hurungwe.
Pikitai knows this theatre too well.
She spent Mnangagwa’s SADC term running between Chikurubi and Harare Remand, where her husband Ronald Hondongwa was parked for more than 500 days until he lost his teaching job.
“Leave No One Behind,” the government says.
The Second Republic true to the mantra, both husband and wife both tasted prison porridge — just at different kitchens.
Well do you remember the “Airport Four” — Robson Chere, Namatai Kwekweza, Samuel Gwenzi and Vusimusi Moyo.
At least these activists walked out with “acquittals.”
But only after the police bonus package which included airport abduction, torture, and a month in pre-trial detention.
That’s the Second Republic’s shamhu inemunyu — a salted beating, courtesy of a ‘constitutionalist’ president.
Then there was ZINASU president Emmanuel Sitimah, who turned his degree into a double major, one at university, the other at Rotten Row.
Acquitted, yes, but only after endless “extra modules” in court. It’s called continuous assessment — the limited Second Republic edition.
Everything has become literal now.
Rotten Row is rotten.
Justice is “guilty until proven innocent.” And the “rule of law” has been remodelled into “rule by law.”
So, as Mnangagwa bowed out of SADC chairmanship, citizens were left clapping politely.
Not because they were impressed, but because in Zimbabwe, even clapping is safer than protesting.
