Inflicted Ponder

EPISODE 3

CHAPTER 5

The atmosphere in Zimbabwe was generally stable leading to the turn of the millennium. There might have been political and socioeconomic red flags, but such toxic signs could still be remedied especially via the ascendance of a new regime. With an inclusive and competitive opposition having been formed in 1999, it was now a matter of time before a new political story could be written. The corrupt and reluctant ruling regime had had a rude awakening call. The newly formed labour-centred opposition gained immediate traction which saw it featuring historically in the year 2000 parliamentary elections thereby evoking panic buttons and deliberate postponement of the Presidential polls by the ruling government. After making economic blunders synonymous with unbudgeted funding of war veterans gratuities and the DRC war, the support waning regime needed not to aggravate these anomalies. Alas, owing to pressure exerted by the emergence of a boisterous opposition, the beleaguered ruling regime plunged the economy into an abyss when they embarked on an unplanned and disastrous Agrarian reform. Such polarized the country’s political and socioeconomic status across the country brought about a situation that triggered an urgent post-independence revolution outcry. The new regime euphoria subsequently gripped the whole country as it got support from the international community, especially Britain and the USA, who openly furthered a justifiable pay-back agenda for the barbaric and brutal treatment of their farming nationals who had been subjected to victimisation by land invading war veterans and proponents of that ill-fated land reform programme. As much as there was a need for land disparities to be addressed, there was also the need to accompany that with logic and not stupidity. Such government inconsideration led to a scenario where a huge chunk of the population, especially members of the opposition, chose to castigate that desperate land reform which was bend on appeasing some of its disgruntled diehards. That being the case, a reign of terror was unleashed against the opposition, with its top leadership being maimed and butchered,  with some innocent civilians losing their lives, on exaggerated allegations of championing neo-colonialism.

The generality of the citizenry that had seen the government making wholesale economic blunders, on both sides of the millennium turn, could now just stand aside and look as the economy headed for a dismal collapse. Inflation reached a record high, unemployment got to unprecedented levels, and abject impoverishment became imminent, with observation of the rule of law suffering mutation. The failed regime’s adverse response synonymous with the imposition of repressive and suppressive policies led to anarchy with mass migrations out of the country becoming a getaway alternative for some who feared for their targeted lives. Public order and security act (POSA) and Access to information and protection of privacy (AIPPA) bill were officially passed, let alone stringently implemented. Both the latter and the former were barbarically harnessed at ensuring censorship on freedom of expression and association respectively. No one, other than the deceased authoritarian and his cronies was exempted from such limitations and iron fists. Thousands got arbitrarily arrested, with some facing enforced disappearances owing to such state brutality. Zimbabwe was never going to be the same again under the misrule of these goons. Such scenarios inevitably led to situations where the best of the citizens could just sit silently in ponder. The once glorious state had been cast into the dungeons of mediocrity. Such political and socioeconomic doldrums could only lead to sensations of wonder over what had bedeviled a country once hailed as the bread basket of Africa. All hopes were suddenly pinned on the late main opposition leader whose dogma had emerged as a token of hope for the wishful and expectant masses.

In the midst of such an unfortunate twist of national fate, I was in the jungles of the DRC. I had been ordered to be part of the uniformed idiots who were delegated for institutionalised exploitation, let alone treated as expendable by a regime bent on furthering its greedy agenda of diamond and state funds looting. Having joined what most of my closed ones branded a wrong profession, I had to face the music of my haste and mistimed professional choice. It so happened that when I returned home from that obnoxious tour of duty, which had effected catastrophic effects on the economy, all was no longer well. A 500 dollars that used to fill a supermarket trolley to its brim was now struggling to fill a small plastic bag. What I used to purchase using change from my salary was now needing a second thought. Budgeting had been rendered a nonevent. Honestly, with such a daily inflation upsurge, which continues unabated, monetary planning became unpredictably polarized. Cash availability in banks became an overnight crises. Such situation would compel me to immerse my consciousness into a world of fantasy as I made recollections of the days that were. On some occasions, I would resort to a type of alcohol my natives call “bomber” to try and drown myself away from the realities of that new madness. Pondering became the order of every day. It became normal to see citizens shaking their heads and engaging in soliloquies while in public as they struggled to come terms with the polarization of virtually everything. It was all left to wishes for the return of better, and that better was now enveloped in the subsequent departure of those who had inflicted such ponder on the best of us. Were they going to accept defeat? This remains to be seen.

The despicable events in the country engendered a volatile political atmosphere. Owing to despondency, frustration and grumbling, most citizens got onto an organic anti-regime mode. The government having witnessed the emergence of a threatening opposition had to stamp its barbaric authority as a way of neutralizing the situation on the ground. There was total discontent and disapproval across the country, but all that registered dejection came into nothing as police and military brutality became a new normal. The latter and the former became agents of a systematic reign of terror tailor-made to cause panic and fear across the country. With the presidential election being shrouded in controversy and deliberate delay, most citizens could not hide their frustrations, but, that annoyance was vain as the autocratic system oiled its suppressive and repressive machinery to quell any faint prospects of an uprising. My services as an armed forces officer did not make my interaction within the civilian community suspicious. In all honest, I never enjoyed wearing combat in my neighbourhood. Coming from an urban community where the opposition enjoyed massive support rendered my intentions complemented. Like they say, there is no smoke without fire, as some people who knew of my underlying political alignment exonerated me from the idiotic and barbaric indulgence of most military personnel. I had resolved never to m**m or injure a civilian in the name of orders. What I longed for was a new government that would bring back the sunk glory. As I sat down meditating, I was never given to any blurred imagination of regret for both supporting the opposition and unceremoniously vacating the brainwash-prone military barracks. It had to happen as I instinctively pictured. Never was I going to continue serving a regime that treated us as expendables. It was never going to be the case for me to continue donning a camouflage, no matter the promotion, under a regime that had utterly no respect for human life, democracy, rule of law, let alone no concern over the well-being of its ordinary people. It was nauseating absurdity to sanitise and glorify a government that created a situation whereby natives are engulfed in endless ponder. In any case, nothing lasts forever.