Today, I would like to take this opportunity to join the rest of our beloved nation in remembering and celebrating the life and legacy of the late Dr. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
Our beloved political legend and icon sadly passed away on 14th February 2018.
May this day be never forgotten. Indeed, may this day forever remain as one of the saddest days of our beloved nation.
On my part, I am certainly one of his compatriots who prayed earnestly for him to defeat the prostate cancer that eventually took away his precious life.
I earnestly prayed that he would not just defeat the prostate cancer but also rise up even stronger to lead us into the long promised land of freedom and democracy.
Sadly, this was not meant to be. As fate would have, his brave fight culminated in a devastating defeat. The deadly disease eventually won.
And so on this globally venerated day of love and romance, our undisputed champion for democratic change passed away in South Africa.
Unfortunately, he was unable to finish what many, including me, would have desperately wanted him to do.
Indeed, many of us would have wished him to continue his life-long fight until final victory.
Seven years later, we are still struggling to come to terms with this ghastly reality. Our doyen for the struggle for democratic change in our beautiful motherland is no longer with us.
Forever.
But what legacy exactly did Tsvangirai leave for us as he departed to the world yonder?
It is my considered view that Tsvangirai left us one of the richest legacies we could have ever wished for.
He left us a legacy of love.
“Machinja ane rudo achapiwa corona! Corona, iwe! Corona! Corona!”
According to him, the most important thing that we needed most as a country was to love each other most sincerely.
Not just in word but in deed also.
In this regard, Tsvangirai led us from the front.
To him, the talk about us loving each other no matter what was not mere talk. Neither was it some form of easy political rhetoric.
Tsvangirai exuded love, totally.
He not only loved his own personal family; but he also loved both the members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the broader nation at large.
He was the most genuine lover of humanity.
Throughout his political career, his bitter rival Robert Mugabe and his ZanuPF cohorts consistently labelled him a traitor or sellout.
They called him ugly face.
They physically and criminally harassed him
He had to endure physical violence from both the Zimbabwe Republic Police and ZanuPF
He had to unnecessarily spend so many days in the criminal courts and so many nights in the detention centres like the Chikurubi maximum security prison.
He had to recuperate in hospital beds after being viciously assaulted by the regime-backed militants
He had to fear for his life almost all the time.
He had to face fake treason charges headlong.
He had to flee the country and find refuge in such countries as Botswana
Yet in all this, he never dared to harbour any form of hatred against his violent detractors.
He continued to march on forward in his unbridled quest for democratic change in his beloved motherland.
Relentlessly.
Indeed, no amount of hatred or politically motivated persecution from Mugabe and his ZanuPF was enough to stir him into an abyss of raw anger and bitterness.
Tsvangirai remained resolute. Tsvangirai remained determined. Tsvangirai remained so loving and caring. Tsvangirai remained willing to forgive and forget.
In all this, he taught us that our love must always defy all the odds against us.
Vincere caritate – conquer with love!
He taught us to conquer evil and hatred with so much unconditional love.
This explains why, in 2008, he was more than willing to give up on his personal ambition to become the President of our beautiful motherland.
Political history will record that Tsvangirai won the popular vote unofficially in 2002 and officially in 2008.
Yet because of his love for his people and beloved country, he chose to accept the apparently politically inferior role of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Political history will record that a truly loving Tsvangirai resolutely declared that he would rather lose out on his personal political ambitions than to walk over dead bodies of fellow Zimbabweans and step over the flowing blood of his dead supporters.
There is no doubt that Tsvangirai really loved his beloved country and wished it to enjoy peace, freedom, and democracy.
This is certainly one of his greatest legacies as one of the most outstanding political leaders in the entire history of our beloved country.
But as fate would have it, Tsvangirai sadly passed away without successfully leading us into the long-awaited promised land of freedom and democracy.
However, I am so happy that his lifelong fight for democratic change was not in vain.
Today, as we commemorate the seventh full year since his passing away; Tsvangirai’s legacy of love lives on.
Tsvangirai did not leave us leaderless.
Tsvangirai certainly pointed out his successor to all of us.
Tsvangirai passed on the leadership mantle to one of the most consistent and loyal cadres of our movement.
Tsvangirai passed on the leadership baton stick to none other than our dear President Advocate Nelson Chamisa.
To put it in a biblical context; if Tsvangirai was our Moses, then Chamisa is certainly our Joshua, who has been tasked to finally lead us into our promised land.
Indeed, as we mark our full third year since his passing away, we have absolutely no doubt that Tsvangirai’s legacy of love will continue until final victory.
I, for one, cannot wait for that day to dawn when the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe will finally cross the river Jordan into the long promised land of freedom and democracy.
I want to be there when the people of Zimbabwe celebrate the dawn of freedom and democracy
I want to be there when the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe sing and dance all across the country in celebration of the end of this brutal military regime.
I want to be there when Zimbabwe finally reaches its TRUE potential and steps up as one of the most admired and respected countries not just in Africa but across the whole world
I want to be there when our beautiful motherland finally achieves its political destiny and becomes the truly GREAT ZIMBABWE it was always meant to be.
