The conditions Mnangagwa is asked to meet are simple and straightforward.
1. As a sign of goodwill, he can release Dzamara, Nabayana and Chizuze. If they are dead, Mnangagwa can tell their families as he institutes a serious panel to investigate what really happen to these three Zimbabweans. This is not a political issue but a matter of common decency and a moral imperative. His supporters say that he was not responsible and, more specifically, that his enemies within ZANU(PF) were responsible. Assuming that this charge is true, Mnangagwa has everything to gain by proving that his sworn enemies abducted Dzamara. As long as Mnangagwa remains silent and unmoved by this matter, he may very well have to deal with the conclusion that he is silent on the issue because he was involved, untrue and unfortunate as it might be.
2. Although not stipulated as a condition by our would-be-benefactors before whom we seek to kowtow and beg for worthless alms and usurious monies, I think it is likely to help Mnangagwa in a very significant way if he makes a declaration in which he distances himself from the despotism of the Mugabe era. Mnangagwa has had a lot of time to cleanse himself of the grisly filth from his days as Mugabe's most committed enforcer and champion of the despotism that we all hoped had ended in November of 2017. The unwillingness to apologize is disturbing in a number of fundamental ways, including the following:
(a) It may very well point to a personal admission of guilt in the commission of the deadly acts that characterized the four decades of ZANU(PF) despotism. To apologize, therefore, might be seen as an act of self-incrimination.
(b) The refusal to offer a mea culpa may be profoundly disturbing in that it might be a symptom of an unrepentant man. To apologize is to accept that one realizes one's past inequities for which true contrition has to be followed by supportive action. One such act is the avoidance of repeating anything that resembles that past acts of deadly roguery. Early on, right in the wake of the November 2017 Coup, some of us suggested an apology. Though I would have preferred to see Mnangagwa walking across the breadth and width of the country wearing sack clothe, covered in ash, wearing manyatera sandals and his only provisions tied in a bundle suspended at the end of a stick supported by his shoulder as a fulcrum, a simple verbal apology was going to a long way in making Mnangagwa look human and caring. That apology was never forthcoming.
(c) As event have been unfolding ever since the 1st of August 2018 amazing shooting of civilians in broad daylight in the street of Harare, with international media watching and broadcasting the atrocities live and direct, what some of us had feared might happen as portended in the refusal to apologize for past acts of roguery as Mugabe's loyal subordinate since 1977 actually happened. We had hoped, against was turned out to be a hopeless situation, that the Zimbabwean citizens were safe. Alas, we were wrong! Mnangagwa looked, talked and acted like a creature of ingrained deadly habits.
Rather than cleanse his badly soiled image, Mnangagwa seems to revel in the kind of thuggery we previously ascribed to Mugabe. Simply listen to his words at some of his rallies where he loses his guard, or where his handlers cannot give him nice talking points. Whether Mnangagwa and his handlers realize this or not, it is worth pointing out that each passing day makes Mugabe more innocent of the past transgressions while simultaneous painting Mnangagwa as the character behind the same past acts of deadly despotism.
He can hire the best shills in the world, and the world is full of the unscrupulous kind that will take his money even for as dead a cause as this jihad against sanctions, but Mnangagwa is his own worst enemy. The presumably hired Yankee will gladly take Mnangagwa's money --- or is it the taxpayer's money --- without an iota of compunction. It is easy money. Why not take it? As Mnangagwa's compatriot, I say this is an absolute waste of hard-to-find money. I see nothing useful coming out of this. Ingoshandurai maitiro enyu, Shumba.
Ndinoera Moyo....
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