Christmas Message from Kerry Kay, MDC-T Secretary for Welfare

When I wrote a Christmas letter at the end of last year, I never believed that the year 2008 would be worse than the previous year. That starvation, violence, torture, rape, murder, abductions, looting and arson would be a state sponsored and perpetrated part of almost every Zimbabweans lives, particularly those in the struggle for peaceful and democratic change in Zimbabwe.

The resilience of Zimbabweans is legendary. This year has been no exception. Some call it patience and resilience, others call it cowardice. Who is to judge?

There are many loyal Zimbabweans who have stood up against the evil of the regime now for over ten years. Peaceful demonstrations have always been met with state brutality, arrest and in many cases torture in detention. Yet a core group from the opposition, unions and civic society have continued with the struggle through peaceful democratic resistance. Many have lost their lives.

The retired South African Generals who came up to Zimbabwe (on behalf of the Mbeki government) to assess the violence during the pre and post election period said ” We have not seen such brutality outside of a war situation”. That sadly sums it up in a short sentence.

How disgusting, how tragic, how criminal and immoral that a President and a government that was democratically voted out of power, by the people, should visit such retributive atrocities on its own brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and the children of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans will not be going home to kumusha/ekhaya this Christmas for a joyous celebration with their families – there is no money, no food, no fuel. There are no medicines and little clean water – cholera and HIV/AIDS stalks every citizen. Instead they will, no doubt, be praying to their Almightly God for deliverance from the pervading evil.

Zimbabweans go into this supposedly joyful festive season with heavy hearts. Over 300 people are still missing, having been abducted pre and post elections. Over 220 have been brutally murdered in the same period of time. 30 more have been abducted since 15th September and are still missing. The pain in their families hearts is unimaginable. We must keep them in our prayers.

As a salute to those who have died (and are missing) and those who continue the peaceful struggle, I want to end with a few lines on courage written by an amazing woman, Aung San Suu Kyi.

COURAGE

Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour,
Courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions,
Courage that could be described as “grace under pressure”,
Grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.

May God enfold our beloved country in His shining white light and through His divine intervention raise it from the ashes.

Kerry Kay,
Secretary for Welfare,
Movement for Democratic Change.
Zimbabwe

December 2008

Via MDC Press Release

This entry was posted by Sokwanele2 on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.