WHY EVAN MAWARIRE'S #ThisFlag IS GENUINE

This blog post seeks to answer some of the questions that have been raised against Evan Mawarire. Since his release on Wednesday propaganda against him has risen tremendously, it began with Lance Guma's Nehanda Radio saying he has sought asylum in USA. Then came the myriad of Facebook posts giving some convincing arguments that Evan Mawarire is a CIO or a tool being used by ZANUPF. Now if you are a follower of Strive Masiyiwa's page, you will know that he works by principles, one such principle I've adopted with good results is "FACT CHECKING". Zimbabweans badly need that principle in their lives especially with regards to politics. As I write this blog I'm listening to Kenneth E. Hagin's "Doubt, Fear and Unbelief". In this sermon he says Doubt and Unbelief robbed a whole city of Nazareth of miracles. Now can Doubt and Unbelief rob a whole country Zimbabwe of the miracle of freedom?

Non-violent Engagement

When Evan began this flag campaign he has advocated for no violence a point he emphasizes in almost every video he has posted. We all know that ZRP is trigger happy and if they wanted to deter any citizen movement they would put an element violence or physical confrontation. This principle made people comfortable enough to go to Rotten Row despite heavy police presence. He has inculcated this principle so much that if you see people purporting to be behind #ThisFlag and advocating for
violence or damage to property then they are likely saboteurs.

He Has Stated He is Not a Politician

Pastor Evan has stated that he has no interest in politics as in running for political office. I've have seen statements being thrown around that he wants to neutralise MDCT and ZIMPF votes by forming a political party. From what he says in his videos he is drifting more towards citizen task teams more than political organisation. He has invited every Zimbabwean regardless of political party to rally behind his cause. This is why lawyers could represent him, he is serving the citizens not sectional interests. Of course if he says I'm forming a political party we can look him differently but for now, he is nothing of that.

He Has Asked Government to Act

Pastor Evan has asked government to act on the following "Corruption, Injustice & Poverty". Now if you ever studied history of ZANUPF you would know that Corruption is their number one hobby going back to the Willowgate Scandal. If ZANUPF acts on corruption they would all resign and walk towards Chikurubi Maximum Prison. It is hard for them to advocate for their own destruction since 100% of them are corrupt. If Pastor E calls for action on corruption and is ZANUPF then it’s a scenario of satan casting out satan. On injustice we know that ZANUPF thrives on injustice, if they were just we would throw them onto dustbin of history as far back as year 2000. Address of poverty is within their reach at no personal cost to them but we have seen they are not willing to do anything, everyone is looting seeing the inevitable end.

Now I have made an argument why we can safely conclude Pastor Evan is not running for political office and neither is he working for ZANUPF interest. But we are not done yet, there are some interesting accusations levelled against #ThisFlag that are worthy of looking at, the main are the following:

Why Was He Not Kept in Jail?

Some conspiracy asks why he was released from prison. The people go on to cite many occasions in history when people were held against their will e.g. Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, Learnmore Jongwe etc. But one thing worthy of note is that Promise Mkwananzi was arrested at about the same time as Evan Mawarire, Promise was then released. Do we then say Promise and his #Tajamuka initiative are also a tool of ZANUPF? They were treated the same by ZRP and NPA. Inevitably most people saying Evan was treated lightly are fully behind Promise Mkwananzi.

He Has Not Called on Mugabe to Step Down?

This is a stupid point but since even learned people raised it let me address it. The mantra is every Zimbabwean wants Mugabe to step down, why didn't Evan say so. Let's suppose Pastor Evan says Mugabe step down & he indeed Mugabe says I'm stepping down, here is my second in command Emerson Mnangagwa to take over. Would Zimbabweans be happy? Would that suddenly deliver democracy? Would it bring corruption to an end? Would it align the laws to the constitution? This point is majoring on the minor because our goal is not to get Mugabe to step down, the goal is to bring our nation to where it was when ZANUPF took it. Asking Mugabe to step down when government is full of his people will change nothing just like if he dropped dead today.

Why ZANUPF & Senior Officials have Never Spoken Against Evan?

It is important understand that ZANUPF never expected Pastor Evan to be anything, Jonathan Moyo's tweets are on record laughing at #ThisFlag as a hashtag for Zimbabweans in diaspora. Their intelligence never expected anything beyond Twitter. The ZIFM interview was meant to ridicule Evan Mawarire but it became a turning point and Supa Mandiwanzira immediately tried to do damage control threatening Evan Mawarire otherwise he was going to be blamed for helping Evan's cause. Now Jonathan Moyo and Supa Mandiwanzira are senior ZANUPF members isn't it? You can add more.

His Supporters Were Not Touched at Rotten Row

This is again a stupid point but since some people I hold in high esteem have parroted and shared it, we have to look at it. The idea is that police will always descend on demos and gatherings with brute force. We are sort of used to a violent police force. Well Zimbabweans let us rewind to the MDCT successful demonstration in Harare, it was before Evan Mawarire's court appearance. If you remember the MDCT demo was a success, people marched and were not crushed by police. So let us ask Morgan Tsvangirai why his people were not beaten up in that demo. Should we suspect now that MDCT too is now part of ZANUPF sponsored parties?

How Could He Summon RBZ Governor?

This is a question I would not want to specifically answer but I would refer every right thinking and caring Zimbabwean to the constitution which came into effect recently because in that constitution there are a lot of tools that give citizens power to summon public officials. Alex Magaisa had an article where he described how citizens can actually force government to account, his article was primarily addressing how citizens can lodge complaints and force Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to investigate cases of corruption. There are many such instances where the law can help citizens and if one citizen reaches out and uses this law why do we then cry foul and say “how can one man instruct ZACC to investigate corruption”. Let us not be ignorant of the tools available to us, ZANUPF enjoys that kind of scenario. If you cannot find within the legal framework the means to summon government officials then say this otherwise do not speak out of ignorance and pass it on as facts.

Conclusion

I could go on explaining away these nonsensical posts we are seeing. The important thing is to do Fact Checking before even sharing information or status updates. Simple things like "Who Am I Sharing?" "Is He/She a Credible Source?" "Is The Website I'm Lifting This News Credible?" "How does this information compare with information available elsewhere?"

There are many Zimbabweans who are running malicious news websites, they are pursuing Google revenue through serving ads. They are not afraid to post lies just to get people to their websites. But we must warn these websites to stick to their normal clickbait and avoid subverting people's march to freedom. If you are prepared to sabotage freedom in pursuit of dollars then as citizens we have a right to tell celebrities and companies you have maligned your real identity so you can be sued of every cent, we can pass information to Google as well and possibly face deportation to Zimbabwe. Let us unite people for a worthy cause instead of helping oppress them by feeding propaganda. Until such a time we see that Evan Mawarire is a tool, we will see the credible evidence, for now his methods and means are unlike Baba Jukwa.