Towards the end of last week on the 1st of July there were whispers that there would be major protests in the following week on the 6th of July 2016. There were many skeptics who said Zimbabweans are too squeamish to rise up against their government in opposition to the ongoing corruption and poor economic management of Zimbabwe. The skeptics were wrong.

For those of you not familiar with the current situation in Zimbabwe, I’ll put it plainly, the people of Zimbabwe have had enough. They’ve had enough of corrupt ministers reading speeches written for them by their staff about how the government is taking strides to build the Zimbabwean economy whilst people are continually unemployed and ministers build themselves million dollar mansions with tax layers money. They’ve had enough of spending whatever hard earned cash they can get to send their children to school, only to be betrayed by an economic situation which denies their children employment. They have had enough of all the promises the President makes every election, promises that are never fulfilled. Zimbabweans have reached their breaking point and with all major Zimbabwean news outlets being under government control, we shall not let our voices be stifled any longer. Zimbabweans declared they would be shutting down Zimbabwe and not go to work in defiance to the government.

This the image that circulated Zimbabwe on social media sites Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others and indeed Zimbabweans did not go to work today on the 6th of July 2016. Today marked the beginning of a revolution in Zimbabwe as we Zimbabweans have said enough is enough. The above poster reads “Hatichada & Hatichatya Asisiafuni” in Zimbabwean national languages Shona and Ndebele meaning “We do not want this anymore & We are not afraid anymore”. As expected the Zimbabwean police have been no help in standing with the people in protest and have actually beat up Zimbabwean citizens engaging in peaceful protest.

The government was aware that there would be protests going on, on the 6th of July and amped up the amount of police in “protest hotspots” with some police even sitting in buses to keep an eye on regular civilians. Instead of addressing the issues at hand the government continues to ignore Zimbabweans cry for help. To make things worse Zimbabwean politicians who are members of the ruling party ZANU PF continue to say that all is well in Zimbabwe, Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa even went on a UK news show (Hardtalk) and said that “ZANU PF remains a very solid, cohesive political force in Zimbabwe…As far as Zimbabweans are concerned, we are happy…”Chinamasa Interview on Hardtalk Thus illustrating how much Zimbabwean government is keen to try and uphold a façade of normalcy to try to show the international community that all is well.

Even if they shut down our social media applications (such as WhatsApp) We shall not be silent. I thank God for this WordPress platform. If you are reading this please tell someone about it, don’t let the Zimbabwean government’s attempts to silence Zimbabwean people win. On social media use the hashtag #ThisFlag to show your support to Zimbabweans. Our voices will be heard.

HATICHADA, HATICHATYA ASISAFUNI TAJAMUKA! 

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