Patricia Machawira

A better life for all Zimbabweans. A chance for all her young people to realize their true potential.

[COZWVA @cozwva]

This video depicts mbrs of the Maasai community preventing a politician's helicopter from landing, demanding the construction of roads rather than aerial campaign visits.
Consequently the aircraft departed without landing sending a powerful message regarding public accountability

[Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 @advocatemahere]

🔸Today is a dark, dark day for our nation. A black cloud hangs over us. Our democracy has been in a coma for years but today, it breathes its last. Mourn we must. Tragedy, thy name is Zimbabwe.

We need new leaders.🇿🇼

[Thabani Mpofu @adv_fulcrum]

We now have CAA3. In the words of Zvobgo, it is “the most calculated and deliberate attack on our liberties.” Its promulgation opens the door to, and indeed ushers in, another wave of challenges. These challenges will be pursued in many ways. We shall not abdicate. We shall not be cowed. When the motherland calls on men and women to stand up and be counted, we shall be such men and women. Our contract cannot be rewritten by a few. Our destiny cannot be determined by coin. We shall fall only by natural causes, not by the devices of a few corrupt men. So help us God.

[Hopewell Chin’ono @daddyhope]

A broad coalition of constitutional movements, churches, labour unions, civic organisations, war veterans and political groups on Friday launched Sungano yeVanhu/Ubumbano lomphakathi (The People’s Coalition) and unveiled a nationwide “Let the People Decide” campaign opposing Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3.

Launching the coalition in Harare, convenor Reverend Dr Kupa Mtata called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa not to sign the Bill into law, but instead to submit the proposed constitutional amendments to a national referendum, arguing that only Zimbabweans have the authority to approve fundamental changes to the Constitution.

The coalition also announced plans to return to the Constitutional Court, petition the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights if necessary, and organise a National Day of Peaceful Civic Action as part of what it described as a peaceful campaign to defend constitutional democracy and the sovereignty of the people.

The coalition is led by Reverend Dr Kupa Mtata and brings together founding organisations including the Defend the Constitution Platform (DCP), Constitution Defence Forum (CDF), National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Zimbabwe Constitution Movement (ZICOMO), and the War Veterans Pressure Group.

Video on comments section👇🏿

[David Coltart @DavidColtart]

Mark this tweet #Zimbabweans. One day we will reverse all the undemocratic amendments to our beloved 2013 Constitution.

In future the only amendments to it will be those which enhance it - which build on its foundations- not those which undermine its very foundations.

When this will happen I can’t say but it will happen just as firmly as the end of white minority rule, the crashing down of the Berlin Wall, and all other events in history when tyranny ends.

As Barack Obama noted yesterday

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Obama noted that although the phrase is often associated with Martin Luther King Jr., it actually originated with a Boston abolitionist preacher, Reverend Theodore Parker, in a sermon delivered more than 170 years ago.

Obama explained that Parker preached these words in the dark period following the Compromise of 1850, when the anti-slavery movement seemed to be losing ground and fugitive slaves were being returned to bondage. Parker acknowledged that justice often appeared absent in the world, but expressed faith that history ultimately bends toward justice.

The fuller quotation Rev Parker used was:

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see, I am sure it bends toward justice.”

So too in Zimbabwe. Ultimately there will be justice and the rule of violent, cruel, corrupt and unprincipled men will end.

[Doug Coltart ⚖️🇿🇼 @DougColtart]

The fight against #CAB3 is FAR from over. From here, it must go to the Senate. If passed by a 2/3rds majority in the Senate, it must then go for a referendum within 3 months (https://t.co/EX7m0fG2hs). Of course, they are trying to avoid that, but the law is clear. So if they refuse, there will be certainly be litigation, political action, and prophetic witness.

If the President signs it into law prior to it going for a referendum, that will be a profound breach of his constitutional obligations which will require an appropriate response from all Zimbabweans believe in justice and constitutionalism. There will be further litigation, political action, and prophetic witness to challenge the process. #CAB3 could be reversed at any one of those junctions.

And then, even if after all of that CAB3 still stands, that is certainly not the end! In fact, if that happens, the fight to defend the Constitution and our nation from capture by the oligarch class (zvigananda) will only just be beginning! The energy that this CAB3 process has injected into our body politic, organising experience that we have all gained, and the winnowing of those who truly stand with the people and those who were always in it for themselves is all going to be crucial for the struggle ahead.

Don't be disheartened or dismayed. A luta continua!

[LynneM 💕💝💎 @LynneStactia]

🔹The people of Zvishavane-Ngezi have taken MP Meeky Jaravaza to court for attempting to stay in parliament beyond the term limit without consulting the electorate. See link below 👇🏾

https://t.co/qCsqy81BuS

[LynneM 💕💝💎 @LynneStactia]

🔹The people of Zvishavane-Runde have taken MP Fred Moyo to court. They are challenging him for attempting to stay in parliament beyond his term limit. See the link below: https://t.co/yTzVQaIIpI

[LynneM 💕💝💎 @LynneStactia]

🔹As stated by Retired Air Marshal Muchena, find the link to the court application for Mutema Musikavanhu , to MP Angeline Gata! The voters are demanding to know where the MPs are drawing the mandate to continue in Parliament for two years from. https://t.co/oPt1nK61eZ

[ZBC News @ZBCNewsonline]

A growing silicosis crisis is devastating mining communities in Kwekwe, with dozens of miners battling an incurable lung disease caused by prolonged exposure to silica dust underground. Doctors at Kwekwe General Hospital say cases and deaths are rising sharply as many artisanal and former mine workers struggle to breathe.

https://t.co/lIbOZ4PCy9

[Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 @advocatemahere]

🔸Let me be clear - thieves who perform “philanthropy” are still thieves. Trying to charity wash your corrupt activities and expecting us to praise you for it is a crude insult to our intelligence. Musatambe nepfungwa dzedu.

We need new leaders.🇿🇼

[David Coltart @DavidColtart]

1. Restore the rule of law;
2. Fundamentally change our budget priorities, shifting money away from the corrupt elite to education, housing, health & roads;
3. Slash the size of Cabinet & their perks and appoint Ministers known for their integrity and competence.

[Samkeliso Tshuma @samkebusiness]

What's happening in South Africa requires all of us to be honest and to understand that two truths can coexist. South Africa has an immigration problem. This is true. South Africa has people who are both Afrophobic and xenophobic. This is another truth. To address what’s going on, we must accept those truths.

The South African government and governments across Africa must have a conversation about the immigration problem. South Africa cannot continue to bear the economic and social cost. And we can't afford to keep gaslighting South African citizens by stating that other Africans helped them during the apartheid struggle. This should never be used to silence them.

African governments must confront the reality facing their citizens and take responsibility for what has caused their citizens to migrate to South Africa. The South African government must also take responsibility for cosying up to other African governments and failing to hold them accountable for destroying their economies and making it hard for their citizens to remain in their countries. The South African government needs to be strong here. It cannot be soft. Hiding behind Pan-Africanist ideals and brotherhood that emerged from liberation movements doesn’t cut it.

We simply can't reduce this immigration problem to pushing narratives such as “South Africans are lazy, HIV-infected, uneducated.” Anyone saying so is dishonest. There is a real crisis. South Africa has remained the most unequal country in the world. The economic pie is largely in the hands of the white minority. Yet we expect the same Black people, who are excluded from accessing this economic pie, to share its crumbs with Africans from other countries. It seems unfair to expect that.

Saying this doesn't mean we do not acknowledge the existence of Afrophobes. They exist. In every struggle, there are people who exploit genuine grievances to drive selfish agendas, hate, etc. Is it right? Never. The South African government and other African governments must deal with Afrophobic and xenophobic actors. Innocent people cannot lose their lives and businesses because governments have failed to address socio-economic conditions.

SA has a crime problem, and it would be disingenuous of SA citizens to say crime is perpetuated by foreigners or illegal immigrants only. There are South Africans who commit crimes, and one cannot solve crime by scapegoating. There is an immigration problem which may potentially lead to crime and that needs to be addressed.

If immigration issues and socio-economic conditions are not addressed, these tensions will keep rearing their ugly heads.

Afrophobic South Africans also need to confront the truth about why they are solely targeting Black immigrants. This pattern mirrors what’s happening in the United States of America, where ICE disproportionately targets Black and Brown people. This disproportionate targeting isn’t random. It’s rooted in anti-Blackness and colonial hierarchies of belonging that code Blackness as foreign, criminal, or disposable. In both SA and the US, immigration enforcement becomes racialised. It has become a tool that punishes skin color by weaponising citizenship status.

It is painful to watch people stripped of dignity and abused simply for being foreigners in South Africa. To find a common path forward, we need to understand these nuances and hold all our African governments accountable. We are where we are because of them!

[Trevor Ncube @TrevorNcube]

ZANU PF is not a political party that lost its way. It is an evil system.
A political, economic and social parasite. It cannot be negotiated with. Cannot be reformed. Cannot be waited out.
It has attracted the greedy, the opportunistic, every manner of social misfit. Mediocrity is now the standard. And this system is now in some of us — in how we drive, how we treat each other, how we litter our streets.
It must be uprooted root and branch.
Here is what you do, starting today:
You have until 17 May to send written opposition to CAB3 to the Clerk of Parliament. I will soon publish a template for this. Use it. Share it. Make your MP answer publicly for their vote.
Seven specific actions. A programme, not slogans.
Read my impassioned views here 👇
https://t.co/Dwdargr3uE
#Zimbabwe #CAB3 #DefendTheConstitution

[Freeman @freemanchari]

Siyayi Rakadaro!!!!!

[Sophie Mokoena @Sophie_Mokoena]

The formula for retaining power is very very simple just do the right things and deliver service to the people. Its all about serving the people if you don’t the electorate will vote for other parties.

[Retired Lt General Winston Sigauke Mapuranga @SajeniMapuranga]

I wore this nation's uniform for decades.
My oath was to Zimbabwe to its Constitution, to its people.
NOT to any individual. NOT to any agenda that places one man's ambition above the supreme law of the land. Rise, Zimbabwe. Rise and DEFEND YOUR CONSTITUTION.
#NoTo2030 CAB3 is not reform.
It is a legislative instrument designed to extend presidential tenure beyond what Section 91(2) of the Constitution permits.
Section 328 prohibits exactly this no amendment shall advantage a sitting president on term limits.

[King Jay🇿🇼 @KingJayZim]

Public hearings should be spaces for voices to be heard, not silenced.

Respect for differing views is the foundation of any serious society.
We must do better.

[Chipo Musarurwa Siziba @ChipoMusarurwaS]

I will never support a leader who quietly flies to the United States with his family, goes silent, then comes back online pretending he never left Zimbabwe. The struggle here is real. People are suffering today. Your absence is not a secret it's a betrayal. Chamisa took a "break" in America with his wife and son. No posts. No updates. Then he resurface acting like he never left us here in the trenches. The struggle in Zimbabwe is not a campaign prop you pick up when it's convenient. I'm done Hwende is right Chakanwirwa chinhu ichi. @BitiTendai @MKomichi @hwendec @nelsonchamisa