A good friend said to me this morning: “Only in Zimbabwe...” When he did not complete his thought, I encouraged him, whereupon he said: “Only in Zimbabwe do people think something which put so much fear in the government that it shut down the whole country was a failure.”

I could have taken offense, but that is the truth we need to be telling ourselves. How was something that exposed the brutality of this regime, provoking Malema and others now to denounce it, a failure?

When will we stop giving ourselves an excuse not to build on the efforts of others and recognize the power of this moment? Today non Zimbabweans are pushing the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter precisely because of how Mnangagwa’s government exposed itself in response to #July31

When did Zanu(PF) ever seem so panicked/unsure of themselves? Change won’t come through what we are fond of, i.e. subjecting the actions of others to endless analysis instead of picking up the baton, even when someone has dropped it or been tripped, and completing the race.

Those who were arrested, including Fadzayi Mahere, Tsitsi Dangarembgwa, Chin’ono, Ngarivhume and all those the regime has been hunting did not fail. They exposed the system. No one who has lost their freedom, livelihoods, limbs and lives in the cause of freedom have failed.

Itai Dzamara protested alone. He did not fail. The failure belongs to those who refuse to be inspired by the acts of courage of those who are fighting not just for their own freedoms and rights, but for everyone. Is there not a cause?
#ZimbabweanLivesMatter