NEARLY two years after political activist Moreblessing Ali was abducted and murdered, and her body found in a deep well dismembered, her family has finally found closure, albeit after a long, bitter wait.
We heard this week that Ali’s family is now preparing to bury a woman whose life was unfortunately shortened for exercising her right to associate with a political party of her choice.
Ali was abducted by Pius Mukandi, alias Jamba, on March 24, 2022 and was found dead two weeks later on June 11 and since her cold-hearted murder, her family has found no peace and it is more than gratifying that at last her murderer was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail, while the person who vociferously campaigned for justice following her murder, Job Sikhala, has since been released from prison after being charged with inciting violence over her killing.
However, out of this entire debacle we believe Zimbabweans should learn a major lesson: Tolerance to others’ political opinions and inclinations.
Honestly speaking, one cannot be killed in present-day Zimbabwe simply because of their political disposition. Ali was not only killed, but her body was chopped to pieces in a gruesome act we believe may have been done to instil everlasting fear in anyone who may want to entertain any thoughts of opposing, let alone unsettling the political status quo.
Ali’s death was one among many sad moments in the country’s troubled political history, post-independence. It has not been easy for anyone to challenge the ruling Zanu PF party and incidents such as Ali’s death have done more harm than good to the governing elite which is why we are saying her burial after such a long time should help the nation to bury its intolerance to opposing political views.
While it may be difficult to link Ali’s murder to any particular party, the fact that it happened in the heat of the moment when some ruling party activists were at loggerheads and engaged in running battles with some opposition political functionaries speaks volumes about political tolerance in this country.
Arguably, Zimbabwe has hardly graduated from the early childhood development stage of democracy because of intolerance and will continue to wallow in the eerie dungeons of bigotry as long as incidents such as Ali’s murder do not etch a lasting mark in our minds and hearts.
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We strongly believe that Ali remained unburied for nearly two years for a reason, and we should learn an enduring lesson from this. Such incidents tarnish our image as a people and portray us as a nation of thugs who are so heartless as to kill each other for simply holding opposing views.
No Zimbabwean life should be extinguished for political reasons and no one should ever risk their life to further the interest of a few political elites. Now Ali’s murderer is wallowing in prison for propping up interests of people who are busy enjoying themselves out of prison, a lesson to others driven by intolerance..
