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*Fight For Democracy Never A Walk In The Park - Mahere*

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Zimbabwean opposition politician Fadzayi Mahere says the fight for democracy in the southern African country is not easy as it can land one in jail for demanding authorities to be accountable.

Posting on X this Friday, Mahere who is a member of the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) and the Member of Parliament for Mt Pleasant in Harare, warned that repression will only get worse if democrats bury their heads in the sand. She wrote:

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> The fight for democracy is never a walk in the park. It can mean getting arrested for a peaceful “save the baby” protest. It can mean jail for tweeting. It can mean being manhandled by the police for insisting on the rule of law.

> Over the years, I’ve learnt that unless we resist dictatorship, it only gets worse.

> On Wednesday, Parliament adjourned until midnight as we debated an anti-people Budget that will cause immense suffering to an already broken, hungry and poor population.

> We spoke out against the proposed high taxes, the sharp increases in toll gate charges for basic services like passports and car registration, the inflationary impact of the stated policies as well as proffering solutions for how things can be done better.

> We put forward the views our constituents had assiduously compiled since the Budget Statement was made in the hope of influencing a rethink of the problematic policies which will further destroy an already comatose economy.

> That Budget has been crafted by those who are unable to put the people first and would rather loot and plunder than give Zimbabwe a fighting chance to succeed again.

> The ultimate victim of an anti-people Budget is the common man or woman on the street. The poor and downtrodden suffer the most when harsh policies that exempt elites are imposed on us.

> When we campaigned over the last election, the promise we made was that we would be the voice of the masses and that we would never stop fighting for a Zimbabwe that puts the people first. That is the core of all political activity.

> A few weeks ago, a CCC mobilizer, Tapfumanei Masaya, was tortured and murdered in cold blood during a door-to-door campaign for his representative who had been illegally recalled to make way for a Gold Mafia kingpin.

> After this murder, our candidate, along with five others who had also been illegally recalled, was banned from the ballot for no reason.

> The sham was endorsed by state institutions that are meant to uphold the Constitution and the will of the people. They handed him the seat with no election, not even a rigged one.

> When Parliament reconvened on Thursday, we raised a point of national interest around the fact that the propriety of the election was sub judice and that how it was conducted was an affront to representative democracy.

> Elected representatives had been pushed out of Parliament to make way for unelected ones.

> The Speaker unconstitutionally refused to hear the points raised and instead, in an alarming breach of Parliamentary privilege called the Police in on us to violently throw us out and banned us for four sittings.

> Dictatorship thrives when voices are silenced. Dictatorship wins when we stop insisting on the Constitution and democratic values.

> Dictatorship gets comfortable when the citizens get tired. Dictatorship grows horns when hope fades.

> It’s painful and costly. Change is slow and sluggish. But we must never stop imagining that Zimbabwe can be free, prosperous and governed in a way that creates opportunity for everyone to thrive.

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