By Bulawayo Correspondent
YOUTHS from the Thokozani Khupe led MDC have called for the scrapping of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day they say brought bad memories to the nation.
The nation this Friday takes a holiday to celebrate a day which coincided with the birth of its now late founding leader.
Mugabe was ousted by his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa in a shock military coup November 2017.
Attempts to eulogise him by his successor have not excited many Zimbabweans with fresh memories of the once fierce ruler’s excesses and misrule.
Among them is Alfred Dzirutwe, the national chairperson of the MDC-T who argued that Mugabe did not deserve any honour because of his role in the early 1980s Gukurahundi atrocities on 20 000 civilians in the western parts of the country.
“Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day should actually be scrapped as it brings bad memories to the nation,” said the outspoken youth leader in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com.
“Whenever Mugabe’s name is mentioned, what quickly comes to one’s mind is Gukurahundi.
“The name Mugabe also brings bad memories of the 2008 (presidential) run-off election in which hundreds of MDC supporters were butchered and displaced.”
Dzirutwe also accused leader of promoting tribalism and corruption during his lengthy tenure.
“He has left a broken nation with tribalism, corruption and poverty. As I speak, there is 100 percent unemployment in the country, so to me, Mugabeism should never be celebrated because we will be embracing evil,” he said.
Dzirutwe said the current Mnangagwa led regime was not any different from that of its predecessor administration.
“As youths of today, we are in bondage of poverty because of the current regime’s policies which were authored by Zanu PF under Mugabe and Mnangagwa. We need to unite and free ourselves from this regime,” added Dzirutwe.
Dzirutwe’s sentiments were echoed by MDC Alliance Bulawayo spokesperson Swethern Chiroodza.
“Mugabe is the tale of a man who as President in post-independence, with Emmerson Mnangagwa as Defence chief, presided over the murder more of black people than the total number of casualties in the pre-independence liberation struggle.
“Mugabe is the tale of a man who together with Mnangagwa and other Zanu PF leaders tried to exterminate the entire Ndebele nation.
“Mugabe is the tale of a man who, in the words of Morgan Tsvangirai, reduced Zimbabwe from a breadbasket to a basket case,” said Chiroodza.
Chiroodza however praised Mugabe for what he felt was his ability to manage the overpricing of goods and separating civilian rule from military.
