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Mawarire: Con artist or activist?

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SO the ‘good’ pastor Evan Mawarire has made it to our shores, after a ‘short’ struggle that saw him spending two days in remand prison and a whirlwind tour of South Africa.
Mawarire was described by many in the past month as the maverick, new face of the opposition.
Some news reports even claimed Forbes Magazine had heralded him as ‘Zimbabwe’s own Martin Luther King Jnr’.
Mawarire was able to rally support by using social media, because it was the avenue that spoke to his target, the youth of Zimbabwe who feel disenfranchised because they are growing up in a hostile economic environment.
Unlike many who have just seen Mawarire on videos, I personally met the man before he ‘made it’.
I first met Mawarire around 2011 when I was invited to attend a Toastmasters International session at Chapman Golf Club.
My first impression was that the man had a presence, and he could speak eloquently, but all he lacked was a cause.
The Toastmasters sessions were certainly helpful because the man I have been seeing in these #hatichada #hatichatya videos has certainly evolved.
For those of you who do not know, Toastmasters International (TI) is a non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills.
Through its thousands of member clubs, TI offers a programme of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking.
All I can say is they taught him well, he did move a nation.
Ever since news filtered on social media that the pastor was moving to the US, I have witnessed various reactions from his supporters.
Some have moved to defend the man claiming this would stop the ‘movement’ from taking on the cult personality model, while others have claimed that the man is in danger.
Those not amused by Mawarire’s relocation claim that the man used the nation to seek asylum. Only Mawarire knows the truth.
As I indicated above, I met Mawarire when he was still perfecting his craft.
Back then, he was an upcoming Pentecostal pastor, and I remember seeing one of his posters in the city centre advertising his church.
Enquiries about Mawarire proffered he was good at this whole ‘marriage counselling’ business, especially in an ‘industry’ where other young and upcoming Ministers such as Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa were cutting niches.
Fast forward to April 2016, Mawarire produced his first #ThisFlag video, and soon his rantings against Government and ZANU PF gained traction.
He cut himself a new niche, his movement attracted people from various walks of life in the urban centres.
Like any good opportunist, Mawarire took advantage of the failings of Government and the disgruntlement in the nation to rally the urban masses.
It is common knowledge the health sector in Zimbabwe has deteriorated; the call to put an end to corruption has been on everyone’s lips, and that people want Government to address the socio-economic challenges.
Mawarire was able to do what political parties have been failing to do, which is provide a voice to the nation’s youth.
The crowd that gathered at Rotten Row Magistrates’ Courts was mostly of the young generation.
The religious church leaders who joined the crowds included Bishop Tudor Bismark and Shingi Munyeza, with the former leading a church filled with the younger generation.
Even in the Diaspora, Mawarire’s message resonated with the under 40 age group and this explains why his South Africa tour was punctuated by stops at universities.
The youth are a powerful tool whose potential can shape the destiny of a nation.
Those who fought for the country’s liberation were no older than the many young men and women who supported Mawarire’s movement.
Coming to Mawarire’s move to America; I guess he re-invented the wheel as far as seeking asylum in this case.
Gone are the days when the Americans and Brits accept that old song and dance about how you are some vague opposition supporter whose life is under threat from the ‘Mugabe regime’.
These so-called asylum seekers have been notorious for tax scams and all sorts of vices that proved to their hosts that many were petty criminals who took advantage of the political situation in Zimbabwe to seek greener pastures.
Mawarire could not very well come to America as an economic refugee, what with Donald Trump saying we should build a giant wall to keep all these foreigners who are taking jobs from Americans.
He could not very well claim asylum without some real concrete proof that he was ‘marked’.
So what did he do?
He created a situation that made him not just the talk of town, but the entire globe.
When he had the attention of the whole world, he made his move.

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