Zimbabweans have made grave mistakes, which have perpetually haunted us.
For 45 years, we have allowed privileged figures in governments to violate our rights without holding them to account.
Zimbabwe is one of only a few countries where 20 000 people can be butchered in cold blood and perpetrators never taste the pain of prison.
It is the only country where the rush for diamonds ends in bloodshed, US$14 billion looted, and a country in ruins, but the plunderers and killers walk scot-free.
Another round of pillage kicked off at Redwing Mine recently, in brazen defiance of property rights.
It is also a brazen disregard of the legal claim of investors currently mobilising millions to return the asset to production.
Because those behind the unbridled show of force belong to a clique of people born with a silver spoon in its jaws, it is business as usual.
That incident on August 1, 2018, when soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians was a turning point that must be revisited.
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A new government that, at the time, made preposterous promises gave those who injured civilians protection.
Anyone wielding a modicum of authority today thinks it is fashionable to abuse powers acquired through their close proximity to the centre of power without consequences.
We have seemingly given our rulers the blank cheque to kill, and steal.
We have allowed them to turn a blind eye when defenceless, voiceless people suffer unforgettable prejudices.
A case in point was the disregard of Manhize villagers’ rights to compensation, which we reported last week.
At Mushenjere Village, displacements will affect about 20 families.
In 39 years, they had built sustainable ways of life — good houses for some, herds of cattle and other assets.
They have also been burying their departed there — which means those communal lands occupy a special place in their hearts.
But they have had to make way for the US$1,5 billion steel plant seeing the final stages of construction.
As we reported last week, Chinese investors say they are willing to compensate.
But it is the behaviour of Anxious Masuka’s Ministry of Lands that is worrying.
It is yet another demonstration of just how easy people’s lives can be trampled upon when the word “accountability” vanishes out of the vocabularies of those running the show.
The villagers have been bullied into accepting US$1 500 as compensation.
They have been forced to sign documents they didn’t understand.
Those that sought explanation were asked why they were “rebelling against government”.
The villagers say the agreed sizes of houses for compensation have been reduced.
Those already constructed are cracking.
Because of poor planning, contaminated water from toilets will seep into their wells, in the coming years, they have warned.
Their tormentors erupted into anger when they raised these points.
Masuka has a handwritten complaint from Mushenjere villagers. It boggles the mind why he has taken his time to act.
We also reported last week that government’s Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamonds Company set vicious dogs on an unarmed artisanal miner in Marange.
Police have picked ZCDC’s specially-trained guards for questioning after the poor soul died during gunfire in the incident.
Marange is already the flash point where gunfire killed civilians during a rush for diamonds 20 years ago.
Those behind the killings have not been publicly held to account.
The sanctity of life has been relegated to the back banner.
We were overwhelmed with joy when President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised in 2018 to stop the manifestations of madness in a rogue police force.
Discipline had returned to the force since then.
But we have recently relapsed into a police state.
We are under the grip of a terrifying crackdown on rights defenders and dissenting voices.
Is this the case of a leopard showing us it’s true colours?
