BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
In our society and indeed our humanity when someone is on the brink of death it is common for the patient’s loved ones and enemies alike to ask for prayers. We pray for the person to overcome whatever it may be that is ailing them and hope they get back on their feet as soon as possible. Even if you wish that person dead the wishes are never spilled publicly If this person should die, it is natural for everyone who has been praying for them to become sad. It does not matter whether your prayers where good or bad it is decent to be seen to be feeling sorry for the dead and their loved ones. Following the death, a mourning period ensues with the goal of remembering the life of the dead and in a good amount of situations still wishing he or she were alive. In this period people are expected to be nice to the relatives of the deceased. This is what made us human. It is called compassion.
Surprisingly these days we see people blinded by opposition politics trapped in evil instances where they wholeheartedly hope that someone dies and they celebrate instead of mourn when they do pass away? They anxiously wait for the news of more deaths.
We now see videos on Facebook whatsapp and Twitter which gets us thinking about whether it is morally wrong to celebrate a person’s death. We have seen videos showing some inhuman evil people celebrating upon learning through their phones and word of mouth about the deaths of government officials. At that point, humanity takes a clear back seat, and the evil monsters blood sucking vampires masquerading as politicians get in a frenzy.
We might not have a clear opinion on whether it is morally “wrong” to celebrate an evil person’s death, but we are able to see both sides of the coin regarding this question. Technically speaking, one human life isn’t worth more than that of another human. However, we as a society are quick to label people as “good” or “bad” and these labels no doubt affect the value we place on people.
With the MDC supporters in social media they find it safe to claim that ZANU PF officials are persons with evil intentions. As much as warped intentions of these social media witches lives of ZANU PF members isn’t worth any less than a “good” person’s life, per se. Everybody is a person first before he is aligned to a political party. Although the majority of people in the social Media thought similarly, obviously not everyone believed the dead heroes are evil persons. For example, the majority of the Zimbabweans and ZANU PF followers and other peace loving compassionate people certainly didn’t think of any evil on those succumbing to COVID 19.
Zimbabwe is losing good leaders and those who respected them definitely had a different reaction than the Devil’s celebrating in social media.
Ultimately, I think mourning or celebrating a person comes down to several factors. One of them is how you value a life. If you think that all lives are equal, then perhaps you may think it is wrong to celebrate ANYONE’S death. Another factor is obviously your relationship to the person. ZANU PF relates to each and every dying person as a Zimbabwean and therefore deserves our respect.
We must not advocate for either side, but we must certainly do think this is a viable question that has several variants of both sides of the coin.
Coming together over a death has more to do with the living than the dead. Loss, even when expected is a jarring experience. You’re never ever going to see that person again. Never talk to them, hear from them, or go to them.
We humans are a society species. Loss is best handled together. Those who feel the impact of the loss benefit from being with others in the same emotional place. Celebrating or grieving isn’t really the issue. Some are devastated, but if it’s a farewell celebration, it can give that person a modicum of peace…to hear others express the high points. The funeral, is a finalization of the first step of closure. Whether into the ground, scattering of ashes or a Viking boat set afire …we gather again for closure, in sadness or in celebration. Those who lose truly loved ones, have found deep comfort with others who loved and lost them. But for one to take to the social media to express joy because a person who thought differently from you has died is horrible. If you are made happy with the suffering of others indeed you are a witch.
There is no need whatsoever to insult the dead in actual fact you will be insulting the ones who are alive.
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten” Ecclesiastes 9:5 NWT
Since the dead know nothing at all they would be unaware they were in heaven or anyplace else for that matter. They are in the grave; not in heaven, hell, purgatory, or any other sort of after life.
“for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” Ecclesiastes 9:10 KJV
When someone dies they have no knowledge or wisdom because they are dead. Jesus Christ performed resurrections during his brief ministry of three and a half years; one of those was the resurrection of his friend Lazarus.
“Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am traveling there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples then said to him: “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, had spoken about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly: “Lazarus has died” John 11:11–14
It is interesting that Jesus likened death to sleeping. When in a deep sleep you are unaware of the passing of time. Someone who has been dead for a thousand years and then was resurrected they would not be aware that a thousand years had passed. Lazarus could not have known he had been dead for four days.
Those Christians who celebrate the death of others must remember God’s words
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” Ezekiel 18:4 KJV
The real hope for true Christians lies in the resurrection.
“having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust” Acts 24:15.
You might have wondered the reason for drawing parallels between the Biblical doctrine to the debacle in Zimbabwe?Zimbabwe’s tragedy in the face of Covid 19 reached an alarming level with four government ministers dying in one week in January 2021 between 15 and 22 January, and many more people died across the social divide throughout the country. Every death naturally is cause for grief to the families and the community. The worry about the MDC Alliance and its misguided zealots is the misplaced thinking that the death of a government minister is a victory to pop out champagne and flood social media with unprintable insults to the dead. What a shame? This simply is unethical. The morals of such people in our society, whether openly drumming up the poisonous empty platitudes or under the cover of social media is certainly rotten. As if the news about those who have died cannot quench the thirst of the MDC Alliance mob, we now have those who have been confirmed as sadly passed on and the extra list of those who have been pronounced dead in the MDC Alliance fora of the death angels spreading false deaths news to the chagrin of many across the political divide who appreciate the importance of upholding morals. To wish that all leaders of Zanu PF die is diabolic. While these zealots are celebrating the deaths of Zanu PF leaders and wishing more leaders die is the failure to realise that Covid 19 does not discriminate between MDC Alliance and Zanu PF blood. It is also a commonality that most people who die tend to be in towns and cities because of the crowds that interact in different places. Who do these people in towns and cities support, MDC Alliance. So, a mockery of those dying is equally a mockery of others who are not members of Zanu PF who have died of Covid 19. Ultimately the jokes and fun poked at the dead is self-degrading to the angels of death and their leadership.
One might question how the MDC Alliance is blood tainted by the multitudes who are perishing in the pandemic. Just like Trump’s defiance of an election result saw five people perish the MDC did exactly the same. They unleased a mob after the elections in August 2018 and five people lost their lives. The mob vandalized property as they could not go into parliament to install their own president. Remember Nelson Chamisa wanted them to takeover State House for his coronation and that is the same thinking as invading the Congress and Senate on the Capitol Hill. The country’s capacity to address infrastructural and economic issues is compromised by the sanctions championed by the enemies of the people, namely Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and Welshmen Ncube after they begged for sanctions in December 2017. So, whatever is failing in Zimbabwe, the MDC Alliance is pleased the sanctions are working and that includes hospitals with limited facilities where even MDC Alliance members cannot get good services. So, every death due to failure of systems affected by sanctions can be credited to MDC Alliance and that includes the Covid 19 deaths, So the MDC Alliance and its leaders cannot hide the blood-tainted open hand. To celebrate Covid 19 deaths just makes the party sink further into the abyss as an evil movement where the angels of death are on the move identifying those mourning and mocking them. It is time Chamisa and the MDC Alliance family act as patriots rather pursue state sabotage and destabilization.
Just to make it clear the prime minister of The Great Britain was attacked by COVID so was his cabinet. The husband of the Queen was attacked so was the French president American former president Trump and many European leaders.
In Africa many leaders died of Covid including newly elected leaders. Burundi lost its president to COVID and several leaders. Eswatini lost its prime minister who was a good man and my colleague from the University of Swaziland. South Africa has lost several ministers and half a million people. Malawi lost ministers government officials and thousands of people.
COVID is not a weapon against ZANU PF so those jokes insulting the dead do insult the living. Then we do take this personally.
MDC must bring the loose witches to order. They must stop showing their blood tainted teeth pretending to be smiling. We can never wish any one dead. Not now not tomorrow. If a political party wishes its opponents dead indeed they are potential perpetrators of political violence.
We do trust in God and we will never wish death to any of these MDC idiots. This is the time of mourning not of celebration. We have lost friends. They might have a political opinion different from yours but they are voted by the majority. If we part ways as Zimbabweans let it not be over political beliefs or political inclination.
Please let us be humane. We are all made in the image of God. Let us unite as one. Zimbabwe must fight this pandemic as one. Do not let those celebrating the death of our comrades divine us.
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