In the latest edition of the Big Saturday Read, academic and Constitutional law expert Alex Magaisa urged politicians not to use sites of suffering for political mileage.
Magaisa also urged the release of names of the victims that perished due to Cyclone Idai instead of just numbers. He also argues politicians should have used the tragedy to unite for Zimbabwe. Part of Magaisa’s article reads:
Politicians have to understand that disaster tourism is unacceptable. Sites of suffering are not occasions for political fighting and grandstanding. They are sites of work and taking responsibility; acknowledgment that we have failed the people and we are sorry. They are not sites to visit for one day, for photo opportunities and pontificating to claim political capital. These are real people; real lives that deserve to be treated with dignity…Even the declaration of two days of national mourning appears to have been an after-thought. The politicians could have used this tragedy to find convergence. There is still a chance for them to do so. If such a great tragedy cannot cause them to look at the bigger picture, I don’t know what else can.
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