Haruzivishe blames ZANU PF and opposition for Zimbabweans dying in Ukraine

Former student activist Makomborero Haruzivishe says both ZANU PF and the opposition are to blame for the deaths of Zimbabweans killed fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Zhemu Soda, at least 15 Zimbabweans have been killed after being recruited into the war. Most were lured by fraudulent employment agencies promising well-paid civilian jobs in Russia. Their travel documents were then confiscated, and they were forced into combat.

Haruzivishe was responding on X to opposition politician Job Sikhala, who had suggested that Zimbabweans were willing to die in Ukraine but lacked the courage to “fight” and “free” their own country.

“I get astounded by such characters who gather this courage to go and get killed in Ukraine for Russia when these same people don’t raise even a finger against the destruction Emmerson Mnangagwa and his criminals have done in our country,” Sikhala wrote.

“There are many I know who got chopped in those forests of Ukraine. They are not prepared to fight and free their country but opt to go and die in Ukraine!”

Sikhala was reacting to a post by an X user, Bla B, who had shared a picture of a man named Godfrey Mavhembu Nhundu and said he had been shot dead in Ukraine while fighting for Russia. Bla B also suggested that most Zimbabweans fighting for Russia were retired soldiers, arguing that it would be hard to persuade untrained civilians to join the war.

Haruzivishe told Sikhala that the deaths were more a reflection on the opposition’s leadership than on the men who died.

“Don’t be so quick to dismiss them, comrade; I think this is more of an indictment on you as part of the collective leadership of the alternative than it is on them as probable supporters of the alternative,” he wrote.

He argued that since 2018, the opposition had discouraged protests, demonstrations and other direct action against ZANU PF. Instead, supporters had been told to attend rallies, take part in door-to-door canvassing, share posts on social media and vote. Unless there was proof that these men had done none of those things, Haruzivishe said, it was unfair to accuse them of not being willing to fight for their country.

He also rejected the idea that they had chosen to die.

“Comrade, NO ONE who received a visit from poverty, alongside its siblings of jobless existence, hopelessness and zero realistic economic opportunities, OPTS TO GO AND DIE IN UKRAINE! Millions of Zimbabweans are just like these guys, leaving a homeland that is certain of unimaginable suffering to go for uncertain opportunities abroad. It’s never optional,” he wrote.

Haruzivishe said he disagreed in principle with joining the war, but acknowledged that he might not know what he would do in their position.

“At least they have weapons which give them a fighting chance, unlike numerous of our citizens who were lynched before they were burned alive in South Africa during waves of senseless xenophobic violence,” he wrote.

“Whilst we got political independence in 1980, our people are crying for ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE, which is long overdue.”

He said that before blaming the men, many of whom had been trafficked under the pretence of decent jobs, he would blame Zimbabwe’s political leadership, “placing higher culpability on ZANU PF, lesser on the opposition and least on the vulnerable poor who find themselves at the frontline of a war that has nothing to do with them”.