In a country where people are sceptical of the judiciary, they had reason to be afraid and as the rains loomed, it had a foreboding effect ahead of passing of the sentence.Magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini was due to make his ruling at about 2:15pm, but a delay of about 10 minutes only heightened the tension.
The heat and a nauseating smell in the courtroom did not help matters. Added to that, Jarabini, in a soft spoken tone, hardly audible to most in the court, took his time delivering the sentence, raising tensions even further.
In the end, the six got nothing but a slap on the wrist, as the magistrate commuted their sentence to community service and a fine. While in court, Gwisai’s wife, Shantha Bloemen, took to social networks, particularly Twitter, where she drummed up support for her husband and the five other convicted activists.
For the past 12 months the trial has gripped the nation, as they were initially charged with treason and faced the hangman’s noose. “We are having mixed feelings about this. At least there is no need to endure the pains of going to jail,” Gwisai said, referring to himself in the plural.
While the law lecturer’s stance on a number of issues has often polarised public opinion, Gwisai received immense solidarity from political parties and the civic society when his trial began until the end.
“We are encouraged by the solidarity that we received from the students and various civic society organisations,” he said. “It is inspiring.” Gwisai said this was a sign of a growing consciousness on the need for Zimbabweans to stand up and face up to the regime.
He said his struggle was not just about replacing President Robert Mugabe with MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, but he sought a “deeper change”. “We call for a deeper change, as we are fighting the global system of capitalism and we are not after short-term change,” he said.
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The ISO leader said he was not after assuming leadership of the country, but rather was furthering his socialist agenda and wanted to see the removal of all forms of dictatorship. And true to form, Gwisai took a swipe at the MDC, this time for not accepting the indigenisation agenda and had no kind words for Zanu PF either.
“MDC is wrong in refusing to support this, it is being outflanked by Zanu PF. However, this is a tool for the Zanu PF campaign, just like the land reform programme,” he said.
ISO leader not a radical: Makumbe
Gwisai has been a somewhat maverick person throughout his political career, having been expelled from the then united MDC after clashing with the leadership.He has in the past clashed publicly with Tsvangirai, as he often took a radical socialist stance and accused the MDC of being hijacked by “elitist forces” that had ganged up with “the rich” and “intellectuals”.
He was elected MP for Highfield in 2000 representing the united MDC. However, his political career must have reached a nadir in the by-election that followed his expulsion from the party, as he garnered a measly 73 votes, earning less votes than Zanu PF’s Joseph Chinotimba, who got five times the tally and Pearson Mungofa who won the seat with just more than 8 000 ballots.
Gwisai’s stock fell and he retreated into his lecturing duties and work at the ISO. from there, he often took pot shots at both Mugabe and Tsvangirai. He advocated for street protests to oust long-time leader, Mugabe, and he felt the MDC missed a chance to oust him in the 2000 and 2002 elections.
The law lecturer’s frustrations have led many to ask whether he was rebel without a cause or frustrated genius, who was a victim of Zimbabwe’s polarised political environment.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer, John Makumbe, who described the conviction as ridiculous, said Gwisai was far from being a rebel without a cause, but was an independent thinker, who was not afraid of standing out from a crowd.
“He is an independent thinker, who will not just go along with everyone,” Makumbe said. “His cause is for the worker and I do not find that to be radical.”Makumbe described his colleague as intelligent, exciting, invigorating and a motivator.
Political analyst, Dumisani Nkomo of Habakkuk Trust, said Gwisai had exhibited a lot of courage but the polarised environment in Zimbabwe did not allow for alternative voices.
“People outside the two or three main political parties are generally ignored. People like Gwisai and Mthwakazi are not given space, even if what they say is relevant,” he said.
UZ inspired Gwisai into socialism
The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) leader, was born Enock Munyaradzi Chikweche in Gweru in 1968, studied for his law degree at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) between 1988 and 1991, where he says the socialist ideals in him became stronger.
“I got seriously involved in organised revolutionary socialist politics when I entered UZ under the influence and mentorship of lecturers who were mainly steeped in Maoist-Stalinist politics,” Gwisai said in his profile, adding that his mentors were Kempton Makamure, Shadreck Ghutto and Shepherd Nzombe.
During this period, Gwisai became general secretary of the Students Representative Council, under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara.From there, he studied for a Master’s degree in law at the Columbia University in New York in 1992 and 1993.
