Fear will hold us back: Evan Mawarire

#ThisFlag founder Evan Mawarire is back in Zimbabwe after a six-month self-imposed sabbatical. He has since been arrested and charged with subversion, among other charges, but declares in this interview with NewsDay Senior Reporter Richard Chidza (ND) that he will not be silenced even by the government’s controversial ban on the use of the flag. Mawarire (EM) wants Zimbabweans to close ranks against President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF ahead of elections next year.
Below are excerpts:

Richard Chidza

‘Fear will hold us back’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe February 14, 2017

ND: Pastor Mawarire, welcome back.

EM: There is no better feeling for a Zimbabwean than to be home where they belong, home where they are allowed to be, home where they count and home where they are citizen, there is nothing better.

ND: You left the country in not so very nice circumstances last year, but Zimbabweans felt cheated. How do you respond to that?

EM: I would be a fool to say I did not understand how they felt about my leaving at the time. It was a very difficult and painful decision for me to make. I totally understand the disappointment that people had at the time because they had stood with me and, not only with me, but for Zimbabwe, and felt that something was about to happen. I would like to think that a good number understood my position and I think they have a better understanding even today now that I am back. I would have felt the same if I were in their shoes. The journey we are walking is not a 100-metre sprint. My belief is, it is a journey not to transform a moment, but a whole future and so this is part of the journey we are continuing.

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