R.I.P.SWETU FUNDIKIRA
VOICES HEARD!
Dear Brothers and sisters,
Tanzania is still one of the most peaceful countries in Africa if not in the world. We have enjoyed peace and tranquility through the years. We have managed to achieve this feat by simply respecting, loving and valuing our own status and that of others.
But today, we have buried our brother and a dear friend Swetu Fundikira who was murdered in cold blood in the hands bloodthirsty thugs who by their own ignorance perceived to be above the law. In a clear display of contempt of the law these cowards tried to justify their barbaric actions in the name of Tanzania People Defence Forces.
A soldier is a mere employee of the army and at no given time whatsoever are they entitled to take the law into their own hands. This is not the first time soldiers have behaved in this manner and got away with it. This time we have to stand up against this bullish behaviour and say enough is enough!We ain't going to stand aside and watch these cowards take innocent lives of our brothers and sisters for whatever reasons they may have.
There is not one single reason that can justify what they did to our beloved brother Swetu. For that reason it makes us angry. We are angry because they took a life of an innocent man who was a brother, a son, a neighbour and a lovely friend to most of the people who knew him, myself included.
He was a man of peace, intergrity and love. He did not deserve to die this way. Today we have buried him as a hero but we promise those thugs that we will leave no stone unturned as we fight for justice. We will never rest till justice is done. His death will never be in vain but it will be a defining moment for all the victims who have perished in similar circumstances.
It is also a reminder of how dangerous our peaceful world can be when people like those thugs are given the chance to take advantage of their positions. In strongest words possible we condemn this deliberate and unnecessary killing of our brother.
I urge all Tanzanians to stand up and be counted, stand up against injustice, stand up against victimisation of innocent people, because if we don't the next one will be your father, your mother, your son, your daughter, your friend or even your neighbour. This has to stop now.
Our thoughts are now with the Fundikira family especially his father Mzee Ramadhani Fundikira, his brothers and sisters, Ismail, Mgalula, Mtagwa, Chellu, Nzwala, Mshama Mkalla and the rest of the family memebers.
Rest in peace my brother Swetu and God will bless you.
Yours in deep sorrow
Norman Wage
-------------------------------------------
I am Tanzania by birth and through my years I have boasted and been proud of my country because of its peace,humility and hospitality of its people. I wear a bracelet with the colors of the Tanzanian national flag. Quite honestly am not the proudest of Tanzanians at the moment,not the most patriotic either. Please read what I have to say and find it in you to share my story and relate to it at a personal level. Please get as many people as possible to read this. See if we can evoke change.
The essence of our whole existence lies in the modesty, divinity and purity gift of life itself.the sooner we appreciate that life is a gift more than it is a right the better. Then we will learn to respect and value it more. Then we should make it our moral obligation to carry this down to Tanzania’s subsequent generations. Maybe having this insight on an intellectual level will help us gain a more sublime way towards this understanding. With this armor around our conscience the act of one man taking another man’s life should be something we are all ashamed ,raged and devastated by as a collective nation. The fact that these acts occur within our borders should mean that we deal with them with utmost vigilance in an effort to deter if not stop them from happening in the future.
I have lost an uncle in the late Swetu R Fundikira, others have lost a father,a son,brother ,friend in act of stratospheric brutality and insolence. Acts carried out by soldiers from our ‘‘people’s’’ army The Tanzania People's Defense Forces(TPDF).Uncle Swetu,true family pillar succumbed to serious injuries on the 23rd January 2010 at Muhimbili National Hospital.injuries inflicted in an unprovoked assault on him by soldiers, who took oath to defend and serve the their country and its people. I believe he died a hero in that he was trying to stop an altercation between the soldiers and a friend. It is from this selfless deed that the soldiers found reason and a got chance to ‘‘flex their muscles’’ and attacked him.
When a crowd that had gathered demanded an explanation the soldiers brandished their TPDF identity cards and branded Uncle Swetu a robber who was trying to hijack their car and that they were arresting him and taking him to the police. It allegedly emerged later that they did not take him to the police but instead took him to an isolated field where they continued with their atrocious attack. The police were only informed after a taxi driver made call to report the incident.I praise the better judgment of the police who later arrested the soldiers and took Swetu to hospital were unfortunately he passed away hours later. A question I beg to ask is, to what extent does one have to demean another human for them to feel better about themselves? To what point does one draw the line? Even if it is to prove a point, there is somewhere you have to stop and think about your actions. From these questions arise more questions which I believe will be answered with time.
The above is a classic misuse of power and I think those involved should face up their actions and be made to pay for them. These people have no regard to authority, because the same authority they were given to serve and defend the people is the same that they abuse. I do not mean to belittle TPDF and it soldiers but when it reaches to a certain point some facts need to be addressed do not understand the workings of the TPDF and how they keep our soldiers in check but with an incident like these I think alot more needs to be done.
However Tanzania is a country and a country with laws. Laws that are the very threads of our democratic fabric. For an individual to feel that they are above these laws and go ahead and break them believing they can shelter behind the fact that they are soldiers is wrong. This undermines the structural and moral integrity of our a country as a whole, the people who fought to make it what it is, the current government and each and every single Tanzanian as we are all contributors to this democracy.
People like this should be punished and serve as an example to the rest that no matter your status in society always justice prevails know a lot of people are enraged and saddened by this matter and we should see that our anger and melancholy is translated in the sentencing that these people shall be put through. We should come together as a people to demand tougher persecution of these people and see that it does not happen again. My family has paid the ultimate price in its son, but please stand by us in this fight for the sake of the other families who might suffer the same fate in times to come. We did not see this happening and so won’t anybody else.
Some of you might argue that this is an isolated incident and that happened this time and so it is insignificant. You have to realize that this is the one that you have heard about. You need to ask yourself what about the ones that are unreported, the one that do not have Fundikira for a surname. What about them? The heartbreaking reality is that these incidents happen and maybe a lot more than we are aware of.
So my brothers and sister, we carry a burden as a people to eradicate even so called isolated incidences of bullying by tyrants. If we can put the right amount pressure on the respective institutions, institutions that extend beyond TPDF to make amends in their policies of keeping in check those they empower I believe we can safely say we are exercising our democratic power. This will see the metamorphosis of a country and its people that has little faith in its authority to one that works together for the greater good.
We say everything happens for a reason, now I do not understand the dynamics of death but I believe a death such as the late Swetu’s should not be in vain. One life is enough human sacrifice to evoke change.ofcourse I am angry, enraged,I feel hate and I abhor the actions of those soldiers. If you ask me right now what I think should be done to them, I would say ‘’lex talionis’’,law of retaliation.
Rest in Peace Swetu R. Fundikira
Baguma Ambary.
Dear Brothers and sisters,
Tanzania is still one of the most peaceful countries in Africa if not in the world. We have enjoyed peace and tranquility through the years. We have managed to achieve this feat by simply respecting, loving and valuing our own status and that of others.
But today, we have buried our brother and a dear friend Swetu Fundikira who was murdered in cold blood in the hands bloodthirsty thugs who by their own ignorance perceived to be above the law. In a clear display of contempt of the law these cowards tried to justify their barbaric actions in the name of Tanzania People Defence Forces.
A soldier is a mere employee of the army and at no given time whatsoever are they entitled to take the law into their own hands. This is not the first time soldiers have behaved in this manner and got away with it. This time we have to stand up against this bullish behaviour and say enough is enough!We ain't going to stand aside and watch these cowards take innocent lives of our brothers and sisters for whatever reasons they may have.
There is not one single reason that can justify what they did to our beloved brother Swetu. For that reason it makes us angry. We are angry because they took a life of an innocent man who was a brother, a son, a neighbour and a lovely friend to most of the people who knew him, myself included.
He was a man of peace, intergrity and love. He did not deserve to die this way. Today we have buried him as a hero but we promise those thugs that we will leave no stone unturned as we fight for justice. We will never rest till justice is done. His death will never be in vain but it will be a defining moment for all the victims who have perished in similar circumstances.
It is also a reminder of how dangerous our peaceful world can be when people like those thugs are given the chance to take advantage of their positions. In strongest words possible we condemn this deliberate and unnecessary killing of our brother.
I urge all Tanzanians to stand up and be counted, stand up against injustice, stand up against victimisation of innocent people, because if we don't the next one will be your father, your mother, your son, your daughter, your friend or even your neighbour. This has to stop now.
Our thoughts are now with the Fundikira family especially his father Mzee Ramadhani Fundikira, his brothers and sisters, Ismail, Mgalula, Mtagwa, Chellu, Nzwala, Mshama Mkalla and the rest of the family memebers.
Rest in peace my brother Swetu and God will bless you.
Yours in deep sorrow
Norman Wage
-------------------------------------------
I am Tanzania by birth and through my years I have boasted and been proud of my country because of its peace,humility and hospitality of its people. I wear a bracelet with the colors of the Tanzanian national flag. Quite honestly am not the proudest of Tanzanians at the moment,not the most patriotic either. Please read what I have to say and find it in you to share my story and relate to it at a personal level. Please get as many people as possible to read this. See if we can evoke change.
The essence of our whole existence lies in the modesty, divinity and purity gift of life itself.the sooner we appreciate that life is a gift more than it is a right the better. Then we will learn to respect and value it more. Then we should make it our moral obligation to carry this down to Tanzania’s subsequent generations. Maybe having this insight on an intellectual level will help us gain a more sublime way towards this understanding. With this armor around our conscience the act of one man taking another man’s life should be something we are all ashamed ,raged and devastated by as a collective nation. The fact that these acts occur within our borders should mean that we deal with them with utmost vigilance in an effort to deter if not stop them from happening in the future.
I have lost an uncle in the late Swetu R Fundikira, others have lost a father,a son,brother ,friend in act of stratospheric brutality and insolence. Acts carried out by soldiers from our ‘‘people’s’’ army The Tanzania People's Defense Forces(TPDF).Uncle Swetu,true family pillar succumbed to serious injuries on the 23rd January 2010 at Muhimbili National Hospital.injuries inflicted in an unprovoked assault on him by soldiers, who took oath to defend and serve the their country and its people. I believe he died a hero in that he was trying to stop an altercation between the soldiers and a friend. It is from this selfless deed that the soldiers found reason and a got chance to ‘‘flex their muscles’’ and attacked him.
When a crowd that had gathered demanded an explanation the soldiers brandished their TPDF identity cards and branded Uncle Swetu a robber who was trying to hijack their car and that they were arresting him and taking him to the police. It allegedly emerged later that they did not take him to the police but instead took him to an isolated field where they continued with their atrocious attack. The police were only informed after a taxi driver made call to report the incident.I praise the better judgment of the police who later arrested the soldiers and took Swetu to hospital were unfortunately he passed away hours later. A question I beg to ask is, to what extent does one have to demean another human for them to feel better about themselves? To what point does one draw the line? Even if it is to prove a point, there is somewhere you have to stop and think about your actions. From these questions arise more questions which I believe will be answered with time.
The above is a classic misuse of power and I think those involved should face up their actions and be made to pay for them. These people have no regard to authority, because the same authority they were given to serve and defend the people is the same that they abuse. I do not mean to belittle TPDF and it soldiers but when it reaches to a certain point some facts need to be addressed do not understand the workings of the TPDF and how they keep our soldiers in check but with an incident like these I think alot more needs to be done.
However Tanzania is a country and a country with laws. Laws that are the very threads of our democratic fabric. For an individual to feel that they are above these laws and go ahead and break them believing they can shelter behind the fact that they are soldiers is wrong. This undermines the structural and moral integrity of our a country as a whole, the people who fought to make it what it is, the current government and each and every single Tanzanian as we are all contributors to this democracy.
People like this should be punished and serve as an example to the rest that no matter your status in society always justice prevails know a lot of people are enraged and saddened by this matter and we should see that our anger and melancholy is translated in the sentencing that these people shall be put through. We should come together as a people to demand tougher persecution of these people and see that it does not happen again. My family has paid the ultimate price in its son, but please stand by us in this fight for the sake of the other families who might suffer the same fate in times to come. We did not see this happening and so won’t anybody else.
Some of you might argue that this is an isolated incident and that happened this time and so it is insignificant. You have to realize that this is the one that you have heard about. You need to ask yourself what about the ones that are unreported, the one that do not have Fundikira for a surname. What about them? The heartbreaking reality is that these incidents happen and maybe a lot more than we are aware of.
So my brothers and sister, we carry a burden as a people to eradicate even so called isolated incidences of bullying by tyrants. If we can put the right amount pressure on the respective institutions, institutions that extend beyond TPDF to make amends in their policies of keeping in check those they empower I believe we can safely say we are exercising our democratic power. This will see the metamorphosis of a country and its people that has little faith in its authority to one that works together for the greater good.
We say everything happens for a reason, now I do not understand the dynamics of death but I believe a death such as the late Swetu’s should not be in vain. One life is enough human sacrifice to evoke change.ofcourse I am angry, enraged,I feel hate and I abhor the actions of those soldiers. If you ask me right now what I think should be done to them, I would say ‘’lex talionis’’,law of retaliation.
Rest in Peace Swetu R. Fundikira
Baguma Ambary.
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