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MY CRIME WAS TO READ!

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Sir,

I was facing down reading a pamphlet given to me by two strangers at Manzini Jubilee Park, when a police officer came and shouted at me; “What is this my boy? What are you doing with this?” I was frightened by his voice, hands and face.


At first I thought maybe the pamphlet was stolen from him but only to discover that they had nothing to do with him.
He told me that if I kept on reading them I would die for nothing because the pamphlet belonged to a terrorist group in the country. I kept on reading the pamphlet, and then he came closer to me and shouted; “If you don’t take this rubbish to the toilet and flash it, I will take you to the police station, where I will torture you and then put a bullet in your head.” I stood up and told him that I was going to do as he said, because I was scared.


The only crime I did was to read. I was promised a bullet in my head just for reading a pamphlet of a banned organisation.


Recognise


But my question is how does one recognise that something belongs to a ‘terrorist group’ without reading it? How many innocent people have been tortured for reading?  How many have been killed just for reading? Or was I going to be the first one to die for reading?


Is there any part of the Constitution which prohibits individuals from reading material that belongs to terrorists? If so, how does one see that something belongs to a terrorist group without reading it?


Nelson Mandela once said; “A reader today a leader tomorrow.” Maybe they are stopping us from reading because they don’t want us to be leaders tomorrow.


Reading


If reading is a crime, then I must confess that I have done more crime than anyone in the world; may your lordship have mercy on me.
In everything Martin Luther King Jr has been my role model. I love his work, especially his ‘I have a dream’ speech.

I too, have a dream that one day I may be able to read every material that I want to read, without being promised a bullet in my head. So I will never stop reading because I have learnt from Martin Luther King Jr, that it is better to die for an idea which will live, than to live for an idea that will die. Reading is power.

Mtomba

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