Zimbabwe: Mugabe Expanding Graveyard
Five more years for Mugabe to lead Zimbabwe into the cemetery
Perhaps, the single most regrettable mistake ever made by Zimbabweans thirty-three years ago was entrusting high office with a charlatan figurehead who cares for nobody but his Chinese friends and himself. Mugabe’s then eloquence in fluent English ahead of his peers coupled with prison qualifications, most of which were obtained outside normal classroom environment, did a great deal of damage to a nation that had an impressive curriculum to lead the entire SADC region. The damage permanently caused Zimbabweans to arrive at the unfair conclusion that a teacher can never become a good president. With that same mistake having recently been made to appear as if it has repeated itself, ALL Zimbabweans need to start adjusting mindsets and begin to think and act like capable citizens with exceptional ability to maneuver without Mugabe. Craving to be led by a person carrying a sleeping recliner everywhere he goes while the nation has more energetic figures is unacceptable.
From a sociological perspective, Robert Mugabe’s line of thinking can be traced back to his weird background history of having been friendly to nobody except mere objects like books. His upbringing in the hands of Jesuit missionaries owing to the absence of fatherly love, as documented, is one that must have had a lot of secrets perhaps never revealed up to this day. The bitterness of having been deserted by a father who left for South Africa to work in the mines and never returned has caused the nation to pay dearly for thirty three years. Had such an observation been made back in the day, psychological therapy in form of relational counseling could have helped restore normal feelings in the now old man who is evidently possessed with the notion that Zimbabwe is his personal project.
In a bid to consolidate power and authenticate his hypnosis, starting in the 90s, Mugabe cultivated a niche in the army generals who now abuse privileges by continuously lying to him that he will live forever. Because of age, the dictator thinks the possibility of living forever can indeed be a reality. Autocratic rule has transformed Mugabe into somebody who believes the chemistry of a human being’s lifespan could most likely be a cheap theory concocted by scientists for the sake of advancing debate on the subject. He does not realize that the inevitable will still happen no matter his solid selfishness which can be equated to total confusion.
Sadly, the charlatan’s belief has over the decades found backers in the rank and file of Zanu PF. Unlike Swapo in Namibia, ANC in South Africa, Frelimo in Mozambique and Chama Chamapinduzi in Tanzania, Zanu PF has failed to transform itself into an enviable political organization. Along with the NPLA of Angola, Zanu PF has failed to put in place a decisive succession policy that guarantees the elevation of deputies to presidency. In other African countries it is a well-known historical fact that leading politicians had to hide in coffin and be presumed dead at the height of their countries’ liberation struggles. Yet still they managed to pass the button some years after independence. What is it that Mugabe single-handedly did for Zimbabwe that he has become so indispensible?
Since assuming office in 1980, the dictator’s love for power has defied all logic of political sense and redefined dictatorship to include relational immorality. Unmoved by cultural norms, the dictator went on to start an intimate relationship and bore children with someone’s wife in the 90s when his wife was battling with a kidney ailment that later claimed her life. The uncontestable power Mugabe enjoyed also resulted in the octogenarian’s ruthless 1987 Gukurahundi aimed at silencing Matebeleland voices that were considered tantamount to secession. In 2004 he sanctioned a politically motivated clean-up operation that saw people become homeless in urban areas. Such is a sordid history which under democratic conditions would have seen Robert Mugabe long been ousted by now.
However, now that his gaffers have once again imposed him onto the fearful and defenseless Zimbabwean people, the nation can expect nothing except toil and turmoil in the next five years. The nation can expect nothing short of fiscal mismanagement, increased corruption, increased suffering of the majority, return of the Zimbabwean dollar, failed agriculture, diamond plunders, personal wealth creation by the elite, health catastrophe, further deterioration in infrastructure, increased electricity deficits, increased international debts, failed industry and poor but expensive education and no development. With South Africa having reacted to a Mugabe win by introducing a US$500 visa for any Zimbabwean wishing to cross the border into that country, less privileged Zimbabweans can only expect a much tougher life ahead.
After all is said and done, history has it many dictators have fallen at the hands of internal revolt. In Zimbabwe, in spite of many having been eliminated for daring to try, what are the chances of a more clinical inside job? Is Zimbabwe too unique a case? Is everybody in the finished party indeed of the same mind with the old man’s authoritarianism? If not, perhaps Zanu PF’s known power hungry ‘crocodiles’ could take advantage and pay retribution for their reckless 1987 massacres by helping Zimbabweans on this one. Should they be able to do it, chances are that the nation could find consolation in their efforts and pardon them.
Given the extent to which the economy had been run down by 2008, no Zimbabwean in their right mind could have voted for an eighty-nine year old. With that said, it is reasonable and politically correct to deduce that results of this past ‘election’ were severely manipulated to once again elevate Mugabe to the helm. The nation is being led into the cemetery of total failure and SADC must think long and wide.
Farai Mamina is an independent political analyst currently in Muzarabani. Follow him on Facebook.