via Should he stay or should he go? The Mugabe question | The Zimbabwean by Clayton Masekesa 08.01.14
There has been growing speculation over Robert Mugabe’s capacity to complete his term, given his advanced age and health problems. At 95, he will be the oldest president in Africa, and has been in power since independence in 1980.
The Zimbabwean spoke to people on the streets of Mutare.
Solomon Gwaku from Dangamvura said: “He is too old to rule. Mugabe will do well as an advisor to young leaders. It is no coincidence that in all the richest and most powerful nations in the world today, from China to America, from Germany to Britain, their leaders are less than 55 years of age.
“The role of elderly statesmen and politicians like President Mugabe, Mandela and Kaunda is to retire in peace and advise the young leaders of their time,” he added.
Charity Takawira from Greenside believes it is impossible for Mugabe to continue ruling.
“Is it possible at 90 years, at 91, 92, 93, 94 and 95 — to rebuild this country? It’s surprising there are people who are still saying forward with Mugabe,” she said.
Also doubtful was Isaiah Shirichena, who said Mugabe had now become too old to rule the country in an effective manner.
“We are saying Zimbabwe now urgently needs younger politicians to effectively tackle the many problems facing the country,” he said, adding that it was disappointing when leaders hung on to power despite their advanced age.
He said: “If civil servants are forced to retire when they reach 65 years of age, it is imperative for political leaders to do the same.”
But Brian Hamadziripi from Sakubva said Zimbabwe was the best example in Southern Africa in terms of peace and stability because of Mugabe.
“It should not be forgotten that if the most powerful nations on Earth can cook up blatant lies against one man, President Mugabe, in order to remove him from power, it shows he is better than they and their evil political machinations, because he has his people at heart,” he said.
Hamadziripi added: “I am happy that President Mugabe has refused to be among some African leaders’ recruits who are agents of the globalisation of Western capital and massive exploitation of African resources.”
Shalom Musabayana from Palmerstone said Zimbabweans should draw lessons from the fact that Mugabe gave land to the people.
“Whites used to have larger portions of land and now we are happy that we are allocated land to do our farming. I am now a proud farmer and would like to thank President Mugabe for that,” she said.
COMMENTS
It is not weather he should go or stay. The right thing for him to do would be to say, SADEC I need to prove that I was right. I would like you to hold a new election. You organise it. Invite the United nations to observe.Get groups with little interest to count the votes. Get the world to monitor the counting of the ballots. I agree to live with the result. THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN AND WE ALL KNOW WHY.
Smith went . Mugabe must exit stage left now.
EMPOWERING THE OLDIES! WHO CARES!
My assessment: Someone wins an election convincingly, leaving his competitors in a heap, gasping for their political breath. Then surprise surprise!- 6 months later, some ‘commentators’ and ‘observers’ want the winner to retire because he is ‘too old’; or has been in power for ‘too long’ or many other similar reasons. My Question: Why allow those who are too old or who have overstayed in power to contest in the first place!! I see this and similar articles for what they are: hired writers who are paid to campaign for the losers under the cover of unbiased commentators; the public mourning and tears for the death of the losing poltical entities. I believe that the country has put in place adequate measures for any eventuality in leadership positions. After all ‘hapana vacancy’ and at the end of the day- in Africa as in many other cultures the king dies in office. Let RGM run his term as per the electoral contract that was signed in July 2013.
Ndebvu Mukomichi, what has Mugabe achieved? Please do not talk about giving land to indigenous people because owning land should not be an end in itself. Working the land to end hunger and create employment should be the end result and none of that is yet to happen 14 years later.
It is obvious that did not win an election fairly. If he had he would have allowed the opening of ballot boxes because he would have nothing to hide. He would actually serve Zimbabweans instead of stealing from us for the benefit of his Chinese friends. He doesn’t care because we did not vote for him.
The 95 year old fool ‘won’ the last election – and in many cases by more than the registered number of voters. Who else could ever ‘win’ that convincingly? Problem is the economy is reacting very badly to the electoral ‘victory’ of zanu. Tongai tione!!!!
@Ndebvu.Your comments are a fresh breeze on a hot day.Thank u.
Let Bob finish his mandate if he wants to.Is he violating the constitution by being 90 and in power?Should we respect him less when he gets to 93years?Is that what you do in your clans?Grow up people!
He will decide when its time to go.
Murimi you are amazing. What can be better for Mugabe to do than allow the Chinese to continue plundering our national resources in order for them to create employment in China while 80% of Zimbabweans languish in unemployment and poverty.
Africa’s oldest president has done well. What can be better than being in the top 20 most corrupt countries in the world? What can be better than buying maize from the very white farmers we drove of the land?
What can be better than being in charge of a country for 3 and a half decades but failing to produce a university good enough for your own children and a single doctor capable of treating the honourable president. He deserves a place in the Guinness book of records.
Face the facts. He is too old to see what is happening around him and depends on those he thinks are watching his back. The corrupt thieves who are enriching themselves at the expense of the public need him to stay.
U stupid ,mugabe is an illegitimate president,he did not win the election,the people of zimbabwe didn’t choose him,even mugabe himself knows that
The man is a national disaster.
@Ndebvu , i agree with you , the calls for him to retire doesn’t take us forward , people voted for Mugabe knowing very well that he is already advanced in age and even no longer creative enough to take us forward , their point of regretting within a short space of time after the elections doesn’t help the nation , us as Zimbabweans , such an educated nation must start scrutinizing facts and make some differences ,the reality is that presisent Mugabe is no longer fit to be on such a hot seat , but if it is a way of scrucifing him because of his past mistakes then its fine but God doesn’t allow that , ZANU PF senior members must look at this seriously , if their intention is to continue dragging the country into a mud , then let them keep our oldest president on the seat .
@Murimi , go to your fields and do the job , we are the one as a nation to decide whether he must continue on the seat or not , Zimbabwe is country it is not an individual farm or a boxing ring to step in and win your own belt , it is not the president’s decision to stay or not ,but we the people of our beloved Zimbabwe must come out with that decision , correct that mistake my brother , where is our respect for Mugabe as Zimbabweans , if we really respct Mugabe , then we should have realised that he is our oldest man and we should have awarded him with a retirement package , he should be enjoying his retirement out there as our advisor . People like you Murimi ( my best farmer )in ZANU PF , agree today that you are almost devils scrucifing our beloved president Robert Gabriel Mugabe by forcing and manipulating him to be on the hot seat at his more than advanced age and God will sort you out for your evil actions .
WE have seen the power squabbles within ZANUPF and the
dictatorial thumb print of settling differances.
Who really knows where loyalties lie.
Retire the problem and let ZANUPF come clean.
NO QUESTION, he must move on !!!!!
Shall we ask God who voted for who? Are these guys for real. Mugabe should have gone a long time ago. The nation did not vote for him. You know that, I know that, ZPF knows that and most important of all God knows it. No wonder such a strong delusion covers this nation. We have been lied to so often we believe the lie. Mugabe should have stepped down a long time ago and retired with some vestige of legacy. It is not too late. He is presiding over a failed state. I am glad some farmers are happy but we can’t even feed ourselves and are scrounging for food from neighbouring countries and ex commercial farmers from Zimbabwe. Does that make us proud. ZPF’s policies have been ruinous to say the least. A few of those who have replied here must be bling as they cannot see the imploding infrastructure. Look at the headlines of the gazette today. “Tsunami his industry: Many firms fail to re-open.” Are we supposed to say woopee!!! ZPF have done a good job and RGM must stay. We can’t even see God’s judgment when it hits us in the face. This is not about hating anyone. It is about the truth! Zimbabweans did not vote to suffer like this.
Mugabe’s job is to right the wrongs of the past.His hands where tied up to 1990.But later it became clear that the Labour party would not come to the party.Hence the land seizures of 2000.
U cannot cry and say u have been suffering for 34 years,when the ist 20 where good.
Only in 2000,when he stepped on the whites toes(im not being racist here),did he become a world villian.
But this process of emancipation is not over.So let him lead as far as he can go.
It is u the people who decided to put him back in office for 5 years,why didnt u seek an ammendment that if Tsvangison wins ,he can rule for 5yrs,but Bob is old,so lets make it 2?
@ Khaya.We are not forcing him.He is still intellectually sharp upstairs.Ask those foreign journalists who have interviewed him recently,not those who take fotos of him and his delegation tired after a long journey.
I have been busy in the fields,supervising weeding operations.I prefer to do it manually because the locals get piece jobs to supplement their incomes.
I put a small patch under maize,so when they are ready,I will send some to u and yo urban dwellers
Unfortunately you are being racist and as is your previous posts have shown what a racist you are. Which 20 years were so good? Obviously they were not so good for you that you needed to reap what you did not sow!
Mugabe should rule till the Messiah comes.
you mean messiah mugabe?
Land belongs to us the rightful owners which in this case are the Zimbabwean people that can never change.Mugabe was right though it was a little to late.
@Jr56 how old where u in 2000?
You do not right wrongs with Murambatsvinas, Gukuruhundis, bitterness hatred, unforgiveness, racialism, revenge, greed, selfish ambitions, bloodshed, murder, rape, plunder, corruption, destruction of an entire nation and its economy: should I go on? Someone from the East once said, “If you want revenge dig two graves!” ZPF is busy digging theirs. I wish it were not so. This so called righting the wrongs of the past has become a cliché with no meaning except to destroy. The guys have had 34 years and look where Zimbabwe is. Bottom of the pile in Africa. read your papers.
Stupid question. Put the donkey down in any abbatoir.
People like Jrr56 like donkish lifestyle jusy to be slaves of other people. They can’t even see that Mugabe has fought and is still fighting for them not to be slaves but leaders of their own. They deny that empowerement exist hence are always against anybody who empowers them. They need help maybe supernatural help.
Dictators dont retire they have no plan for the masses, all they know is keeping power ,by paying soldiers, and the secret police, his friends, and his immedeate family and ralitives why should we debate about his going or not ? he brought misery to the country all round MUGABE MUJURU MUNANGAGWA whats the diffrence nothing they speak the same language of rigging all to keep power.
lets just go into the streets the egypt way or else he will continue ruling.The other alternative is just to stay at home even those in the rural areas just for a week.The will resign start another election.
RA the wise speaks again. A whole lot of verbal diarrhea he speaks. Avenger’s snake pitts await.
There are some truly whacko people in Zim. I will try to keep this simple because I believe, from reading the above, some will have difficulty understanding words of more than one syllable. This comment is about the poor levels of education of people in Zim who cling to superstitious beliefs.
A modern democratic state has certain characteristics namely, a free and independent media, free and transparent elections, ministerial accountability; separation of church and state, an independent judiciary and an executive answerable to duly elected representatives of the people in assembly.
So, how does Zim stack up?
Baba Jukwa is Mugabe himself. Clever way for h to figure out his opposition for the elections had just stole. Do you really think the he plus nog have found out by now.
Don’t worry he collapsed , he can’t rule anymore , soon he is coming back from Asia bed riden to hand over power , then we will be a step ahead , but should you see him coming out of the plane waving and fist up then he will be really as fit as a fidle . Then people like Murimi will be over the moon .
I think the majority of Zimbabweans are very dump to an extent that they feel that there is no one in their lives who can perform better than this moron. Please there many be better people in ZANU PF than this old skunk. It is only that you have been divided to an extent you have been blindfolded. There has never been anyone who has been groomed to succeed him when he leaves office, considering his age, and you think he is a good leader. He is very SELFISH to say the least. Even the so called advisors, they do not have plans for the future generations.
let him rule.what makes you happy kana akafa.
Zimbabwe is ours and Mugabe is our President. Those in the diaspora can stay, rot and die there. Its your choice to make whether you want to stay in an old people’s home in a foreign land!
Ngaaende kunozorora kwakaenda shamwari yake Gaddafi.
Gudo do you think its only overseas people on this forum? We nearer to you than you think.
We don’t mind having sanctions banning us from Europe. We are not Europeans.
Robert Mugabe
Hw many presedents on this wld having such urguments frm citizens if he is still frsh on dat braai chair u nailed him especialy u murimi uridoto romunhu
Listen here you fools Godfrey Gudo (Baboon), Ndebvu Mukomichi, Murimi Wanasi. There is an old adage that “A Bird should never defecate in the same nest that it sleeps!” Are you morons, retards and fools too stupid to see that Mugabe and Zanu PF have defecated there faeces in the same nests that you sleep in???
Argue all we want, our current situation is worse off than pre & post “independence”. This is the damning measure of the contribution by the incumbent president.He is a “radical” revolutionary who has failed to trasform into a statesman and is fatally trapping the entire country in the past.He is a great revolutionary who has irretrievably soiled his legacy.
Editor- how is it possible for comments of such vulgarity as those by the person who used capital letters, to slip through your system of moderation and enter the public domain? The particular comment insults family members who have nothing to do with the discussion or topic at hand. Are you able to something about this?
no wonder africa is a messy,people always sweep the dust under the carpet,and hope tomorrow will be better.its an emotional statement to say he should stay forever,bcz he had done,this and that.nobody contest that,the million dollar qn is,is watever pple claim he had achvd stl standing?.sanctions or no sanctions?.look at hospitals,xools,roads,to name a few.they are all a testimony of failure,and we still have idiots among us,who still want to hedge that reality for their convenience.where is your moral conscience?.if there is any one better in zanupf,shld carry the flame,bt can a leopard change its sport?.its a common fact that,those around him are worse than him,nowonder they blindly hero worship him.pharaoh’s days we be over,and the nation eagerly awaits for that day.would it ever come?time will tell
There is only one answer. He must go! Look at the fruit. What has Zimbabwe become. And age 90?????