You want #mugabe? You can have him

via You want Mugabe? You can have him | The Zimbabwean 28.05.14 by Jera

‘To err is human.’ To that world famous truism one can add, ‘to fall ill is human.’ President Robert Mugabe has for a long time attempted to keep secret his health problems. The state media has played its part in preserving the secrecy – to them discussions of the president’s health are taboo.

But a taboo always caries an allure. The louder Mugabe shouts ‘fit as a fiddle,’ the more the more curious the citizenry becomes. Recently, Mugabe travelled to the Far East for what was announced by the information secretary as ‘a routine check.’

At a Singaporean hospital, reputed for its oncology unit, his bodyguard and his wife fought off journalists who attempted to film him.

Lately these Far Eastern visits have coincided with major public events, at which his features appear unusually filled out. Photographs from the early 80s show grey on his hairline which nowadays is always jet-black. The president’s attempts to portray an image of virility is ridiculous because everybody knows 90 is not exactly 19.

In contrast to Mugabe’s attempt at concealing his health issues – ‘No! No! No! You should not take photos!’ – when Morgan Tsvangirai was taken ill on the morning of his Africa Day rally, the announcement came immediately.

On his return, Mugabe immediately left for South Africa for the inauguration of a man who somehow triumphed over allegations of abuse of public funds to win a second presidential term. At Jacob Zuma’s inauguration, Mugabe was welcomed by loud cheers from the locals. Black South Africans are frustrated by the ever widening gap between rich and poor, 20 years post independence.

The full story

To the commoner, a man who ‘took from the coloniser and empowered his people’ is worthy of veneration – even though the millions of SA-based Zimbabwean refugee tell a sad story. A quote appearing on a yellowed scroll reads, ‘it is the fault of quill wielders when ignorance abounds.’ Put simply, when the world does not know the full story, the writers – journalists, historians, authors – are to blame. Perhaps we who hold the pens should educate our South African brothers and sisters about the kind of man Mugabe really is.

Many senior Zanu (PF) officials have died in car accidents, mostly collisions with army trucks.

Between 1981 and 1990, more than 20,000 Zimbabwean civilians were killed – most of them Ndebele – during the Gukurahundi.

Never the land

During the violent land seizures of 2000-2002, an unspecified number of farmers and their employees were killed. The land was never really about the land. It was about Mugabe’s fear of a new political force – the Movement for Democratic Change – formed just a year before the farm invasions began. When the white farmers backed the MDC, he suddenly decided to ‘correct land imbalances.’

There were already several vacant farms in Zimbabwe, on which government had not bothered to resettle blacks. Cunningly, Mugabe has made his vendetta with the West a racial issue, hoping to appeal to the emotions of blacks. But the reality is that Zimbabweans – both black and white – are united in their wish for change.

In 2005 Robert Mugabe faked a clean-up operation and demolished the homes of city dwellers believed to be pro-MDC. When the bulldozers finally drove away, approximately 700,000 Zimbabweans were left standing among rubble where their homes had been.

First world healthcare

Approximately 6,000 Zimbabweans died in the 2008 cholera epidemic, caused by poor sanitation and a dilapidated health system. Mugabe himself obtains first world healthcare in Asia, while thousands of Zimbabweans die from lack of medication.

Zanu (PF) thugs killed over 200 MDC supporters during the 2008 polls – elections he lost to Morgan Tsvangirai. In the run-off election, his militia unleashed a wave of violence and torture across the country, leading to Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from the election. Mugabe, without compunction, ran uncontested.

South Africans, reading only a headline – Mugabe gives land to blacks – believe him to be a man who has empowered his people when the truth is that he has brought hunger and suffering to millions and enriched only his close allies.

To these people, Mugabe has given land, mines and top positions in government-owned organisations where they earn wages that eclipse the salaries of American bank executives, despite these entities continually making losses.

Worthless currency

Between 2000 and 2009, Zimbabwe’s inflation reached levels previously seen only in the hypothetical world of economics textbooks. As a result, the country no longer has its own currency. A group of foreign currencies are in use. During the period of runaway inflation, fuel was in short supply. Family members took turns to sleep in petrol queues. By day, others waited for hours, hoping to get their hands on a 5kg packet of maize, a commodity once exported by Zimbabwe to the rest of the Sadc region. Those who did not stand in food queues lined up at the banks, where even the worthless local currency was hard to come by.

Zimbabwe’s roads resemble a war zone, with potholes and craters that should only be seen after prolonged aerial bombing. In the towns, where water and electricity are scare, it is a normal to see people carrying firewood and large containers of water. Repeatedly Mugabe has blame Britain for Zimbabwe’s damaged economy but he has not arrested even one senior government official, despite many documented cases of corruption. Britain and the EU have continued to provide humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe.

If the South Africa masses want Robert Mugabe, they are welcome to take him. But they would soon want to be rid of him, once he does to their beautiful country what he did to ours.

Mere propaganda

Government has announced that the 2008 Indigenisation Act will be revised, along with other laws that will be aligned to the new constitution. This is a massive shift from Zanu (PF)’s populist ideals that have scared off investors for more than a decade. It is expected that, once the law is revised, the 51% indigenous ownership rule will only apply to resource-based sectors such as mining.

But foreign investors are most likely adopt a wait-and-see stance, which is advisable given Zanu (PF)’s inconsistency.

The more sceptical analysts have written off the announcement as mere propaganda, constructed by Zanu (PF) to trick investors. While this announcement may have come as a surprise, there have been signs from Zanu (PF) of willingness to comprise, chief of which is the change of leadership in the indigenisation ministry from the aggressive Saviour Kasukuwere to the moderate Francis Nhema.

Mugabe has known for a long time that his policies have ruined the economy. But pride and fear stood in the way of doing the right thing. Now that he is certain this is his final term it is no longer necessary to appease his grassroots supporters. As well as a revision of the Indigenisation Act, his government will no longer supply free farming inputs.

It will be interesting to see how he explains this change of position to supporters who were promised indigenisation of all industries.

Senility

Tobaiwa Mudede – chief election rigger – has called for Zimbabwean women to shun contraceptives. Rather than explain to us why, 10 months later, he has still not produced the voters roll, Mudede rambled on about population control as Western ideology and that Zimbabwe will soon run out of soldiers and police officers. If Western countries were breeding madly while telling developing nations to lower their populations then his conspiracy theory would make sense.

Even China – the supposed ‘all weather friend’ – has a one child per family restriction. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country – over 160 million – cannot locate 200 girls and despite having oil reserves has fuel and power shortages. Mudede’s department struggles to supply basic documentation for a small population. One wonders how the RG would cope with double the number of birth certificate and passport applications. – My pen is capped. Jera. Twitter handle: @JeraAfrica