PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was due to address the nation yesterday, but he instead chose to fly halfway around the world for the funeral of the late former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Source: Has Zim become an afterthought to Mugabe? – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 2, 2016
No doubt, Castro was a colossus and African leaders, who benefited from the Cold War divide, are likely to stampede to that country to honour him, and Mugabe, being the fond traveller that he is, was surely not going to miss out.
But this reveals Mugabe’s priorities and running Zimbabwe and turning its fortunes around does not seem to top his list of priorities.
While there have been many events to honour the late Castro, the funeral is only on Sunday and there would have been no harm had Mugabe waited until after his State of the Nation Address to leave for Cuba and he would have made it in good time too.
Maybe Mugabe does not realise it, but Zimbabwe is broken and needs fixing.
As the captain of the ship, his speech is important as it would have helped galvanise some of his crew members who are now dithering as the vessel continues to sink.
Zimbabwe needs all hands on deck now and this is not helped by Mugabe’s approach, as he seems to be looking for any excuse to travel.
Others will point out that other African leaders, like South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, left for the burial as early as Mugabe did, but the truth is that those countries’ economies are not as bad as Zimbabwe’s and such trips can easily be sustained.
Zimbabwe’s economy simply cannot afford numerous trips and long stays abroad and the cost of these foreign sojourns is well-documented.
What Zimbabweans yearn for is a leader who is blind to everything else and has his mind fixed on fixing the sorry situation that Zimbabwe is in, but Mugabe does not seem willing to be that leader.
Mugabe’s aides have maintained that there is foreign policy value in his many trips. Without being dragged into that self-serving argument, all what Zimbabweans want is that he prioritises the country and if everything is working fine, then he can travel as much as he wants.
As the English adage says, charity begins at home, Mugabe must work on placing all his energies on fixing the country before he goes on a spree to conquer the world.
Zimbabwe desperately yearns for a captain who can steer the ship through troubled waters, but Mugabe only seems to think of the country as an afterthought, after he is done with his travels.
While he can postpone addressing the nation, Zimbabwe’s problems need an urgent solution, which can only be addressed by a person who puts the country first.
COMMENTS
Saying that Mugabe’s speech is ‘important’ is less than honest. It will be entirely irrelevant.
And these continual appeals by the media to his good senses assume that such a thing still exists.
Mugabe “spending his energies” on fixing Zimbabwe. Mugabe and energy, oxymoron if you ask me.
He must go. That’s all we want . Nothing more nothing less. He must hamba.
There is some common grounds why Mugabe admired Castro so much. Both were/are dictators favouring a one-party state. Castro went further – his first act after seizing power was to re-introduce the death penalty for opponents and potential threats to his regime after it was abashed years before.
Thousands were killed and millions of people fled from Cuba – just like the case is in Zimbabwe.
Like in Zimbabwe the Government concentrated on free education provided no child of a potential opponent had a chance to get into higher education – only members of the Communist Party had access to Universities.
The average income for workers in Cuba is $30 per month. Whenever there is any opposing demonstration – the participants are jailed.
Millions of Cubans celebrated it when Castro died and one even said – “The devil must beware, Castro is arriving and will take over hell”.
Will there be celebrations when Mugabe bite the dust – I doubt not there will be.
Mugabe has NEVER been interested in the welfare of the citizens (electorate) of this country from day one of Independence. He has NEVER EVER walked amongst his people, either in the townships or in the rural areas. He hasn’t a clue what state this nation is in at the moment, because he is fed lies by his thieving minions. That’s why he is unable to ‘fix’ any problem. He is encircled by a thieving, corrupt selfish cabal of people who dearly want Mugabe to live for another 20 years so that they can keep stealing, mainly the $100 notes and the $50 notes. Once Mugabe dies (can’t happen soon enough, can it?) these thieving leeches will disappear and give us a chance to get this place on the right track.
“Captain of the ship” – my foot. Being in the cockpit does not make one a captain! Our ship has had no captain for a while now, pirates are in control. Waiting for any announcement from the cockpit is foolish to say the least. Whatever comes from there can only result in more looting.