Ali boasted and delivered; some people boast but never
deliver!
“I shook up the world! I shook up the world!”
screamed Muhammad Ali after beating Sonny Liston in 1964. His critics were
quick to call him “big mouth” and no matter how much many of them wished
someone would shut him up, throughout his illustrious boxing career few ever
did shut him.
Ali boasted of “whipping good” his opponents off
the ring and did just that in the squared circle!
“I shook up the world! I shook up the world!”
screamed Ali, it he was not boasting but stating a fact!
In Zimbabwe we have our own home grown “big
mouth” one Robert Gabriel Mugabe; sadly unlike Muhammad Ali, Mugabe is all
talk. Boy oh boy the man can talk; denouncing the West is by far his favourite
subject.
He has denounced the “British imperialists and
their allies for imposing illegal sanctions” against Zimbabwe. He pronounced
his “look East” as a defiant counter measure although the country’s economy has
got progressive worse and not better.
Before the 2013 national elections he promised
the nation 2.2 million new jobs by 2018. We are now three years down the line
and he has yet to create even one new job. He has reverted to blaming the
“illegal sanctions” for his government’s failure to revive the economy and
create the desperately needed employment opportunities.
If he had been in the boxing ring then a left
hook reminding him he promised the jobs knowing fully well there were sanctions
would has caught him on jaw. Followed this up with a hammer-blow right in the
breadbasket; reminding him of his own admission that the country lost $15
billion worth of diamond revenue, how can any nation prosper given such serious
economic haemorrhaging. Technical Knock Out (TKO)!
But by far the greatest lie to come out of
Mugabe is that he has the popular political support of the people of Zimbabwe
when he has systematically denied them the basic right to free, fair and
credible elections.
In 2008 elections, by far the worst case, Mugabe
lost the March vote and withheld the results for five weeks whilst he “cooked”
them to force a presidential run-off. He then deployed rogue war veterans and
selected members the Police, CIO and Army to harass, beat, rape and even to
kill innocent Zimbabweans to force them to vote for him in the run-off.
The blatant and wanton violence was so
widespread and brutal Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of “declaring war on the
people” he withdrew from the race. None of the election observers; not even
SADC and the AU known for turning a blind eye to vote rigging; would endorse
the elections having been free and fair.
SADC and the AU told Mugabe they would not
recognize his government as legal and forced him to form GNU with his rivalry,
Tsvangirai. The GNU was tasked to implement democratic reforms designed to
ensure the next elections would be free, fair and credible. The task to
implement the reforms fell on Tsvangirai and his MDC friends and they had five
years to implement the reforms.
SADC Heads of State did their best to remind MDC
to implement the reforms throughout the GNU but were ignored. Mugabe was able
to blatantly rig the July 2013 elections. He used the billions of dollars
looted from Marange and Chiadzwa diamond mining to bankroll elaborate but very
expensive vote rigging schemes. He used violence but not as extensively as in
2008 and so did not need the war veterans as much.
Mugabe has his fallen out with war veterans and
they have since confronted the tyrant demanding that he must step down.
“I am created, as president, by the people; the
people of Zimbabwe,” he answered back.
“Once the party says you rest, fine, or if I ask
the party that, no, I think the time has come for me to rest, I will tell the
party that.
“But for as long as the party still wants me to
serve, if I still have the energy, and still have the life and the blessings of
God, I will continue,” he said.
In other words the people cannot deliver the TKO
because he has a well-established and funded vote rigging system.
The war veterans have helped Mugabe rig
elections in the past but they cannot now stand-up and declare the people did
not elect him and spill all the vote rigging secrets to prove it; not without
incriminating themselves. They would risk a double KO only if Mugabe should
seek to knock them out. They have warned Mugabe that they will not back him in
the next elections. He can live with that since he is now relying on spending
billions to bankroll his vote rigging schemes; he still has billions rolling in
from the looting in Marange that has continued even after his March 2016
admission of looting.
The only way to peaceful shut Mugabe up is for the
people to demand the full implementation of the democratic reforms to ensure
free, fair and credible elections. We, the people, must demand the reforms and
see to it that they are implemented and not leave this to the opposition
parties, especially MDC leaders who have already show that they have no clue
what the reforms are about.
Implement the reforms so there are free and fair
elections and Mugabe’s boastful lie “I am created, as president, by the people!”
will finally be exposed and force him to shut up! Once there is regime change a
thorough investigation must be carried out and put the record right that he had
indeed rigged past elections!
