The late Robert Gabriel Mugabe
was a corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictator whose love of power and
wealth was insatiable. Zimbabwe, the country and nation have paid dearly for
his greed. Anyone saying Mugabe is a hero, a liar with no sense of shame,
humanity or justice.
Mugabe was responsible for the
death of over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans in his fight to establish and retain
his de facto one party, Zanu PF, dictatorship. His 37 years of corrupt and
tyrannical rule has result in the total collapse of the country's economy, a
country that before independence was the breadbasket of the region is now
dependent on food aid. Unemployment has soared to nauseating heights of 90% and
been 80% plus for the last 20 years. The country's basic services including
health services have all but collapsed.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF
cronies betrayed the nation because Mugabe's Zimbabwe is not what Zimbabweans,
from the days of Mbuya Nehanda to the millions who have died since indirectly
or otherwise, wanted.
Most of those singing Mugabe's
praise today are doing so because they benefited from the dictatorship or have
been brainwashed into believing Mugabe can do no wrong!
Mugabe played a part in the
liberation of Zimbabwe but only as mercenary, he had his eyes fixed on the price
of being the country’s new lord and master after the white colonialists he was
fighting. He did not care about freedom, human rights and not even the right to
life. Only a first-class village idiot would call Mugabe a hero much less mourn
the death of the corrupt and murderous dictator.
"Pidigori waenda, wanga
achinyanya kuvhaira!" (Pidigori (nickname
for the bad one) has gone, he had become too boastful!) said Thomas Mapfumo in
one of his songs, sung with Mugabe in mind!
Mugabe wanted to stay in power
for live and hand over power to his wife Grace. Power was wrestled from him by
his fellow Zanu PF cronies led by none other his henchman in chief, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, in the military coup in November 2017.
It is said Mugabe died a bitter
man and his dying wish was that he did not want to be buried at the National
Heroes Acre and have Mnangagwa and other November coup gangsters pontificating
over his died body. Most Zimbabweans could not care less, they have the
economic mess and political paralysis he has left behind to worry about.
The greatest regret for the
nation is that they had failed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship during
Mugabe’s life-time – if that would have accelerated the dictator and many of
those around him deaths that would have been a bonus.
Dismantling the Zanu PF
dictatorship still remains the greatest challenge to Zimbabwe’s very survival.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote
rigging and murderous thugs; there will be no meaningful economic recovery.
Being sentimental over the
death of a murderous dictator is simply a luxury that Zimbabweans can ill
afford particularly when the dictatorship itself is alive and thriving! It will
only encourage the sitting dictators and those to follow to believe the nation
will worship them regardless their reign of terror!
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
had a servant follow him around and every time Aurelius received a compliment
the servant had to whisper in his ear, "You’re just a man… just a man,” "Memento
Mori" ("remember you are mortal") to keep him humble.
Mugabe did not want to hear the
song “Pidigori waenda!” He did not want to be reminded that he was a bad person
and worse still that he was mortal! His legacy of 30 000 deaths and the
economic meltdown and his death confirms he was dictator and a mortal!
"I was tortured by Robert Mugabe in 2008. Many Zimbabweans were killed during Gukurahundi. But I don't feel bitterness, I feel indebtedness, I feel gratitude to the work he did in liberating our country," said Tendai Biti.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Biti is talking nonsense. Mugabe is a corrupt and murderous dictator who has left the country in economic ruins and murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans for selfish political gain.
"Robert Mugabe was a product of a certain era, an era that confronted the colonial regime powder for powder, blow for blow, so violence came naturally to him. His legacy shouldn't be detracted by the fact that there were atrocities, commissions and omissions committed," said Biti.
This is just a feeble excuse, Mugabe is not the only to fight the liberation war. He fought the war not to be liberate the people but to to secure absolute power for himself and his cronies and was prepare to intimidate, beat, rape and even murder innocent Zimbabweans to secure it. And that is exactly he did.
What Tendai Biti is saying here that Mugabe was a corrupt and murderous dictator and would have said so without a moment's hesitation but from the day he was appointed Minister of Finance and joined the gravy train, he saw everything differently. Mugabe was a hero regardless what he did. Tendai Biti was not the only MDC leaders to suffer this transformative change of heart towards Mugabe, all the MDC leaders did which explains why they failed to get even one reform implemented.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train trapping of power, they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies use to boast during the GNU when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Indeed, what Tendai Biti and his MDC friend did in 2008 is exactly what Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies did in 1980 - as soon as they got into power, sell out big time. Mugabe sold-out on the revolutionary value of freedom, human rights, justice, one man one vote, etc. Biti and company sold-out on the promise to implement the reforms.
Of course, Biti is not bitter wit Mugabe selling out just as he is not bitter with himself for selling out during the GNU!
"I am afraid we have a deeply rooted legacy of violence in this country and you can't just blame Robert Mugabe for that one, you also have to blame the intransigence of Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front in the 1960s and 1970s. Certainly Robert Mugabe perpetuated that culture of violence. It is now deeply rooted in our society and it is going to take probably another generation to rid the country of that legacy," said Coltart.
ReplyDeleteTrue but Coltart should have also talked about Zimbabwe equally deep rooted legacy of leaders selling out as soon as they get into power.
David Coltart and his MDC friends sold-out big time in 2008 just as Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies did in 1980. Mugabe sold-out on the revolutionary value of freedom, human rights, justice, one man one vote, etc. Coltart and company sold-out on the promise to implement the reforms.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train trapping of power, they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies boasted during the GNU when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
"There is no doubt he was a colossus on the Zimbabwean stage. He is the person who brought the end of white minority rule," said Coltart.
This is just one sell-out judging a fellow sell-out. Mugabe is a corrupt and murderous dictator just as Coltart is a incompetent and corrupt sell-out!
Former Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa spoke to the BBC about Mugabe's legacy, describing him as an "international giant".
ReplyDeleteHere is what Chinamasa had to say:
"I remember him as an African and international giant, an icon who dedicated his life to the liberation of not just Zimbabweans but to all oppressed people internationally.
He left a huge legacy, not just to Zimbabwe but to the continent. In Zimbabwe, his legacy was empowering black people in education and in encouraging to take over control of their resources in the country.
Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant and the fact on the ground says it all. Chinamasa is just one of those who have has enjoyed the fruits of the de facto one-party dictatorship it is not surprising to hear praise the dictator.
Robert Mugabe was an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous dictator the facts on the ground speaks volumes; the national economy in ruins, over 30 000 murdered for political gain, etc. All those saying Mugabe was hero only say it because they really do not respect the millions of Zimbabweans, the victims of the dictatorship, as human beings. Frankly some of us are sick and tired of being patronized and being treated as sub-humans.
ReplyDeleteMugabe murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans for the purpose of establishing and retaining his de facto one-party dictatorship, you clearly agreed on that issue since MDC did nothing to dismantle the dictatorship even when you had the golden chance to to so during the GNU. You lot had five years to implement the democratic reforms and failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one!
ReplyDeleteMDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. They will never criticize Mugabe for the corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous dictator he was because they too have benefited from the corruption and dictatorship.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train trapping of power, they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies use to boast during the GNU when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Ever since their pathetic performance during the GNU, MDC leaders have paid lip service to reforms and free and fair elections. They have participated in flawed and illegal elections, knowing that Zanu PF will rig the elections, for the sake of the few gravy-train seats they knew Zanu PF was giving away to entice the opposition to participate.
How can MDC leaders denounce Mugabe as a dictator when the dictator was one of their own!
MDC have been hunting with the hounds and running with the hare! "MDC havasi kudziya moto wembavha, dzava mbavha!" as one would say in Shona.
This is just the usual foolish blast from Arthur Mutambara, just another corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless Zimbabwean idiot. Mugabe fought the liberation war and, it was natural to assume that all who fought in the said war of the black majority side believed in the freedom, human right and dignity of all.
ReplyDeleteMugabe and many of his cronies survived the war and have since denied the populous their freedom, justice, basic human rights including a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend Mugabe and company ever believed in the cause of black liberation; they did not. They were mercenaries who fought the liberation war with their own selfish agenda of removing the white colonial oppressors but only for them to take their place.
Zimbabweans have never had free, fair and credible elections. Never!
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is 39 years of corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF rule. The people cannot remove the regime from office because it rigs elections.
Mugabe and company have used intimidation, harassment, beating, rape and even cold blooded murder to establish and retain the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship that has rule the country these last 39 years with an iron fist!
Before independence, Zimbabweans were fighting the white colonialists for their fair share of the nation’s wealth and for a meaningful say in the governance of the country. After independence they are still fighting for the same or be it they now fighting fellow blacks, the nation’s yesterday liberators!
Arthur Mutambara and his fellow MDC leaders had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms which would have dismantled the Zanu PF dictatorship once and once for all. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Mugabe bribed them and the rest is history!
Mutambara and all the other MDC leaders cannot criticize Mugabe for selling out on the liberation war values because they also sold-out of the GNU reforms for exactly the same reason – personal greed.
Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous dictator. Yes, he started as a liberation hero but after 1980, it was clear he was a mercenary in that war. Mutambara will never admit Mugabe was a sell-out and a dictator because he, Mutambara, is a sell-out too!