“On 5 March 1953 an event took place that shattered Russia — the death
of Stalin. I found it almost impossible to imagine him dead, so much had he
been an indispensable part of life,” wrote Evgenii Evtushenko in his book
Precocious Autobiography.
“A sort of general
paralysis came over the country. Trained to believe that Stalin was taking care
of everyone, people were lost and bewildered without him. The whole of Russia
wept. So did I. We wept sincerely with grief and perhaps also with fear for the
future.”
The funeral crowd in Trubnaia
Square, Moscow, was so huge that many were crushed to death. The state reported
of 109 killed but, given this was a state with well documented contemptuous
disregard for truth and suffering and death of povo, many believe the figure
was much higher than that.
No doubt, there will be the
usual bused-in crowd, at Mugabe’s funeral and few, if anyone at all, share the same
emotions of shock, awe, reverence and fear Stalin evoked. For decade or so after
independence Robert Mugabe had worn the aura of invincibility, an image he and
the party had actively cultivated in the heroic exploits of Mugabe and his
fellow Zanu PF leaders in the liberation struggle. The nation held him in awe
then. The economic and political reality forced the people to open their eyes
and forced them to see the real Mugabe - a corrupt and murderous tyrant, not
the invincible liberation hero the regime claimed.
Mugabe promised the nation mass
prosperity, "Gutsa ruzhinji!" only to delivered mass poverty.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF were supposed
to "tell prisoners that they were prisoners no more and set the
downtrodden free!", to borrow from an Evangelical ballad. To secure absolute
power for themselves, they imposed a de facto one-party dictatorship; denying
the people their basic freedoms and rights included the right to a meaningful
say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.
Whatever lingering illusions of
liberation hero Mugabe had they were shuttered when he was booted out of office
in the November 2017 military coup. It was his coup de grace. The same
brain-dead thugs who had ruthless imposed the dictatorship that kept in power
for 37 years turned on him and forced him to step down at gun point. Zimbabweans
poured out into the streets in support of the coup plotters; proof, if Mugabe
still needed it, that povo too were sick and tired of him and were thrilled to
see him go.
Mugabe tried to use SADC
leaders, the naive and gullible Nelson Chamisa and his MDC party, etc. to stage
a comeback but all to no avail. When the reality that he was not invincible
after all finally dawned on Mugabe, it must have been a hammer blow to an ant! The
Devil had his due and not even the five star and no-expense-spared hospital
care could keep death at bay.
Ashes to ashes; dust to dust!
Most Russians did not know the
real Joseph Stalin when he died. It took a decade or so for the truth to filler
out, the true Joseph Stalin was a corrupt and ruthless tyrant who had sent
millions of poorly equipped Russians to the deaths into the war. He condemned
millions more suffer and die in concentration camps in Siberia. Zimbabweans
have had the chance to know the real, the corrupt and murderous, Robert Mugabe
before he died.
If the people of Zimbabwe still
judge Mugabe a hero then it will not be because anyone had hidden the truth of
the real Mugabe, the corrupt and murderous dictator, from them. It has all been
laid bear for all to see. But of course, it is not all who see who comprehend.
Man is a creature of reason gifted
with a discerning mind to know right from wrong, separate the goat from the
sheep. It will be bad enough for a handful of individuals to fail to see a
dictator when after they are presented with a mountain of evidence; it is a
shock when hundreds of thousands still insist judge a dictator a hero!
Father Mukonori, a Jesuit priest who was a close friend to former President Robert Mugabe who died on Friday morning in Singapore, mediated a graceful exit for the former guerrilla leader after the military grabbed power in a coup in November 2017.
ReplyDelete"To be a leader is one who agrees to sit down with the others and talk, a leader who is uncompromising is not a leader. Leadership is to compromise. Compromise is not a sign of weakness, (but) it is a sign of strength," Mukonori told NewsDay at the weekend.
The trouble with Father Mukonori is that he loves the limelight so much he does know when he is being used. There is no doubt that Mugabe used Father Mukonori and the Catholic Church to give a human look to his otherwise evil dictatorship.
Father Mukonori is wittering about the need for Mnangagwa and Chamisa to meet although another GNU will serve no purpose since the last failed to get any reforms implemented. Why did Father Mukonori not use his influence to force Zanu PF to hold free, fair and credible elections or something useful for a change?
Our failure to see and comprehend is at the very heart of why we have blundered from pillar to post these last 39 years and, worst of all, why we will never ever get out of the s***t hole.
ReplyDeleteIt took nearly 20 years for most Zimbabweans to accept that Mugabe was a corrupt and murderous tyrant. Although the economy was already in trouble within the first ten years of our independence and by the end of third year his hands were already bright red with the blood of his Gukurahundi victims; people would not believe their own eyes. It was not until the late 1990s that people final accepted Mugabe was a dictator and Zanu PF was a dictatorship and that the nation needed democratic changes to end the corrupt and tyranny.
After 20 years of fighting for democratic change and nothing to show for it; it is now clear why – the people called for democratic changes but they did not have a clue what those changes were. The people risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to bring about the democratic changes but they too had no clue what these changes were and hence have failed to get even one reform implemented.
Even during the GNU, when MDC leaders had their best chance to implement reforms, Tsvangirai and company were falling over each other in praising Mugabe. “He is the father of the nation, the unflappable fountain of wisdom,” said Tendai Biti.
The democratic reforms were to dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship and replace it with a democratic system were leaders would be accountable to the people. How does one, in all honesty, dare dismantle the dictatorship built by the “unflappable father of the nation and fountain of all wisdom!”
Zimbabweans are a confused lot, they have agonised for 20 years before they finally admitted Mugabe was a dictator and that the country was under a de facto one-party dictatorship. They have then wasted the last 20 years fighting to end the dictatorship but failed to do so because when push came to shove they would not accept that Mugabe was a dictator and Zanu PF a dictatorship.
And now that Mugabe is died, the nation is reverting back to the pre-independence position with Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are squeaky clean liberation national heroes and heroines. All the corruption and tyrannical oppression Mugabe and his cronies have committed in the last 40 years have been forgiven and forgotten and it is back to “Thanks to the great leader, how sweet the water tastes!” in George Orwell’s the classical Animal Farm style.
Zimbabweans can bury their heads in the sand all they want the economic reality of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown will not go away. Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs; that reality too will not go away. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. These are realities the people of Zimbabwe have to deal with and burying one’s head in the sand will not make these problems go away!
Zimbabwe is stuck under a corrupt and ruthless dictatorship, Mugabe was a dictator and the Zanu PF dictatorship he imposed on the nation is alive and thriving. 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule have frog marched the nation to the edge of the abyss. The danger of the country descending into social chaos or worse is real and imminent; there is no time to be wasted on sentimental nonsense. The Zanu PF dictatorship must be dismantled a.s.a.p. and that work start with calling a dictator, a dictator and not a hero!
We cannot allow a shift from command agriculture to command mourning. This time we are ready to make sure that as they bury Robert Mugabe they also bury the dictatorial tendencies he planted in this country.
ReplyDeleteWe are fully aware of the motif of the ZANU PF run UZ administration of housing ZANU PF folks who will be attending Robert Mugabe's funeral using the Halls of Residence at the University of Zimbabwe. We would like to warn them that this shall not be done at the expense of students and we are prepared to meet such a decision with the level of resistance it deserves. This is not only an attack to the students of UZ but it is an attack on the dignity of students across the country.
It is a public secret that accommodation is a crisis for students in this Nation owing to the fact that the very same buffoons failed to provide meaningful accommodation for students.
Students and parents are already finding it hard to sustain a semester due to financial constraints which the cousins of Satan created. We can't allow those driven by selfish desires to further sink deep in the already empty pockets of the students and parents
Mugabe was a corrupt and ruthless tyrant whose rule left this nation a mess. Mugabe send his daughter Bona to the Far East for seven years to do her degree because the quality of education provided locally was substandard. Decades of being starved of funds have left institutions like UZ in a sorry state.
Mugabe was a corrupt and murderous dictator and not a national hero by an stretch of imagination. The UZ students as with the rest of ordinary Zimbabweans have good reason to be angry with Mugabe. Why should they be forced to mourn a dictator who has made their lives hell-on-earth.
After all this Zanu PF regime is illegitimate because it rigged last year’s elections. Mugabe was a dictator and this Zanu PF regime is a dictatorship and the people of Zimbabwe must fight to end this evil at every turn.
Command mourning must be condemned! Dictatorship and illegitimate rule must be condemned!
Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a fearless leader who led a determined resistance against colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism, racism and colonial rule in Rhodesia and Africa. Cde Mugabe's charismatic personality was against imperialism, capitalism and neo-colonialism in Africa. It was through his nationalistic movement which led him to be nominated by the Zanu Patriotic Front central committee to lead the party and armed liberation struggle in Mozambique and after the death of Cde Herbert Chitepo.
ReplyDeleteWhile he was in front he was arrested incarcerated and detained at Hwahwa and Gonakudzingwa Prison by the Smith Regime. Cde Mugabe stayed in Prison for a long time with other nationalist leaders like Cde Joshua Nkomo, Edgar Tekere and Joseph Msika and others.
This is just a stupid argument. No one has ever disputed Mugabe’s cast iron resolve “against colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism, racism and colonial rule in Rhodesia and Africa”. What you have failed to say here is that Mugabe showed the same cast iron resolve in ridding roughshod over the ordinary Zimbabweans freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of Zimbabwe and even the right to life.
Mugabe legacy cannot be limited to what he did before 1980, it must include what he did after 1980. There is no denying that Mugabe showed that he was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. He murdered over 30 000 Zimbabweans to establish and retain his de facto one party state. How anyone can still such a corrupt and murderous tyrant a hero beggars belief!
If Mugabe is a hero, then you have lowered the bar so low one would be hard push to find a dictator?
Arthur Mutambara is one of those MDC leaders who were mesmerized by Mugabe during the GNU, they completely forgot that the GNU was first and foremost setup to implement the democratic reforms to ensure the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections will never be repeated ever again. Mugabe did not want any of the reforms implemented and was able to bribe the MDC leaders, wrapping them round his little finger with easy.
ReplyDeleteMugabe fooled MDC leaders into doing nothing about the reforms and, even now with the benefit of hindsight, village idiots like Mutambara still do not understand what happened.
Zimbabwe is in serious economic trouble and there is no light at the end of the tunnel because as long as Zanu PF remains in power the political paralysis will remain. Mugabe is responsible the coldblooded murder of over 30 000 Zimbabweans for selfish political gain. All these things are being swept aside as Mugabe is elevated to great national hero! What a blast of idiotic nonsense!