It was bound to happen. A coup that was not a coup but which toppled one of the worst underestimated mass murderers the world has ever known.
The events unfolding in Zimbabwe confound the world. Not many people expected that such a thing could happen to Robert Mugabe, given his over-confidence, arrogance and poisonous populist rhetoric that he used as a weapon all the time, embarrassing people along the way.
Some of us have personal issues to settle with this monster yet we find the time to look at things from a realistic point because it is in our interest to be objective to avoid causing more grief to ourselves.
There is no question that I applaud what the military did to Mugabe. It was the more sweeter that it was done by his own people, his own friends who have always protected, supported him and who even killed our people in his name.
Had this been carried out by any other individuals, it would have been blamed on imperialists and former colonisers, thereby losing its luster.
But this was done by his own people who have protected him for more than 40 years. And that makes me sit up and ponder a little.
I hope I will never have to regret what the army did but for now I give them my support. When you have carried a toothache for more than thirty years, you do not worry about the bitterness of the medication nor do you care about the tool the doctor uses to end your misery.
You want to get rid of the pain and worry about the after effects later…which is another issue altogether…the side effects.
One thing of concern to me is that this is more of a Zanu-PF internal cleansing operation, an effort at renewal than anything else.
I want to be wrong but I wait with baited breath to see if the military moved to save the people or if they moved to serve themselves.
If the people are given their long lost respect and protection, the nation will forever be grateful to the military ÔÇô that is, if they return to the barracks soonest.
The bloodless manner in which the “coup” was executed, the colour photos of the “overthrowee” smiling broadly with the overthrower disarmed many people who wanted to declare the situation a crisis.
While other nations and organisations stood away to learn and understand more about what was unfolding in Zimbabwe, I was amazed at the speed with which South Africa’s Jacob Zuma sent a delegation, arriving at about the same time as that of SADC.
No one is more to blame for the misery, chaos and deaths in Zimbabwe over the years than these two entities.
The feeling among Zimbabweans is that South Africa and SADC must never be given an ear by the Zimbabwean authorities because, as usual, they are there to save Mugabe not the people of Zimbabwe.
On the day things started to unfold, some moron at South Africa’s News24 even screamed “call for Mbeki to mediate”. What an insult! Who was calling for Mbeki?
It is painful when someone hurts innocent people in a country without paying so much as a cursory look at the damage they cause such as what the South Africans and SADC continue to do.
Because of that, there are petitions being circulated to stop SADC from interfering in Zimbabwe and one of the petitions is also directed at the Zimbabwean authorities to pull out of SADC as soon as possible since Zimbabweans believe that were it not for South Africa and its pawn, SADC, Zimbabweans could have solved their problems a long time ago and averted the deaths of many of our compatriots.
Today, I exhale but continue to hold my breath with a hope that things will work out well for us in Zimbabwe. We have gone through an exaggerated initiation that few countries have gone through and survived.
We are hoping that this is the beginning of a new unique experience because more than half of our population have known no other leader other than the butcher who is in the process of being deposed.
Today, we can say with honesty to all those outside our borders who always stood in awe of Mugabe, praising him for populist rhetoric while our mine shafts were slowly filling up with bodies of innocent people to take him if they want him. Now they have a real opportunity to claim him and own a piece of evil in their own backyard.
Whatever happens, it is over for him because things will never be the same for him in or outside Zimbabwe.
Maybe next time, I will be able to dissect these happenings in a more intimate manner but I am sure you allow me to exhale and shed a little tear of gratitude to the gods for allowing me to witness the fall of Robert Mugabe.
The battle is not won, though, because the damage this man caused will take generations to straighten out.
But it is never too late to start the mending and the healing. I hope we still have it in us to start the rebuilding and that we have the patience still.
And it is only fair to thank Botswana for its stand against Mugabe, annoying its own citizens and fellow SADC and African leaders.
The people of Zimbabwe have won something and we hope we can figure out what it is soon enough.
