As pressure mounts on Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, the man has resorted to his old tactics of sacrificing the country to boast his ego and “show” the world that he is tougher than a soldier’s boot.
Fed up with Jacob Zuma and SADC’s frequent announcements on the need to postpone elections for at least two months so that the outstanding reforms may be implemented, Mugabe has threatened to pull Zimbabwe out of SADC, much as he did with the Commonwealth in December 2003.
SADC should just fire Mugabe and get it over with; enough of this nonsense already.
The old geezer does not want to play according to rules. He cares not for Zimbabwe but only for his old skin, along with his parasitic cronies who have milked the nation dry over the years and are now huddling in fear of what might happen to them if their ZANU-PF party loses the elections.
Mugabe’s behaviour is deliberate, irresponsible and downright satanic, unfit for a national leader.
Here we are, in a situation that involves Zimbabweans and he remains a stumbling block towards the holding of free and fair elections ÔÇô the result of which is to benefit Zimbabweans and not those foreigners that he is so schizophrenic about.
This is evidence of senility, selfishness and a declaration to the effect that Zimbabwe is his personal property.
Over the years, we have warned SADC that they should rein in Mugabe but, instead, SADC gave Mugabe preferential treatment, coupled with undeserved standing ovations at their unproductive summits for destroying our country.
As the elections approach, friendships, relationships and partnerships stand to be sacrificed because the time to hide is gone.
“SADC has no power to command us to do that which our court says cannot be done. Let it be known that we are in SADC voluntarily,” said Mugabe. “If SADC decides to do stupid things we can move out and withdraw from SADC.”
Notice the use of the word “we”? Mugabe has always had the tendency of referring to himself in the first person plural.
The man is not even aware that he no longer has authority to make such moves on his own and yet here we are, the whole country, region and, indeed, the world, held up by one old senile man who has nothing to offer the country other than continue to spread hate, violence and disunity among the people at the same time he continues to destroy the work towards economic and political recovery, which other citizens are working so hard to achieve.
Zimbabwe has taken part in a variety of issues in assisting to solve a few problems in the region.
Now, with SADC trying to assist Zimbabwe, Mugabe suddenly wants to pull Zimbabwe out of SADC. And now the world and the region can see what kind of monster the Zimbabwean people are living under.
This is shameless cheating. It retards progress in and outside Zimbabwe. It messes up relationships and affects bilateral relationships with fellow SADC nations. It casts Zimbabwe as a pariah state…all because of one man who is no longer even relevant to the nation.
I am no fun of Jacob Zuma because he gave me no reason to feel he is an able and responsible leader.
I am not fond of Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s chief mediator in Zimbabwe but feel Mugabe’s rabid verbal attacks on people who, in all honesty, have been protecting him over the years are the epitome of betrayal and sick thinking.
The problem is that he is using Zimbabwe to fight his own personal wars simply because of failing to lead a nation despite forcing himself on the nation for 34 years.
SADC held a special summit in Maputo in reaction to Mugabe shortly after he controversially announced the poll dates. The SADC Summit recommended that Zimbabwe’s coalition partners “should ask the court for a delay in order to resolve their differences”.
To that extent, Lindiwe Zulu was quoted in the South African media saying SADC ‘hoped’ that Zimbabwe’s election date of July 31st would be extended by a month.
In reaction, as reported in other media, the state controlled Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe called on President Jacob Zuma to “tether his terrier”.
Added Mugabe: “These were not quarters of authority. There were just utterances by some stupid idiotic woman in South Africa, saying no elections cannot be held on the 31st of July even against a ruling of our courts. And an ordinary street woman says NO? argh!”
I have always maintained that people without shame, like Mugabe, are beyond redemption.
ZANU-PF did their party and the nation a lot of damage by nominating this man to run for another term of office as if they do not have evidence of the economic ruin he has brought to the nation in an orgy lasting 34 years; as if the thousands of graves littering the Zimbabwean countryside are not evidence enough of a rabid political leader who is punishing the people and the country for running out of ideas.
The problem here is that this whole thing is a one-man show and has very little to do with the nation.
Even in boxing, the only sport in which one wins by deliberately trying to hurt his opponent, has rules to be observed…you can only hurt your opponent in some ways but not in others.
In itself, the fact that Robert Mugabe is the only man who dictates the pace and whatever else is to be done before, during and after national elections is a clear indication that these elections are a charade.
People must know that Mugabe is not there to preside over the demise of his party, knowing as he does the consequences, not only for him and his party, but for a whole bunch of his cronies who have serious cases to answer should Mugabe ever leave State House.
As for threats to leave SADC, the regional body must think about it and just fire or suspend Mugabe from SADC because the man continues doing more damage than any good to the region.
Unfortunately for SADC, it does not itself appear to be relevant or useful to the region.
And as for the grand coalition of Zimbabwean political parties against Mugabe, I wish them well in their little project, which has no justification other than to inflate each other’s egos, seeing as we do that they are already fighting over the sharing of cabinet posts in a coalition government well before a single vote has been cast.
Please, spare a prayer for Zimbabwe, if you may.
