Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is a man on the spot. The entire world is focused on the mess he has reduced his country. Sadly, President Mugabe will go down in history as the maker and destroyer of a nation.
Having emerged in 1980 as Zimbabwe, after the gallant victory in the armed struggle against racist white minority rule, the country is today teetering on the brink of collapse. President Mugabe fought for freedom, eclipsing Ian Smith, the then Rhodesian Prime Minister, a title he would hold briefly, before shepherding his people into establishing the new nation of Zimbabwe. The height of irony is that Mr Mugabe has ended up more hated by a sizeable number of his own people than Smith ever was until his death several years ago. Today, President Mugabe is shamelessly the man behind all the chaos that Zimbabwe, once touted one of the most promising African success stories, is wallowing in.
The once prosperous nation with superb infrastructure and an efficient and productive agricultural sector the envy of southern Africa and the entire continent, Zimbabwe is in a shambles. Its economy is on death row, with a record inflation more than 1,000 per cent – the highest in the world. And yet, this is a man who claims to be championing the liberation of his people from landlessness and poverty.
In recent days, Mr Mugabe has shown his most dictatorial tendencies, sabotaging democracy by savaging the opposition and unleashing bands of goons on their supporters, while suppressing civil society. Over a week ago, he declared that only God will remove him from power, and deployed his militia, police and the army to muzzle the little chance left of the possibility of holding a free and fair election.
President Mugabe has declared that the man who beat him in the first round, Movement of Democratic Change’s Morgan Tsvangirai, will never rule Zimbabwe. Earlier, he had declared that he would only hand over power to a member of his own party, making a mockery of the election run-off scheduled for Friday. As if this is not enough, the strongman is unleashing terror in his own country, seeing hundreds starving and some displaced – in his effort to cling to power.
It’s against this backdrop that Mr Tsvangirai’s decision to withdraw from the run-off election makes a lot of sense. Mr Mugabe’s fellow African leaders, including close ally Jose dos Santos of Angola, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon have agreed with the MDC that a fair and fair election is not possible under the circumstances. Mr Mugabe may be accusing the opposition of being puppets of the West, but he can only convince his close allies about that.
His attempt to implement land reforms may have resonated with other African leaders, considering the need to redress historical wrongs and correct the situation where the majority had nothing, while the minority owned chunks of land. However, the issue now is about his strong-arm tactics and clinging to power, hampering democracy. On these issues, Mr Mugabe stands accused and is as guilty as charged.
It’s high time that African leaders, especially through the African Union, took a strong stand to rescue the people of Zimbabwe from tyranny by imposing strict economic and diplomatic sanctions.
