BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
On the sixth of September President Robert Gabriel Mugabe breathed his last breath. His journey ended at ninety five. This was a blessing from God.
Mugabe remained a household name in the world. He is a man who rose up and down in his political life. Cde Robert Mugabe tendered his resignation as the president of Zimbabwe on the 21st November 2017 then became the dark month to Mugabe. Who had ever known that he was to die three years later in the month of his resignation. This came about after a bloodless army intervention. The man who became a hero and fought many strong men was brought down by a woman.
The President travelled from a war hero to resignation the man whose name became synonymous with Zimbabwe, resigned as president after 37 years in power.
He made his mistakes but he was more Zimbabwean than fools claiming to be Zimbabweans now.
He will always remain a hero who brought independence and an end to white-minority rule. Even those who forced him out blamed his wife and “criminals” around him. It is sad that the president was surrounded by vultures who only wanted to fatten their pockets snd never had the country at large.
These vultures were powered by the first lady who became so blinded by power and interfered in the day to day running of the state affairs which were not hers. Other vultures were powered by ammunitions and blamed the first lady. She failed to learn from Mao’s wife from China. or Nicholai Ceausescu’s wife from Romania.
But to her critics, this highly uneducated, novice became the woman who destroyed an entire country in order to gain power. She praised corruption and snatched cases from courts.
She acquitted her friends at a rally and praised nepotism in a very embarrassing way. She claimed that she was now the president and surrounded herself with those who lied to her and in turn she gave pressure to her then 93 year old husband who succumbed to pressure and blundered along the way. The hero was reduced to a villain by a malicious woman. The hero was to be rested by his blood friends it was said to save him and to save the nation. Indeed he is resting and thank God he counted his years while others are counting their remaining days
In the end, it was the security forces, who made him free from his imposing manipulative wife and comrades who all claimed to be working to protect the president.
The disrespect shown by the first lady to all Zimbabweans when she called them cowards made the people unite against the husband.
The people and the army were incensed when the president was forced by his wife to sack his long-time ally, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for his much younger wife Grace to dictate who will succeed him, fearing it meant the end for them as the powers behind the throne. The reality is the president never wanted his wife to succeed him. He had insisted that people should chose their successor. His wife had asked him to appoint a successor but he refused. With dirty scheming from Jonathan Moyo and Kasukuwere people were made to believe that the demanding wife has set her eyes on the throne.
Before the 2008 elections, Cde Mugabe said: “If you lose an election and are rejected by the people, it is time to leave politics.”
But after a near miss the president showed his courage and perseverance. He had a job to accomplish and he had to fight on till the job was done. He has the country at heart and was prepared to die for it.
And just to be sure, he sought peoples support This made him a man of the people.
In order to save the lives of his people the president gave land to the people. This gained him enemies and his name was soiled. This did not stop him from working for his country and his people.
In 2013, Mugabe showed the people that Mr Tsvangirai had lost a lot of credibility during his years working with Mr Mugabe and he lost dismally and this kept ZANU PF in power till the day he was removed by mistake. Yes because the operation was to remove criminals around him but he got the backlash and was removed too.
The key to understanding Mr Mugabe is the 1970s guerrilla war where he made his name.
President Mugabe was.
Born in 1924 21 February. Later trained as a teacher
1964: Imprisoned by Rhodesian government.
Did his law while in prison and finished a number of degrees. He stayed resolute and principled in his purpose In 1980 The president led ZANU to winning ways and winning became synonymous with ZANU PF. The cracking point came in 1996 when he Married Grace Marufu. That was the unseen starting of the problems. Marrying young girls is a Recipe of danger.
The coming into politics of Grace and her refusal to take advice dragged the president in a dip end.
Mugabes agility was compromised by his age and his enemies and his wife were quick to notice it. She elbowed those around Mugabe and replaced them with the young men she protected from their crimes. Ignored national justice and created an inhuman way of justice. In all this Mugabe kept silent maybe out of age maybe out of love.
All what the first lady did did not taint Mugabe”s legacy.
Zimbabwe under Mugabe the Liberation icon
Even after 37 years in power, Mugabe still maintained the same worldview – the patriotic socialist forces of his Zanu-PF party were still fighting the twin evils of capitalism and colonialism.
He gave confidence to Zimbabweans at home and abroad.
Zimbabwe’s economic problems were caused by a plot by Western countries, led by the UK, to oust him because of his seizure of farms.
The West wanted to starve the people to rebellion and they indeed succeeded. We all saw this coming. The agent of the West Jonathan Moyo had promised to destroy ZANU PF from within and he indeed succeeded. Mugabe despite all the warning signs did not see this coming. Surely his last days where captured by the wife. Zimbabwe was under a bedroom coup and no one dared to say it.
He always concentrated on the question of how to share out the national cake, but the wife stiffled him with people who wanted the cake to themselves rather than how to make it grow.
Mr Mugabe once famously said that a country could never go bankrupt but with the first lady who was advised by thieves the president presided over a shrinking economy. Whenever economics gets in the way of politics, politics wins every time and indeed people suffered.
In 2000, ZANU PF faced with a strong opposition for the first time, he used his intelligence to outwit the opposition and he kept the party in the winning track. This he did with the help of ED and all cadres who loved their country.
His enemies applied sanctions and all sorts of smear campaign to remove him but they failed.
The sanctions scared off donors but in purely political terms, Mr Mugabe outsmarted his enemies – he remained in power for another 17 years.
At any cost.
And the tactics he and his supporters used were straight from the guerrilla war.
in a 2000 referendum, Which we lost the war veterans came up with ideas of winning back the votes. This they did peacefully and Zimbabwe remained in good hands. The war veterans were fighting for the rights of black Zimbabweans
Eight years later, a similar pattern was followed after Mr Mugabe lost the first round of a presidential election to his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
When needed, all the levers of state – the security forces, were used in the service of the ruling party for the love of the country …
Zimbabwe still has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, at 89% of the population.
Cde Mugabe has not been afraid to stand for his people.
The young beneficiaries were able to analyse Zimbabwe’s problems for themselves and most blamed sanctions and corruption and mismanagement for the lack of jobs and rising prices. We still wonder why the president listened to his wife above his comrades. Why did he allow the bitter Jonathan Moyo to run the country to near chaos.
Mugabe fought on behalf of the rural poor but much of the land he gave them ended up in the hands of few.
The president was a staunch Catholic, and worshiped at Harare’s Catholic Cathedral were graced when he turned up for Sunday Mass.
It is the painful truth that the first lady ultimately proved his downfall.
Although Mr Mugabe outlived many predictions of his demise, the increasing strain of recent years took its toll and his once-impeccable presentation has begun to look rather worn at times.
If nothing else, Mr Mugabe has always been an extremely humble man.
He often said he would only step down when his “revolution” was complete.
He was referring to the redistribution of land but he also wanted people to pick his successor, who would of course have had to come from the ranks of Zanu-PF.
I count myself very lucky to have spoken to the president on several occassions. He remains my hero and your hero too.
I have no doubt that his succession has been taken by a worthy man. I had the opportunity to talk to cde Munangagwa several times. I have no doubt he is a good leader. I can assure you that he will not undo what the icon has done. Hopefully.
While Zimbabwe has lost in Mugabe we have surely gained in his legacy.
I shed a tear for my hero Mugabe and indeed offer a prayer for his family. May they be given strength to move on.
May the soul of cde RG Mugabe rest in peace. Cde Mugabe you remain my hero.
