The current crisis in Zimbabwe should not surprise anyone even if your interest in African affairs is a casual one. You could see it coming, Robert Mugabe was never going to step down from power and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the miserable leader in the southern hemisphere was going to be the enabler. Why? Simple, Thabo Mbeki’s god is BLACK!
In 2004, at the height of the HIV and AIDS scourge in South Africa, Mr Mbeki in response to a question in the parliament about his government action or inaction thereof, erupted that the disease never existed in Africa and labeled it an invention, a western propaganda, a white problem. “The disease of racism” as he puts it was devised to assault the dignity of blacks. This myopic and lethal reasoning when juxtaposed with black propaganda populism of Robert Mugabe, his stooge, you could see a perfect match of miserable leaders whose relevance in history is bleak and worthless.
Mbeki’s past is littered with subtle and indecent references to black interest, unlike Nelson Mandela, the first post apartheid President who sought to unify not only South Africans but also move the whole continent in a wholly different direction.
Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe, are trapped and frozen in the past black struggle for equality and any Western attempt at ameliorating their past misdeeds is often seen as meddling and uprightly rejected by the pair. This is where we find ourselves today, an impasse, unlikely to improve nor end in peace. Today there is rumor circulating that Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, the militarized thugs of his party are planning assassination of his opponents. This will be very problematic and Mbeki’s comatose diplomacy will implode to pieces.
At 84 years old, after running his country for almost three decades, destroying all economic viability of this once proud nation, Mr Robert Mugabe, blinded by the narcotics of power is content with seeing his supporters trolling the streets terrorizing unarmed citizens.
Shame on you, Thabo, shame on you for you will end up weaving into existence one of the greatest human crisis in Africa, in recent memory. Just to appease ‘black’, Mr Robert Mugabe, your clay footed god?
