Ashamed of Leaders

'I am ashamed of my African leaders'
Mmegi, Botswana
Friday, 23 November 2007

And what a shame it is, indeed! African presidents are busy buying suits and bow-ties to impress those who make suits and bow-ties when they attend a summit where, in spite of the continent's wealth, they are going to beg like no subway beggar has ever begged before. It is a shame.

In a published letter to Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, (Mmegi, November 16, 2007), I pleaded a

SADC, and indeed the world, rightly defer the Zimbabwean issue to South Africa. It is protocol. It is diplomacy and it is getting more and more people killed in Zimbabwe because South Africa, because of Mbeki, is impotent and is preventing the emancipation of the Zimbabwean people. Without South Africa manning the doors, freedom could long ago have poured into Zimbabwe. Without South Africa protecting a murderous dictator, the issue could have been laid to rest a long time ago. I salute the European Union and I deplore so-called African presidents who, with a colonial mentality of always imitating what former colonisers did, are still at the stage of oppressing their own people. I chide all African presidents for their short-sightedness. I rebuke them for bringing shame to the continent.

Oppressing the ‘natives’ appears to be the only thing these presidential

charlatans learned from the former colonisers. I do declare and say that I am ashamed of all African leaders. Robert Mugabe is twice the man they are, for Mugabe parades his evil and frolics in it proudly and publicly yet the other African leaders try to hide their evil but expect the world and the people to applaud just because, in every respect, they are all a few thebes short of a pula.

African presidents should wake up and rescue Africa. Whatever happened to our pioneering spirit? Where is that individual and personal initiative so prevalent among early pioneering leaders that we used to see as we tried to  dislodge colonialists?

We have always given our support to our leaders, mostly against our will, but look at what they are doing to Africa against our will. I am a son of Africa and am totally ashamed of all my African leaders.

God have mercy!

*Tanonoka Joseph Whande is a Botswana-based Zimbabwean writer.

Post published in: News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *