In the eleventh hour, Tsvangirai decided, following the decision of the MDC national council, to pull out of the run-off election. The MDC played their trump card right at the most painful time for the authoritarian regime, which was brutalizing the people throughout the country for simply rejecting Mugabe as leader of this nation. Now Mugabe can be declared elected unopposed, and it will be interesting to see him run this country for the next five years. The insecurity forces that fought against the people of this country can now celebrate Mugabe’s “victory”. The rest of us will just sit back and watch them enjoy the fruits of their brutality against the people.
The SADC needs to brace itself for the millions of Zimbabweans that will flee out of the bleeding country into their territorial space. Yes, they will be deporting Zimbabweans from their countries on a daily basis, but there are some people who will evade their nets and make new homes in their countries, whether they like it or not. The African union is now faced with the truth about Robert Mugabe, the despot, the dictator, the tyrant. They will be shamed to have him as one of their members, unless they approve of everything that he has done in the past two months against his own people. The question that now begs an answer is what next?
It is unlikely that ZanuPF will capitulate and call off its dogs of war from torturing the people. Instead, it is very likely that violence will now intensify as the evil regime will be forcing people to go and vote on Friday in spite of the fact that there is now only one candidate. The same thing happened in 1992 when Muzorewa and Sithole pulled out of the race, and Mugabe insisted that that the election would have to proceed. Following that electoral farce, Mugabe claimed that he had been democratically elected president of Zimbabwe, which was a blatant lie. He hopes to do the same this time around. Further, it is very unlikely that the SADC or the AU will make a decision to intervene militarily, unless and until the tyrannical regime has killed literally thousands of innocent Zimbabweans. There is little hope to be expected from the UN either. The military role being played by western democracies in such countries as Iraq and Afghanistan militates against any serious consideration of the participating
countries’ military involvement in Zimbabwe at this time.
In other words, as Zimbabweans, we are now fully on our own once again. We have no choice but to keep on fighting for freedom, democracy, good governance and human rights. It is not going to be an easy road, but it is also not going to be an impossible task. The Mugabe regime has transformed this country into ashes, and they will fond it very difficult to carry on for any meaningful length of time under the current circumstances. The west is going to tighten the noose around the economy. The SADC is likely to close its borders, while the rest of Africa will increase its shunning of the beleaguered country. But the struggle has to go on regardless. The MDC will have to continue to play the role of representing the interests of the majority of the people of this country both within the national structures of governance and externally. We have to continue to expose the dictator’s colours for all to see. God bless Zimbabwe!
Post published in: Opinions