The above can be learnt from the recent capture and killing of the late African Hero and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. There is no explanation as to how the late veteran can have started ruling at age 27 and continued to rule for 42 years, besides the explanation that God had put him in the position.
Many rulers are oblivious to the fact that they are rulers because God chose them to rule His people wisely and with kindness and no brutality.
They get so drunk on power that they become blind and cease to know and respect God, in some cases giving themselves the title that only befits God Almighty.They also become blind to the fact that no military power, no strength of their armies and no amount of arms of war can protect them against death and against their revolting subjects. To them, the saying: 'A good dancer leaves the dance floor while spectators still cheer on,' becomes null and void.
The slain Libyan had to pay the price for many things, some good and others bad. The fact that he helped many African liberation movements, us included, earned him many enemies. In some quarters his good gesture of helping Africans fight for their freedom amounted to terrorism. At one stage our liberation movements were called terrorist organisations. His country's oil reserves also attracted enemies.
Of course his sponsorship of the terrorists in bombing a civilian Pan-American Air-craft can never be condoned. What about the supply of arms to known terrorist organisations without any comprehensible agenda? That was not right. However, not in the distant past Gaddafi owned up to the manslaughter and compensated the families of the plane-crash victims. The then promised that he would not sponsor any terrorists.
Some of the mistakes which lead to his brutal removal from power are his refusal to step down and hand-over power to other able Libyan leaders, his failure to allow the winds of change to take their course and the brutal murder of dissenting voices by his security forces.
While many people around the world looked forward to the removal of Gaddafi, very few of them looked forward to his brutal killing. They should have followed the Ivorian example where, when the opposing forces captured Gbagbo, they gave him bullet-proof vests, protected him and continued to hand him over for trial.
We dislike the dictators of this world because we are victims of their misrule, but we never pray for their death. We pray for their acceptance of the people's will and also their long life. – SIBINDIAJI, Johannesburg
Post published in: Letters to the Editor