After a fruitless SADC summit in Angola, an executive of the MDC-T was heard saying that the regional body and its mother the AU had failed to deliver Zimbabwe from its political crisis.
Misconception number one: That the chaos had to be deliberated at SADC level because homegrown solutions were scarce. The poor gullible populace just swallows the politicians’ lies hook, line and sinker.
In the January-March edition of BCC Focus on Africa magazine, Jonathan Moyo was quoted saying that the spring uprisings of North Africa would never happen in Zimbabwe. Instead, there would be a smooth transition of the presidency from Mugabe to another Zanu (PF) politician, as happened in other communist countries, China, Cuba and maybe Russia.
Misconception at the highest level. First Zimbabwe is just too distant from being a communist state and even socialist despite the frequent flirtations with China and Cuba. Number two, Zanu (PF)has already been defeated at the polls in 2008. How then is Mugabe going to hand the presidential baton to anyone in Zanu?
Misconceptions are spread through the media from all shades of the socio-economic spectrum. The Arab revolution was inspired and led by the middle class who felt that the room for expansion was sealed by the rogue ruling elite. This middle class could go on strike and still withdraw salaries at the end of the month and feed their families.
In Zimbabwe, do we have anything like the middle class anymore? No – it has been decimated in the unworthy drama of deceit and dissimulation over the Mugabe era. So who will rebel against Mugabe? How on earth can a person running a flea market in town go and toyi-toyi at State House and risk being maimed by Mugabe’s rag-tag police and army? Who will feed their families at the end of the day? They would rather look for money, kujingirisa (dealing) rather than risk losing their lives and livelihoods!
And Zimbabweans are cowards by nature. My father, a war vet, told me before he died that the bulk of the freedom fighters were recruited by force from school and some were dragged from drinking places. Now they brag to be brave sons of the soil, misconception I affirm.
No one will stand up against Mugabe the Arab way. To exacerbate the situation the bulk of the able bodied have voted with their feet. They are now in UK, Australia, South Africa, and Botswana.
The state media is awash with tales of illegal sanctions imposed by the impertinent imperialists. Yet the same media was fed with tales of the uselessness of the west as long as the East is there! Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. The real story is never told as it is. Mugabe is a white man in black skin, a frustrated white man!
Before he decided to grab land from the whites as an election ploy, the man received a lot of cash from the West to sponsor his luxurious lifestyle. His second wife Grace used to shop from the Western capitals. The “sanctions” are causing discomfort at home that is why the discomfort that Mugabe is portraying through state media. It is a personal not a national issue – but the masses are meant to believe and they do believe otherwise – misconception!
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis
Good article, but from what I am reading the problems in Zimbabwe go way beyond “misconceptions.” I’ve just completed six books about Mugabe plus Peter Godwin’s “The Fear.” I think Mugabe is much worse than wanting to be a “white man.” I think he is mentally ill just the way Hitler was mentally ill. He’s just a mean SOB because he had no father, a mother whom he was “too close” with, a loner, etc. I think he is insane, period. And how the “world” has allowed him to reign all these years is disgusting. So, China & five other countries did not want sanctions brought against Zim or have Zim kicked out of the UN, somebody in this world should have taken action like we did against Hitler. Because look who is suffering, not Mugabe, but all the kids who write to me on FB, the young men who are trying to support their families. Something has to be done because it will be a miracle if Morgan T gets in. Good article; I just wish it were that simple. This guy is dangerous! I pray every day that he dies. Bless you all. Mimi Hungerford, Vermont, USA (waiting for it to become SAFE to visit Zimbabwe).