The change that has taken place in Libya is just one of those realities, representing as it does the will of the Libyan people. Twenty African countries, including the two most populous, Ethiopia and Nigeria, have recognised the NTC and even South Africa has agreed to unfreeze Libyan assets.
Zimbabwe is, of course, another matter. There may be a Government of National Unity but Foreign Affairs remain firmly in Zanu PF hands. It was Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi, on the orders of Mugabe no doubt, who expelled the Libyan Ambassador and ordered the new Libyan flag to be taken down. The Unity Government – or the Zanu PF side of it – does not recognise the NTC in Libya.
If anyone wonders why the Zanu PF government is so ardent in its support for Gadaffi, it is no secret that it largely comes down to money. Lucrative commercial deals were signed when Gadaffi visited Zimbabwe in 2002, deals involving land and mining ventures.
So last Sunday’s report that the Colonel had been seen in Harare en route to an up-market property in the affluent northern suburbs where his female guards had been seen patrolling the perimeter seemed, momentarily, to have the ring of truth.
Reports that Gadaffi’s son, Saadi, was in Zimbabwe last week may turn out to be equally erroneous but Saaidi, who certainly has extensive business interests in Zimbabwe was apparently treated in right royal fashion by Zanu PF officials.
Representatives of the new Libyan government have told Mugabe that “democracy is the new trend in Africa” and that must be worrying him as the shoots of the Arab spring spread down through the continent with riots in Malawi just over the border from ‘his’ Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s 31-year rule has not been without its grizzly secrets, including what is really going on at the Marange diamond fields right now.
The full horror of Gadaffi’s 42 year rule in Libya is being uncovered as the fighters reveal more evidence of how Gadaffi treated his opponents. One report in particular was a shocking reminder of the barbarity of the Gadaffi regime.
The rebels – or freedom fighters as they deserve to be called – had broken through into one of the many tunnels under Gadaffi’s headquarters in Tripoli and found skeletal prisoners, close to death, who had been entombed alive on Gadaffi’s orders as he retreated from Tripoli.
The fact that Mugabe continues to support such a man indicates that their long relationship is based on shared views on the nature of leadership. Both men have ruled through fear They are both vehemently anti-west, both have demonstrated extreme authoritarian tendencies and both of them inspire fanatical loyalty in their followers.
In Mugabe’s case, demonstrating loyalty to the ‘Dear Leader’ grants even criminals impunity. We saw that this week when the leader of the Chipangano gang was allowed to travel unimpeded to Mudzi, Mutoko and Murehwa to stir up more trouble in this already volatile area. At the other end of the country, another gang of thugs openly takes over people’s properties in Bulawayo as “part of Zanu PF’s indigenisation programme”.
Police say they can do nothing to stop it and the Minister of Higher Education, declares, “That is the reason we went to war, to free you to take everything from the former colonialists…”
The reality that the AU refuses to acknowledge is that Mugabe and Gadaffi, along with other African dictators, have maintained their long rule through oppression and fear. The courageous Libyans have demonstrated to the world that when ordinary citizens find the courage to throw off the shackles of fear then dictators should tremble for their end is not far off. So, while Gadaffi – wherever he is – continues to shout defiance at the world, he must know that the game is almost up. And then what will happen to all his investments in Zimbabwe?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH.aka Pauline Henson, author of the Dube books, detective stories with a political slant, available from Lulu .com
Post published in: Top Bloggers