The low turn out at the stadium in Harare for Robert Mugabe’s funeral speaks volumes about how Zimbabweans feel about their late president of 37 years. It was neither shocking nor surprising.
Soon after independence in 1980 Robert Gabriel Mugabe was looked upon with envy and admiration: a prolific orator, freedom fighter and nationalist of un-equaled stature.
He deserved the accolades and respect heaped on him because he vowed to bring the Ian Smith minority, racist white regime to its knees. And he did.
Unlike Nelson Mandela, however the 11 years Mugabe spent in prison for fighting for Zimbabwe’s independence left him a bitter and angry man, and that rage seemed to have blinded him because it soon became the driving force behind his national policies, particularly the myopic land reform strategy that brought the Zimbabwean economy to its knees.
Within ten years, the once breadbasket of Africa became a basket case as Mugabe dished the white farms that fed his country to his henchmen and cronies without the rudimentary knowledge of farming. It was actually painful to watch because Mugabe should have known better, and had the necessary education to understand the basics of farming economy.
In many ways Mugabe was a tragic figure, and in my opinion here is why:
His pride got in the way, and in this manner he forgot the source of his power: the military. He was in power so long he became comfortable, complacent, stubborn, forgetting that Zimbabwe was a military state, a state of securocrats, and he a mere representative of a securocratic state which would dump him if he didn’t serve it. So, they fired him.
In the end it was the human frailties that proved the undoing of the world’s oldest dictator : the excessive family loyalty, and the unusual blind foolish infatuation with his wife Grace, 42 years younger. In the end she was poetically nicknamed “Disgrace”.
The signs of a looming military coup surely must have been apparent to Mugabe. His generals were against his plan to give a senior government post to his unpopular wife who was constantly insulting and mocking the military men and their political allies.
While the average Zimbabwean went hungry, and the Zimbabwean currency became worthless, “Gucci” Grace went on obscene shopping sprees, reportedly dropping a cool $75,000 in one day in a Paris boutique.
For an African woman Grace was impudent, mannerless and a disgrace to African womanhood. Her street manners and arrogance were not what was expected of a First Lady.
A reading of her many bizarre quotes explains what manner of woman she was, and likely is, to this day;
“If God decides to take him (Mugabe) then we will field him as a corpse in the election.”
She went on to say, “He (Mugabe) took time to groom me into the woman I am now.”
True: a disgrace, lewd and crude, and the main reason for Robert Mugabe’s fall from grace.
In the end Mugabe’s age and failing health became a factor to his misrule. He completely ignored the alarm bells from his generals and the Zimbabwean people. Sadly, he was convinced of his popularity, believing in the results of chronic rigged elections, never once realizing how hollow his authority was.
As one Zimbabwean political analyst commented, “Big people tend to over-reach, and he over-reached himself.”
Unfortunately even with Mugabe’s un-ceremonious exit, the remaining “Big Men” on our continent will not take heed, choosing to foolishly ignore the writing on the wall in their respective countries.
Not true: history does not repeat itself. But it sure rhymes.
