Zimbabwe: The Grand Despot of Africa departs

Nothing to weep for

For a long time, I referred to Robert Mugabe whose demise has been announced by his family as the Grand Despot of Africa, entrenched as Zimbabwe’s first post-independence leader, he never transformed from a liberation struggle fighter into a statesman. [BBC]

When he was kicked out of office by a coup in 2017, he had already overstayed his welcome, impoverished Zimbabwe, overseen pogroms against the Ndebele in Matabeleland before he set on white Zimbabweans, seizing lands which probably with better political skill and status could have improved the lot of the majority even as the farmers suffered some material loss.

The state of Zimbabwe is in today is the legacy of Robert Mugabe, gerontocrats still hold sway clueless about what needs to be done to turn the ship of state around.

A failed leadership

There is very little to celebrate about Robert Mugabe beyond leading Southern Rhodesia to the new Zimbabwe, the many who fell along the way as his insatiable quest of ultimate power with the vehicle of ZANU-PF kept Zimbabwe from rising from colonialism to great prosperity, just because one man and his cohort of henchmen had an entitlement to rule and any challenge to his throne was met with unmitigated violence.

Three decades into his rule, Robert Mugabe would still raise his fist like a guerrilla leader and rail against colonial powers that had long since left things in his care, his claims to the right of Zimbabweans to govern themselves arrogated solely to himself as he presided over a corrupt enterprise that led to his wife, Grace Mugabe being labelled The First Shopper of Africa as his fellow countrymen were left on the breadline.

Smith and Mugabe both bad

When I wrote a piece at the passing of Ian Smith, the last president of colonial-era Southern Rhodesia in 2007, I inferred that the only difference between Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe was their race, every other act, policy, idea and implementation was literally the same, they were evil men.

Blog - Between Smith and Mugabe - no difference

It is literally impossible to mourn Robert Mugabe who died at 95, I could easily have replaced their names in that piece, and it would have read the same.

In 2000, Ian Smith said, “We have never had such chaos and corruption in our country, what Zimbabweans are looking for is a bit of ordinary honesty and straightforwardness.” Sadly, not much has changed in 2019.

Another parable of the talents

He went on to say, “We had the highest standard of health and education and housing for our black people than any other country on the African continent; that was what Rhodesians did. I wonder if we shouldn't be given credit for doing that.” This is not to celebrate white oppression, but it was a foundation that could have been built upon to put Zimbabwe in the class of one of the most prosperous countries in Africa with its citizenry not having conditions in their country used against them when they seek to travel abroad.

Robert Mugabe was given a country of great potential and talent, and he took it like the servant who was given one talent in the parable Jesus told in the Bible and buried it in the ground of his atrocious abuse of power. History must not him judge better for the realities of his misdeeds.

As false eulogies sound all over Africa, we must never forget, “Zimbabwe will remember Mugabe for his unrepentant racist attitude and the killing of thousands of innocent people.” This was said of Ian Smith, it applies to Robert Mugabe too. The evil these men did cannot afford me the basic good of saying – Rest in peace.

Let the accounting begin.

The Grand Despot of Africa is deposed

The revolution was over long ago

There comes a time when men are tested by circumstances and they fail to read the times rapidly falling from grace to disgrace slowing down time into slow motion crash.

Such was the end of the tyranny of terror of the man I have for over a decade referred to as the Grand Despot of Africa. In 1980, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was the revolutionary, the figurehead that took the entity of Southern Rhodesia from the grip of Ian Smith to the new dawn of Zimbabwe.

Since then, Robert Mugabe raised a revolutionary fist against forces known and unknown, enemies within and without, regaling crowds with revolutionary zeal, beguiling the people with the feeling that they are being assailed by the old colonialists whilst the reality was he was the colonist of the same colour as his brethren for the past 37 years.

Forgetting when your time is up

At 93, Robert Mugabe who could have long retired into revered African statesmanship like Julius Nyerere of Tanzania or Nelson Mandela did before him, fastened his grip on power, railing and raving, knocking down perceived opponents and easing the way for his firebrand and intemperate wife to assume dynastic succession.

What Robert Mugabe forgot was despite his iron grip on power, he was there at the behest and will of some of his people and the cohort that surrounded him that allowed the mystique of his inviolability and the myth of his seeming omnipotence to becloud his judgement.

He made one last miscalculation, egged on from the pillow of his bedchamber by the First Shopper of Africa, Gucci Grace whose vaunted claim to significance was being the wife of the President and by that she thought she was untouchable.

Bringing down the temple on his own head

He sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the 6^th of November and with that came down the principal stone held up the cult of personality of Robert Mugabe. The sacking of Emmerson Mnangagwa was like pulling the pin of the grenade and forgetting to throw it at a target far away, then run.

That singular act crystallised the mounting disaffection with first his wife and then Mr Mugabe, the army moved in and put him under house rest, sparing in his life in what was a coup in everything but name, Mr Mugabe failed to see that the end was nigh. The enemy without that was the rallying call of his rambling party speeches which defined his stubbornness and defiance was now at his doorstep, the army, the veterans of independence, his party, the youth wing that venerated him and his people.

Mr Mugabe was alone and asked to go, yet he refused to budge as every vestige of status, power and authority was being humiliatingly stripped from him, he then squandered the magnanimous opportunity to leave the stage the little dignity he had left in a nationally televised speech, Robert Mugabe had overstayed every toleration of his presence at the helm of Zimbabwe politics, it was no more whether he would leave, it was when.

The final humiliation

The parliament instigated the articles of impeachment to depose him, and then a letter arrived from the President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, read out in parliament, it was his letter of resignation. It finally dawned on him that he had run out of excuses and rhetoric to fight the groundswell of animus that had galvanised the people to ask him to go.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the apotheosis of the failure of leadership in Africa, he failed to transition from a revolutionary to a leader of his people, he exploited divisions amongst his people to retain a hold on power for over a generation. He failed to mentor successors, presiding over squabbling amongst his underlings seemingly secure in the impression that there was no one that could step into his shoes.

Failed leadership in Africa

What irks me most about African leaders that sit fast without budging under the hubristic delusion that no other countryman can do the job of leading their country is that it soon become a glaring lie. There are probably thousands of Zimbabweans, male and female alike that could, given the opportunity do a better job than Robert Mugabe ever could.

The legacy of Robert Mugabe is there for all to see, revolutionary zeal is not enough, he brought the country to its knees, from prosperity to poverty, entrenching a corrupt patronage that concentrated political power and economic clout in very few hands whilst he gave the people the prospect of wild dreams of adventure than became living nightmares.

No laurels for disgrace

No one will mourn that passing of the era of Robert Mugabe except for the few that profited from his being the emperor of an endemically corrupt enterprise, his resignation was greeted with celebrations on the streets of Harare not seen since the day of independence.

Robert Mugabe should now retreat into ignominy, insignificance, disgrace and silence, only to be read of when his longevity in life comes to an end. Our eyes are now on the remaining sit-tight African leaders vying for the crown of the Grand Despot of Africa.

Bye, bye Robert Mugabe, you shall like Ian Smith be consigned to the bad history of Zimbabwe.

South Africa: Malema, the glaring face of the worst of Africa's youth

Love the Boer

It was heartening to read this morning that the ANC had advised its members to refrain from singing [1] the liberation struggle song “Shoot the Boer”.

There was a time when the song was one to sing to enjoin the oppressed black people under the utterly repressive apartheid rule to rally to a cause beyond the peaceful struggle for majority rule.

If I heard an old man sing the song it would be a recollection of exploits but with the wisdom and gratitude for the fact that times have changed for a new kind of song asking the government to do more for its people - all of them.

No doubt this advice was particularly directed at the leader of the ANC Youth League, a controversial yob in leadership with populist rhetoric tailored to cultivate strife, animosity, discord, riot and division; in these times, the song is hateful, can incite to violence and is outrageously intemperate.

Roguish youth

Mr. Julius Malema [2] who is just 29 could have symbolised a bright future for the young South African but all he has been able to do is court controversy after controversy with brashness, recklessness and demagoguery.

His extreme views are unhealthy, unwholesome and atrocious, basically a mirror image of the worst of the oppressors that were on the other side of that struggle. However, a somewhat timid ANC leadership has been reticent about tackling the whippersnapper head on and calling him to order. Such an untrammelled attack dog can be useful for ulterior political ends by malevolent persons with influence, power and money.

Mr. Malema only last week arrogated the right to sing the liberation song though he was just 13 – hardly a liberation struggle veteran – when the Madiba assumed the presidency of South Africa and worked to reconcile and unite the peoples of South Africa - In Malema is a rabble rouser in manifestation not a man of vision and great ideas, a brute, if you ever saw one.

It is obvious that he sees no role model in the very revered Nelson Mandela as he was only last week being feted [3] by the Grand Despot of Africa – Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe – only an idiot would see any benefit accrued to Zimbabwe after those deplorable land seizures.

The need for better leaders

The youth of South Africa really have to decide once and for all the kind of person they would want to lead them, one that portends to align with history whilst being an idiot of the present or one that has qualities that unite, encourage and uplift all the people for greater expectations for the future.

Mr. Malema lacks all those good qualities by miles, he should begin to lack followership by the millions too.

What we have is an egotistical megalomaniac [4] in the making with despotic inclinations that would with heartless retribution silence any criticism no matter how constructive, fair or just – Africa needs none such any more and this example needs to be shorn of all its influence forthwith. Lest I forget, one song down, the machine gun song of President Zuma needs to go too.

Sources

[1] BBC News - South Africa's ANC stops singing 'Shoot the Boer'

[2] Julius Malema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Malema lauds Bob, says SA will copy Zim's land seizures - Times LIVE

[4] ANC's Julius Malema lashes out at 'misbehaving' BBC journalist | World news | The Guardian

Zimbabwe: Ready for Re-Colonisation

State-sponsored anarchy

The world watches almost helplessly as Zimbabwe descends into state-sponsored anarchy into order to entrench a desperate incumbency that spews out outrageous lies and falsehoods.

Robert Mugabe contends that he is fight for the land and sovereignty of Zimbabwe and would fight to the last man almost just short of declaring war to prevent Zimbabwe from being re-colonised.

He avers that the opposition that took the majority vote in the first round of presidential elections wants to sell Zimbabwe back to its old colonial masters such that whilst he lives it would never happen.

27 years of ruin

What I am about to say is controversially uncomfortable and is bereft of the encumbrance of sentiment; we must not forget that Robert Mugabe has been in charge of his country for 27 years.

27 years to turn it around, 27 years to make it a prosperous country, 27 years to give the people the right to decide who rules them and 27 years not to have to live in fear of extreme violence because one is exercising their right to vote.

Maybe there is some truth in the idea of re-colonising Zimbabwe, but I would be hard-pressed to find any reasons why Zimbabwe of today offers any desirable prospect for that kind of venture.

Nothing worthwhile there

Considering how destitute and impoverished many seem that almost 25% are refugees in neighbouring countries, one cannot make any decent slavery venture of men already herded about like starved cattle – brought about by this great liberation leader.

Zimbabwe has land, good agricultural land – in fact only 8.24% is arable [CIA World Fact Book], but there is a lot more land in Africa, the farmers chased out of Zimbabwe are beginning to thrive in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Zimbabwe however has no oil, its minerals which include platinum, gold and ferroalloys are not of the quantity that would have a radical economic impact on its people.

The life expectancy at birth is now 39.73 years with an unemployment rate of 80%, one wonders if there is any prospect for that country with that old man in charge at 84.

Skills for murder and destruction

What we have are an unemployable set of dead-enders who are called war veterans, an unfortunate mob of brigands who have been manipulated for 27 years by an unconscionable despot for political ends without delivering any appreciable benefits to their lives.

Their skills are better wielded with cudgels, sticks, guns and instruments of menace, rather than pens, hoes and brains such that the many that were offered the usurped farms had no aptitude to make anything work – they even failed at make weeds grow.

Their future has been yoked to great misfortune no matter what opportunity they have been offered such that they are zombies in the beck and call of the great liberation leader.

Deceived, cajoled and deployed

These people have been short-changed and laid destitute by their liberation leader who seeks to lay blame elsewhere as his wife enjoys the moniker of First Shopper.

The truth is there is nothing to colonise about Zimbabwe, but having make the country completely destitute any attempt to lift the country out of its morass would have it beholden to helpers – it is already in a colonisation-prone state as a result of the policies of the government that would not leave or allow the people to decide on who should lead them.

The war veterans have been cajoled with handouts and sops that do not last or provide a future, they are so desperate for anything that they are so easily persuaded of a false cause to harm their fellow Zimbabweans; having forgotten that it is this same demonic despot who killed fellow Zimbabweans in Matabeleland.

A crisis of leadership in Africa

This is where Africa suffers a great crisis of leadership, this outrage happens on our doorstep and the ones who should speak up appease and tolerate the intolerable.

When would the wool be pulled off our eyes to realise that the Zimbabweans deserve better and that great future does not emanate from any vision that Robert Mugabe projects?

There is nothing to colonise about Zimbabwe, it is time for all of us to see that truth and really for the last time consign the Grand Despot of Africa to the history of ignominy once and for all.

The Zimbabweans do deserve not be colonised by a cabal of corrupt leaders living in opulence whilst the people die of hunger in destitution and die horribly of violence meted out on them by their leaders for deciding to vote as they desire.

Nigeria: Dragging Iwu to the court of the Twelfth of June

June the Twelfth lives

It would appear June the Twelfth still has a few more lives in it before it gets consigned to history. In fact, it can never be completely consigned to history because it comes every year and someone somewhere would find reason to commemorate the day.

For Nigeria, it remains that one seminal moment when the freest and fairest elections were conducted in the country, the only sad thing being the will of the people was aborted before full recognition was made of the winner.

This being the 15^th anniversary of the event, the chairman of the then electoral commission which was known as the National Electoral Commission, Professor Humphrey Nwosu launched his tome about that election.

Titled Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election and its Annulment – a mouthful of a book title not yet available on Amazon, the reviews beyond the pre-launch hype show us nothing particularly new or worthy of news – one reviewer calls it beautiful nonsense.

Boos and all

In any case, at the launch, the guests of honour that included General Ibrahim Babangida, the President who annulled the election, though absolved by the professor and his successor Chief Ernest Shonekan were not present to grace the occasion.

When the name of the current chairman of Inept National Electoral Commission, Professor Maurice Iwu’s name was mentioned at the event, it was booed – perhaps the chairman thought it prudent to attend the occasion lest he be derided.

Anyway, rather than concentrate on trying to avoid more controversy, INEC through its spokesperson has decided to take up the defence of its head by making the following assertions.

The two electoral commissions were different.

One operated under a military junta in 1993 and the other under a civilian administration in 2007.

The annulment of the results of the first almost plunged the country into chaos, the more recent one was a successful transition from one civilian regime to another.

The comparisons are baseless and we should concentrate on the successes of the 2007 elections and work on strengthening the democratic process.

Since Professor Iwu was not at the event he could not have been booed.

Debunking the assertions

The assertions are interesting and quite informative because, whilst the elections happened under different circumstances, it did not mean that the clearly expressed will of the people should be subsumed in annulment or incompetence such that the fairness of the 2007 elections remains questionable.

The elections of 2007 could well have plunged the country into chaos, but the death of 300-plus citizens during those elections was 300-plus lives too many.

The comparison should and must be made to determine if Nigeria has really progressed or not and the verdict in terms of the electoral process seems to tick the negative boxes.

It can only be a delusion for INEC to continue to contend that they conducted very successful elections in April 2007, but maybe we are missing a point that I would elaborate on later on.

Then a man does not have to be present at an event to acknowledge anytime he is booed, a name mentioned carries just as much weight as the presence of the person, if that person is well known and has a reputation the booing audience fully acknowledge – there is no journalistic slight in reporting that a person has been booed or praised, regardless of if that person is present or not.

Transition was the only goal

It would appear that the goals of success INEC defined for itself were not for the conduct of free and fair elections; that was not their purpose at all – from the statements, they were doing the impossible – that impossible act was the transition from one civilian regime to another.

Nobody mentions that it was the same ruling party that had literally politicised the commission such that it took the courts to restrain the commission from blatant unconstitutional infringements.

It would have been a greater achievement if the transition was from a ruling party to the opposition but the numbers did not look that way in the end.

However, if the standard of success was only predicated on a successful transition to a hand-picked invalid who seems to be grappling with the levers of power without successfully moving the vehicle more than an inch – well, it would have been utterly naïve of us to expect the elections to be free, fair and absent of irregularities.

The judgement of June the Twelfth

Professor Iwu should by now have developed thick enough skin not to be ruffled by any comments about him, but June the Twelfth brings his stewardship into stark relief as a sycophantic neophyte, oblivious of ethical demands of his brief and in denial about his rank incompetence.

This was exemplified in still having electioneering documents in South Africa 24 hours before a major election – that he still holds office beggars belief, but the woes of the challenge of the President’s election have to pass, then the buffoon can be kicked out and pensioned off in ignominy.

Professor Iwu, when dragged into the court of June the Twelfth is found wanting and judged a failure but it is a more foolish man who kicks against the goads.

As for INEC, maybe sometime in the future, free and fair can enter their vocabulary, but now, transition trumps a decent electoral process – the result of which can be seen the turmoil of Kenya and now Zimbabwe – it is a real shame, indeed, it is.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe is a coward

Release my results

Follow me through this analogy – I have just completed a number of academic examinations leading to a major qualification – at the time when I was to receive the results, half the results were released but the whole detail that would prove I was qualified was not released.

Then as I clamoured with the examination board to release the rest of my complement of results, someone took the decision to remark my papers.

I am then left in a quandary, the first being why all my results were not released on time in the first place and then what could have lead to having my papers remarked without information as to why.

Nigeria not an example for good

This is just an analogy; the reality creates a worse feeling for all concerned because the first instance relates to when the Nigerian military government under Ibrahim Babangida cancelled an election that took place in June 1993 having released half the results of that election, a situation that plunged us into another few years of despotic rule.

The failure of democracy in Africa can be directly traced to the failure of simple democratic processes in Nigeria. The situation is so bad that you never find Nigeria at the forefront of speaking up for democratic reform because our processes are so tarnished and not credible enough to give us the moral right to talk to others about doing things right.

Some commentators would contend that the electoral debacle that happened in Kenya in December 2007 only happened because Nigeria provided no leadership in matters of electoral rectitude where the voice of people in votes are properly and correctly presented in the figures sanctioned as official.

Recounts before results

The second part of my analogy pertains to developments in Zimbabwe, where the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has decided to recount the votes cast in 23 districts covering the presidential, parliamentary, senate and council votes.

I find it incredible that first of all, only the complete parliamentary results have been released and only part of the senate results, the rest have been kept from the public who have a right to know what their collective voices have said about who should govern them in Zimbabwe.

I would have had no problems with the recount of districts that have results released, but I cannot see how there can be a recount when the results have not been released.

There can be a recount sometimes, if the results are close, but all parties should be privy to those results and the reasons for the recount. Unfortunately, the ZEC appears to be a pliant organ of the ZANU-PF rather than an independent arbiter and custodian of the democratic process for the good of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is a coward

The real situation is simple, the Grand Despot of Africa and strong man of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe is a coward. He cannot bear to see that he has been rejected by Zimbabwe after all he did to terrorise the people or buy the election by giving away car keys on the eve of the election.

Mr. Mugabe, is coward because he was afraid to hear his fellow African leaders of the SADC tell him that his time is up, Mr. Mugabe knows the real truth and his cohort of hardliners whose loss of ruler-ship would make them fodder for the Coliseum of the hungry lions of retributive justice are steeling him up for stealing the election.

This is where a country like Nigeria or South Africa should have stepped in and pre-empted what might turn out to be a travesty of democracy.

Give me Brutus or Judas

I despair for what would happen in the end, but should it take a Marcus Junius Brutus to get rid of this Caesar that has destroyed his country or a Judas Iscariot to betray this non-Messiah with the goal to sacrifice one man for the good of the many?

It is time to have Mr. Mugabe despatched, Zimbabwe has been too long under the strangled-hold of this despot, it is time to forcibly take his grasp off the neck of the people and let then thrive as they should for a future that Mr. Mugabe does not have the time, the vision or the will to give.

Invade for democracy

This is one time where every well meaning voice must speak up for the democratic right to have the results of a vote released, correctly, promptly and without controversy.

If this recount is another ploy to adjust the results to meet the needs of people who cannot accept that their time is up, it must be repudiated with the greatest force possible and this time the sovereignty of Zimbabwe should and must be violated to ensure that the people’s voice and votes are what counted to reflect what they have intended.

Zimbabwe deserves respite and this is one cause that is a blight on Africa, only second to the disgrace in Darfur – Zimbabwe must be free by the vote or by the boot.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's epitaph by a little girl

Be gone and done

The slow death of Mugabe's regime as it grasps at battered reeds of a hope that had long been extinguished by the suffering of his people leaves us exhausted.

The life of his government ebbs away having been dealt the blow of a cardiac arrest in losing his majority in the Zimbabwean parliament, to an opposition that has been tested – not by slavery, not by liberation struggle, not by apartheid but by fellow black countrymen drunk to excess with power – and it is now ready to take the tattered mantle, maybe to a place of new beginnings - Godspeed.

Give us the president

The population of Zimbabwe does not number infinity, the count must end one day and the result will be known.

Woe betide they who give respite to the beast that ate the people for breakfast, took away everything that made the people a proud and honourable people and spat them out at dusk as all that once had worth became cheaper than the sand in the desert.

The defibrillator shall roast the heart to cinder because every good deed that might have been worthy of thanks a generation ago has been wiped out many times over by the longsuffering resolve of a people who would not endure slavery anymore under the iron hand of any man no matter the colour.

Tell the men to make the coffin of the wood of townships destroyed and by the time the last gasp leaves the beast, secure him to eternal repose with 9-inch nails and not a few.

Zimbabwe’s plight is Africa’s shame

As we begin to rejoice at the end of the suffering of Zimbabwe and it must be very soon - the shame of Africa is laid bare, not one has been a brother's helper in ending this travesty.

The people of Zimbabwe took their destiny in their own hands and called a stop to their bondage.

They will owe no man their freedom because they voted the man out with their blood, their suffering and their vote, for which they deserve all commendation, praise and support.

We amongst ourselves most evil

Let it be known that it was the black man who took away the hopes and aspirations of the fellow black man.

It was the black man, his cohorts and minions that bloodied their fellow countrymen.

And it was fellow black leaders that gave succour to the reprehensible, the atrocious, the unacceptable and the downright outrageous.

Zimbabwe's friends in their quest for real self-determination were not in Africa, they were further away but kept faith for their deliverance.

Let the past begin

As a new dawn breaks we congregate at the death-bed of the beast, any time soon, should come the last gasp, the padre with the stake awaits the moment to make dead certain dead sure.

Line the grave with lead and seal it with concrete and let it be sunk in the rough of the deepest seas.

No remembrance should be made of the beast for the past ends when the stake was driven in.

After all said and done, the little girl of hardly 10 said. “He was a very bad man”.

She could have won the Pulitzer prize with that one line.

Zimbabwe: Thanks Mugabe, Now Give Way

Keeping faith

Today, I keep faith with Zimbabweans that the reign of the Grand Despot of Africa – Robert Mugabe – shall come to an end. That the will of the people to be set free from an old liberation message that was valid a generation ago but insignificant to the issues of today would fulfilled.

The tired rhetoric of colonial powers holding back Zimbabwe should now have bored the people to death, as they cast their ballots they should be asking questions.

Answered in voting

Who can really take Zimbabwe beyond this fight with imaginary enemies of state when the enemies themselves constitute the self-same government?

Are there ways in which the gerontocracy could have been smarter with the old colonial powers in negotiating better deals for Zimbabwe despite the reluctance of these powers to arrive at the best terms?

Is there someone else who has better leadership qualities to move Zimbabwe from being a basket case to being the bread basket of Southern Africa that it once was?

Can Zimbabwe afford another sunrise with Robert Mugabe at the helm?

Who has new ideas, hopes and a vision for Zimbabwe?

Hoping against hope

I am not sure if the results of the election would express the democratic wish of the people, but anyone Zimbabwean – white or black – knows that the government of Mugabe has lead to country to the edge of the abyss.

Any man who has served a cause like Mugabe has for 28 years and has produced the disaster he now runs is a grotesque failure – if he would not as an old man let his people thrive, then, in the hope that he has not found the elixir of immortality, we might well start the longest wake in history in seeing him back to mother Earth just as Ian Smith did a few months ago.

Zimbabwe shall be free indeed

Zimbabwe shall be free and I pray that today, it would be by reason of each and every vote that encapsulates the yearning and aspirations of people who have been denigrated, enslaved, dehumanised and oppressed but whose indefatigable spirit would deliver their freedom faster than any despot can attempt to curtail it.

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Nigeria sets no good examples for Africa

That Cliché about African Leadership

What is happening in Africa today bothers me a lot because it all concerns leadership – poor leadership, rotten leadership, leadership acquired by violence and corruption, leadership held onto without offering good governance, idiotic leadership and sprinklings of good leadership.

Very few countries in Africa can boast good leadership, there is hope, but what does surround us now is chaos.

For instance, today, Darfur in Sudan still represents an intractable problem of genocide that is quickly fading from urgent action; the completely botched elections in Kenya has caused so much unrest, violent displacement and killings that it might slip out of the control of the political leaders, Zimbabwe has registered an inflation rate (150,000%) that makes the mind boggle and rebels are trying to unseat a government in Chad.

Africans adrift in Africa

The result of this is Africans are refugees in their own Africa, displaced because of policies implemented by fellow Africans who want power and give no respite to their people – savagery, murder, hunger and displacement becomes the lot of the masses whilst the middle-classes and the rising prosperous classes are completely oblivious or indifferent of those problems in the slums, villages and the hinterland.

However, I only have to go back to my blogs in April 2007 where I lamented the issues around the Nigerian election to see why Africans are unlikely to have African solutions for African problems.

Africans silent to African suffering

The issue in Darfur never became a crisis until others outside the continent decided they could not stand for such large-scale suffering, Africans are still dragging their feet on the matter.

The elections in Kenya were most definitely flawed as the head of the electoral commission eventually said he was not sure of who won. African leaders then welcomed the imposed president who “stole” the elections whilst he left his country behind burning.

The entrenched eternal incumbency of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe should have come to an end with the people of the country being able to choose who would lead their country out of the morass it is in, but for the appeasement of African leaders that continues to make a bad situation worse.

It would take the threat and actions of the French army in Chad to keep a democratic dictator, Idriss Deby who has done nothing for his country in all his years in power that others who think they can do the job better have to resort to arms to unseat him.

Where is the country?

The question is, where is the African country with the authority, clout, gravitas and respect that can speak up for the downtrodden masses and exert the kind of influence to ensure things are done right in the “Dark” continent, such we can all be seen in the light as enlightened, emancipated and in control, able to solve our problems with confidence?

Step forward – Nigeria? The Giant of Africa in size offers none of this ability, its institutions are still mired in corruption, its elections are flawed that it cannot condemn the ones in Kenya, its leadership skirts illegitimacy so it can say nothing to Sudan, Zimbabwe or Chad.

In all that has been happening in the last few weeks, we have heard not one squeak from the Heart of Africa because it has a bad heart.

The insignificance of the giant

We have the biggest sporting event going on in Africa and the grand populace of 130 million could not produce a team that could survive the first stage of eliminations.

This is result of our polity not realising the example we should be setting for Africa so that things can be done right and if done wrongly, we can be a model for correction.

Unfortunately, South Africa cannot step into the breach because they have not been able to raise the expectations of their people beyond subsistence; they would end up with a leader very much in the mould of the many that gives Africa a very bad name.

Africa can only begin to solve its own problems when we deal with each other honestly, truthfully, fairly, justly and with mutual respect based on leadership and governance that eschews corruption and nepotism, that embraces transparency and begins to tackle with vigour the problems that affect Africa and Africans.

There is hope for Africa, but in the meantime, it would require a lot more international intervention and scrutiny to ensure what we are doing is well beyond reproach and within globally acceptable standards before we are respectfully left to maturely seek African solutions to African problems.

PS: This was written to highlight the frustration of a fellow Nigerian about his country not being able to address African issues with boldness because we have set bad examples and lost the moral authority that could be projected with our greatness in Africa.

John Sentamu - A true African Leader

Dramatic gesture

When the news came on air that the Archbishop of York – John Sentamu – had cut up his dog-collar, what went through my mind was the break away of the San Joaquin diocese from the US Episcopal Church yesterday because of the consecration of one homosexual bishop – Gene Robinson – in 2003.

Homosexuals split the church

Whilst I have my views about churches engaging in social activism there are worthwhile causes where the church should be at the forefront – a split over homosexuality where a majority of selfsame homosexuals have been alienated from the church and find no spiritual succour or guidance from where the expression the love of Christ could have made the church a sanctuary for healing broken people is sad indeed.

Beyond this, there are more problems that should have gained greater priority in the vision and mission of the church like reaching the unreached (with might include homosexuals), poverty alleviation, community regeneration in areas of combating disease, rural development and education – there is almost too much work to be done and never enough hands, minds, people and funds to tackle these “Great Commission” issues.

But these are too difficult as energy is being expended in their obsession with homosexuality – Archbishop Desmond Tutu – and it would appear amongst all the critical issues facing the Church and Christianity today that finds the most activity.

Clergy activism for the good

This morning Archbishop John Sentamu’s actions are better placed as what the church should be involved in, born in Uganda, first appointed a High Court judge by Idi Amin and the persecuted by the despot for being judicially independent – the Archbishop was well acquainted with the tyranny of rotten African leadership and is well aware of his history and roots even though he has settled into the comfort of the English establishment his preaches a gospel that has meaning and relevance to our times.

Zimbabwe once had an Archbishop in Pius Ncube who was one of the few who were untouchable by the grubby hands and machinations of Robert Mugabe’s henchmen; the learned clergyman however lost his vision and vocation by engaging in activities that diminished his integrity, authority and credibility – the state security apparatus produced evidence of the Archbishop engaging in adultery.

This meant the voice in support of the people from the body of the clergy had to come from elsewhere, so this morning on the Andrew Marr Show (the transcript) in answering questions about Robert Mugabe, the Archbishop demonstrated that he wears a dog-collar to identify himself; taking it off, he cut it to bits saying these words.

“You know ... you see as an Anglican, this is what I wear to identify myself that I'm a clergyman. Do you know what Mugabe has done? He's taken people's identity and literally if you don't mind, cut it to pieces. This is what he's actually done, to a lot of - and in the end there's nothing. So as far as I'm concerned from now on I'm not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe's gone.”

The new image of Africa

The sooner Mugabe is gone either by geriatric expiration or by a putsch that would allow us bring him to The Hague to face human rights abuse charges, the better.

He was hosted at the Africa-EU Summit in Lisbon, Portugal that Gordon Brown has boycotted and other African leaders had threatened not to attend if Robert Mugabe was not invited – It was nice to hear that Angela Merkel laid into him and stated “The situation of Zimbabwe is damaging the image of the new Africa”.

Dishonest African Leadership

Some African leaders would have us believe that Zimbabwe is not near collapse and Mugabe is not on his way out, they seek to patch a completely broken situation where even the country’s chief statistician cannot determine that rate of inflation in the country anymore because there aren’t enough goods on the shelves to create a viable dataset.

If the reality of the situation in Zimbabwe is being distorted by the media, according to the aspiring mediator in the person of the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade as he visited Zimbabwe recently; I would suspect part of that is because of the lack of the freedom of the press in Zimbabwe, but more truthfully it is because we are not being seriously honest with each other; the destroyed townships are no mirage; the illegal immigrants and refugees flocking to South Africa are not animals in seasonal migration; the inflation figures that read 4,000% at one time are not plucked out of the air; the battered faces of the opposition leaders were not make-up – see the Q&A. Those, if I may be allowed the use of the word "coincidences" add up to a country with serious, serious problems.

However, this stance represents the great problem with Africa; the fear of seeing true democracy unseat unpopular leaders, the excitement or perverse black-man thing about seeing countries wrestle with their old colonial masters without any particular gain but notoriety leading to ruin and the inability to decisively tackle the matter of transparency, corruption and poor governance because it would mean everyone has to straighten up. It is no wonder that Africa that was well ahead of Asia in the 60s is now a basket-case in the 21^st Century.

In the end, the Africa-EU Summit, the first in 7 years was just another reactionary move by Europe very much like the Scramble for Africa, only this time, it is not for the partition of land but access to Africa’s resources. A meeting of equals in word for the economic colonisation of Africa – a success.

So far, it has been the clergymen who have gauged the situation well and not the disgraceful and shameful politicians; we have Archbishop Pius Ncube, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and now Archbishop John Sentamu to thank for being true, truthful and honest about Mugabe and the problems in Zimbabwe and Africa at large.

Between Smith and Mugabe - no difference

The bastion of white rule

The death of Ian Smith the last minority rule white leader of Rhodesia that then became Zimbabwe is a milestone in the history of that country.

It so happens that it is the regime of Ian Smith that appears to give Robert Mugabe the perverse legitimacy that allows him to be revered as a freedom-fighter, a part of history that is invalidated but current events in Zimbabwe.

I would not go into the history of Rhodesian independence or the liberation struggle, which is well documented in other places.

We know that Ian Smith never believed in black majority rule, but the state of affairs in Zimbabwe today leaves us almost in acquiescence with that view.

White achievement and black squander

In his words, “We have never had such chaos and corruption in our country, what Zimbabweans are looking for is a bit of ordinary honesty and straightforwardness.” And that was in 2000.

Whilst many would see his time as one of the worst in racial oppression, he also said, “We had the highest standard of health and education and housing for our black people than any other country on the African continent; that was what Rhodesians did. I wonder if we shouldn't be given credit for doing that.”

I do not see Robert Mugabe - The Grand Despot of Africa - being able to boast in that manner and really there are very few African leaders that have measured up to the quality of leadership, organisation and governance of the worst of the people they replaced.

In the end, the Zimbabwean state apparatus has nothing good to say about Ian Smith and we have the Information minister saying he was a man who brought untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans and bidding him “Good riddance”. As if the situation is any different now.

Smith and Mugabe no different

I cannot see how this is not also a prophecy that would read as contemporaneous at the demise of Robert Mugabe, because death somehow has a way of getting at men who believe themselves immortal and so, I view this other statement as poignant - Zimbabwe will remember Smith (Mugabe) for his unrepentant racist attitude and the killing of thousands of innocent people – This came from the state television.

There probably are more similarities between Smith and Mugabe including their dislike of meddling Britain and their radical racist rhetoric; apart from the war that pitched them against each other for independence, they have both lead their country into isolation but I do wonder if life was not better for the blacks in one regime than the other.

No words said against Ian Smith today seem to sound any different from what we should all expect to be said of Robert Mugabe when he departs this mortal coil – they both destroyed their fatherland in the pursuit of a vision that was both evil and unsustainable.

I wait for the day when this chapter of developing history would be closed forever and the people of either Rhodesia or Zimbabwe shall be free to determine for themselves the real course of what should be a prosperous future.

The lion is the jewel - Wole Soyinka

The man over the boy

The contrast cannot have been any clearer as to see the HardTalk interview of the 1986 Literature Nobel Laureate; Professor Wole Soyinka by Stephen Sackur this morning putting the ordinary and lack-lustre Chief Ojo Maduekwe - the Foreign Minister of Nigeria in the shade.

It would contemptible to offer to compare these two personalities, but I was both pleased, impressed and proud to hear Wole Soyinka address the issue of his vocation and activism in relation to the politics of Africa.

It was also interesting that Wole Soyinka was not interviewed as a playwright on the sister programme HardTalk Extra, but on the substantive HardTalk programme with a live audience in Lagos that applauded at the end of the interview.

Nigeria is not a democracy

The Professor rubbished the context of Nigerian democracy highlighting the fact that the elections were seriously flawed and democratic institutions had been undermined by the executive in the tenure of the last President.

He was disgusted by the fact that political thuggery found expression and patronage from the ruling “democrats” but lauded the fact that despite repression and dictatorial tendencies the freedom of the press has been sacrosanct; maybe in another forum he can address the issue of quality.

Many would agree that it takes a special kind of temperament to get involved in Nigerian politics, even my foray into student union politics has taught me too much already – the Professor contented that he had a bigger forum with his work, writing and expression than to be subsumed into what is essentially a quagmire.

Complacency in Nigeria

He talked of his membership of a forum that is concerned about a creeping complacency and resignation to issues that have been abused in the country, especially that of the electoral process.

The fear is that many have placed their optimism for resolution in the future without really addressing the problems now. Another point he mentioned was that Nigeria is becoming a powder-keg ready to go off as people realise how resources are plundered to the detriment of others. The example he gave of shared poverty being a shared prosperity in Tanzania was quite an insight.

We should remember that the day before, the views of Wole Soyinka about the political situation were discounted by the Nigerian Foreign Minister, but it was Wole Soyinka that was invited by the US Congress to testify on the matters of the election.

A conflagration about to consume

In the end, the Professor is not advocating violence, his struggle is to bring the complete democratic process into all facets of life; but he also sees where resentment might eventually flare up into an unmanageable situation – our leaders need to take note of the fact that the people would only allow themselves to be taken for fools for so long after which, nobody knows what might really happen.

This interview was part of the BBC “Why Democracy?” season, it is a question that needs to be answered because like the Professor said, at independence, there was an aspiration and vision to bring radical change to Africa, all of which has floundered in the depictions that emanate from Sudan and Zimbabwe as the worst cases of egregious abuse of power in Africa.

Playing by the rules

Nigeria however finds itself in a situation where the rulers abuse the rules and processes with impunity and hubris, but we who seek justice and fair-play have to use the democratic rules of due process, the respect of the rule of law and an assuredly independent judiciary – impartial in its analysis, fearless in its judgements and courageous in debunking megalomaniac potentates.

From that point, Wole Soyinka represents a beacon of hope for Nigeria, he may never vie for President but he is a worthy president and representative of the hope and aspirations for a better governed and equitable Nigeria - He is the lion and the jewel [The Lion and the Jewel (1963) is one of Professor Wole Soyinka's best known plays] stating how precious democracy is to the real development of Nigeria.

It also means that those in power today might still be deprived of the mandate to rule if the electoral tribunal elects to invalidate the flawed elections of April 2007.

The interview (Real Media file, you can obtain RealAlternative [Link to executable] to play this back in Windows Media Player).

Ojo (Maduekwe) has lost his mojo

Updated with video link ...

The BBC has now updated the HardTalk site with the Ojo Maduekwe interview - listen (Real Media file, you can obtain RealAlternative [Link to executable] to play this back in Windows Media Player).

Parseltongue from Nigeria

Unfortunately, the BBC has not updated its HardTalk site to include its recent guest. Having been creating a large carbon footprint around Europe, well visiting sunny Madrid and now settling down in my hotel in Paris, I searched for world language channel and landed on BBC World.

Just in time to see Chief Ojo Maduekwe the current Foreign Minister of Nigeria being grilled by Stephen Sackur.

Never have I seen someone so given to platitudes and banality exhibiting such a complete lack of grasp of his portfolio or realizing the importance of the quality of his responses.

Nigeria not in front

On three critical African issues, I failed to see Nigeria offering guidance, leadership or vision, just diplomatic talk aimed at appearing present but offering nothing.

Darfur – He expressed regret at the loss of African life especially Nigerians, he was not forceful about the need for real action and when cornered he tried to say it not really an entirely African problem (some truth) and the lack of resources for the soldiers was still praised as success on the part of Africans.

I doubt if he had deigned to grace Darfur with his presence as it does not exude the opulence megalomaniacal Nigerian politicians like to be found in.

Twice if not thrice in the whole interview, this offered one opportunity to damned Wole Soyinka with praise without acknowledging the cause Wole Soyinka lamented about.

Nigeria not forceful

Zimbabwe – Nigeria has no view on approaching the Zimbabwean issue to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Whilst it would have been undiplomatic to ask Mugabe to step down, he should have been more forceful about the need for change in that country.

Where Nigeria should have been a mover if sanctions should be considered, he skirted that question by saying when it comes to that situation, Nigeria would make its views known.

You do not need another person of great political importance to dampen the aspirations of a people in Africa than to have such a person in the position of Nigeria’s Foreign Minister.

Then he offered the democratic exercise in Nigeria as a template for the resolution of the issues in Zimbabwe, I was left breathless and astonished.

Nigeria an example?

Nigeria – Once again, regret was expressed at the death of people during the elections and whilst agreeing in a circulatory way that the elections were flawed he laid into Wole Soyinka for not being a politician and talking about political processes.

It force the Stephen Sackur to express a bit of frustration at how such a respected Nigerian could be discounted in such a way on issues that affect every Nigeria.

Ojo would not have it as he praised the success of the transition and then offered it as a tribute to those who died during the elections and pledged that the President offered to make election reform a fitting legacy to those who lost their lives.

Nigeria’s political class

Indeed, I need to watch this interview again, but my first impressions left me seriously unimpressed and not amused. It appears politicians and ministers have a view of themselves being above the fray in Nigeria and would not brook non-politicians commenting about Nigerian situations especially when expressing exasperation at the Nigerian polity.

There are people who might think he acquitted himself well, but I would say we have had better brains and articulate people with a good grasp of their briefs represent Nigeria before not to talk of the fact that the attack on Wole Soyinka might just be the mindset of denigrating world-respected Nigerian technocrats and great minds whose views gain greater audiences than the clowns who cannot even do balloons.

PS: Parseltongue made popular by the Harry Potter books is the language of snakes.

Zimbabwe: The shaming of Pius Ncube

State sponsored sex stings

If there was more to do to see the end of suffering and deprivation brought on the people of Zimbabwe by the Grand Despot of Africa in the gerontocratic evil hands of Robert Mugabe, 83 the time is now.

Reading Wande’s blog [Now extinct] that explores the realities of events with the topic “Re - Zimbabwe bishop 'victim of state'” illustrates how the state apparatus works to completely discredit and suppress any opposition to the rotten regime of Mugabe.

I left a comment on that blog which I flesh out the more in this write-up, because this is not the first time the Mugabe regime has used the state agencies to bring down and disgrace “men of the cloth” who pose a threat to his kind of government.

Before the case of Bishop Pius Ncube who resigned his post as the Archbishop of Bulawayo on the 11^th of September 2007, there was the one of the Reverend Canaan Banana, the first president of Zimbabwe with Robert Mugabe as his Prime Minister who after Mugabe usurped all power was accused and convicted of 11 counts of sodomy and eventually, he served two years in prison as well as getting defrocked, he died in 2003.

A similar sodomy charge was brought against Anwar Ibrahim the Prime Minister and challenger to the regime of Dr Mahatir bin Muhammed of Malaysia in 2000 which lead to a conviction until an appeals court overturned it in 2004.

Making the most embarrassing charges

I am sure there are many other examples of political machinations using the state apparatus to besmirch, tarnish and blackball people who pose a challenge to the ruling class and their figureheads, usually, it is almost impossible to successfully find justice if all the scales are tilted against you.

So, back to Pius Ncube, there would have been too many precedents for him not to think that he would be targeted, not by bullets for martyrdom in the cause for humanity in Zimbabwe as he had expected, but through undermining his credibility, authority, respect and integrity.

The reporting of the matter surrounding the shaming of Pius Ncube is a bit sketchy as the foreign press are refused the access to report events happening in what is becoming a recluse of tyranny – if we cannot report we can speculate.

As a Roman Catholic bishop, one would think the bishop is a subject of clerical celibacy and since sodomy is taken as par for the course for such persons of devotion (the last clause is a wild generalisation which probably has no basis in fact but is very well an urban myth – See A Very Short History Of Clergy Sexual Abuse In The Catholic Church), adultery would create a greater embarrassment.

The woman the bishop is said to have been caught with in his bedroom was the estranged wife of someone who subsequently lodged a 20 billion Zimbabwean dollar adultery suit for redress, though now the adultery charge has been dropped.

The dead-hand of the government must have been involved in this quest to embarrass a strident opponent of Robert Mugabe who by reason of his religious position was untouchable; however, if an affair did take place amidst the protestations of the bishop, my comments on the reference blog have gone thus.

My Comments

Whilst I feel some sympathy for the bishop in that he was one of the few living in Zimbabwe who could speak up and not get beaten up by the police, his error of judgment and lax moral values have compromised his integrity.

He has an uphill battle to maintain his rights struggle without being heckled down as an adulterer whenever he speaks.

The fact is, when you set yourself aside to fight for a humanitarian cause, you must also separate yourself from the wiles and excesses of life - as a man of the cloth, he surely must have been well aware of that.

Finally, he has let both his cause and the people of Zimbabwe down, I hope I have not judged him too harshly, but his cause should have been a lot greater than sexual fulfilment with another man's wife, he did not consider the consequences of his actions.

I really do hope all the people involved in this would be discredited and the bishop would be vindicated, the plot, meanwhile thickens.

PS: It would appear the comment I placed has been lost probably due to some gremlin activity - That is beside the point, the originating blog is still part of my inspiration for this write-up and it remains acknowledged as such. [When I checked the originating blog in December 2019, it appears to have disappeared.]

Other references

My Zimbabwe Blogs