Mugabe May Not, After All, Be Insane!

By Abraham Tangwe

The recent avalanche of insults and negative publicity directed towards Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe cannot leave any keen African observer indifferent.

The idea is not to exonerate him from any wrongdoing per se. This is so because he is guilty of some, but hardly enough for us to be so hard on him. It is even more pathetic and frightful when an authoritative and respected iconic figure like Mandela decides to join in this dance of the Vampires.

Our gullible natures have pushed us blindly into the waiting trap of western propaganda through the snares of their media entanglements, which is always tele-guided by their government policies.

We are so happy, and sadly so, to sit back and take for gospel truth what somebody sits in a cozy office in Europe or America and tells us about something happening in our backyard. Otherwise, all these talk of insensitivity to the aspirations of the people, election rigger, dictator, insane old man, power drunk, failed leadership etc would not arise.

Why is the case of Zimbabwe so peculiar? Is Mugabe the worst leader on the continent? What has happened that somebody whose country was one of the best managed, socially, is witnessing such a dramatic down turn? Why would a Knight suddenly turn round to be mad, as claimed?

You may recall that independence, as granted to African States, was simply cosmetic. It was arranged so that the white faces in all public places were simply replaced with black faces. In all fairness, the white men went through the door and came back through the window.

This has given rise to the new phenomenon called Neo-colonialism, where the Europeans have taken the back seats but with a stranglehold on African economies.If you wanted to guarantee your stay in power, as a leader, it was prudent not to challenge the established order or you were simply booted out.

When you accepted it then your mouth was always oiled while your people languished in poverty. If you doubt what I say, then meet the former President of the Congo Republic, Pascal Lissuba, to explain to you why he was booted out by a pro-French leader like Denis Sassou Nguesso.

We have leaders in Africa who are more vicious and have stayed in power than Mugabe. Why are they not being mentioned? Check round their States and see whether the people are any better.

Mugabe's only woe is that, so far, he is the only one who is taking the liberation struggle of the African people from a political realm to an economic realm! This is a no go area and it is tickling the bile of the British. The land issue is very thorny but the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, knows the truth.

Mugabe had negotiated with John Major, another former British PM. Major was warm towards compensating the British landowners for the land to be given back to the blacks but Blair called off the deal. This irked Mugabe, and what followed is now history.

Have you bothered to find out what gave Mugabe his knighthood which has been hurriedly withdrawn by the Queen? It is true the Zimbabweans might not have had the necessary technical know-how to manage the farms but that cannot be responsible for the collapse of the economy.

The answer is that there is a conspiracy by the west to foster regime change using economic sanctions.That is the more reason why it is difficult for east and southern African leaders to condemn him outright for it would be foolhardy. Staying in power this long is out of place for him, like all others, and so for Mugabe to be kicked out, all others should be pursued equally with vim and alacrity.

He is not the worst human being.  All the others are left at bay because they are allowing the whites to have their way economically, but Mugabe who dared to challenge such an order is the devil incarnate and must be discarded!

Mugabe is not mad but doing things that we do not have the courage to do. The west is insisting that African leaders in the ongoing AU summit must condemn Mugabe but this is not working as they have chosen to embrace and do business with him. Instead of condemning him, they have rather called for a national union government, which means the leaders accept his leadership. Is that not an indicator that there is something wrong with the Western campaign?

Let us try to wear our thinking caps and stop being led by the nose and told what to do in the 21st century courtesy the BBC and CNN. These cable connections in our homes may be more destructive to us and is acting as a preventive mechanism for the decolonisation of our current neo-colonialist ethos.

It is high time we created our own BBC and CNN to counter such negative portrayal of happenings of the continent.

Get 10 Free International Minutes - PINLESS

Comments

[small davil]

YOU HAVE SAID IT ALL.LET THE WISE LISTEN.

[eyallow]

You raise some interesting points. However, the recent killings and barbarism in Zimbabwe puts Robert Mugabe's will as protector of the people into strong question. It also shows his interest comes first in this matter.

I'd have expected the writer to balance this piece to show both sides of the story. AT 84, this man should be resting peacefully.

[Grandstevo]

Yes congratulation for the writing.I got the same ideas. Why are they condeming Mugabe? we have people like paul Biya, omar Bongo Ghadaffi etc etc. Mugabe , ploease don,t give up?

[Ekone'kupe]

We are each entitled to believe what we want. All I know is that those dying in Zimbabwe today are Zimbabweans: black African Zimbabweans. I also know that they are not governed by a British consul. Not since 1980. Their lives and destinies are at the mercy of Zanu-PF. Have been since 1980. The chief executive of the ruling party, and the national president is Robert Mugabe. Has been since 1980. So I'd say he should grow up and take responsibility for the results of his policies. The intent behind his policies doesn't interest me. He might have intended to transfer economic power to black Zimbabweans by seizing white-owned land and giving it to blacks. Maybe that was a good intention. But it has not turned out to be good for black Zimbabeans either. They have not gotten richer from the land. They are flocking to neighboring countries to look for a better future. These are realities of today's Zimbabwe. One does not need to have blue eyes to see left from right. We cannot blame the west for condenming Mugabe's actions and at the same time invite them to do the same to Biya and Bongo. What will we say when they start condemnning Bongo? Blame them for picking on poor Bongo as we do now in our defense of Mugabe? As much as we always want a scapegoat, someone other than ourselves to blame to make us feel better about ourselves and our Africanness, we must start to self-actualize and see the faults in our thinking; in our actions, and have the courage to take responsibility. Zimbabwe suffers because Mugabe has failed to lead. He is lashing out at Britain because he wants you to look away from where the blame of Zimbabwe's misery lies: squarely in his face. Cameroon suffers because Biya is weak and incompetent. Gabon remains underdeveloped because Bongo is an imbecile. You can blame France all you want,but these men do not have to listen to France. Now they are auctioning our natural resources to China and who are we going to blame when the Chinese plunder our seas and land? China? So let's see, we can blame France, Britain, the USA, China for our troubles but we are not allowed to blame the tyrants who rule us? Is that how we are going to address the issues of our day. We have to start thinking. I sincerely regret Mr. Tangwe's position in this article. Mugabe has a glorious revolutionary past. But his present actions are very harmful to present-day Zimbabweans. And for that we should judge him harshly.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

This is a shabby-written and poorly researched article. While I am fully aware of the negative effects on Neocolonialism in Africa, it is high time we Africans start taking responsibility for our actions. I am appalled that you will unapologetically defend the tyranic monster that is Mugabe. Was it the West that forced him to kill members of the opposition party? was it the West that told him to deny the people of Zimbabwe their basic right of democracy? was it the West that told him to persecute the oppostion leader? persecute him to an extent that he has to run for his life and hide like a dog in the Dannish embassy? look at how we are treating our fellow Africas?
and yet you complain about the West...

We need to get one thing straight, while the West is the cause for most of our problems, only US, THE AFRICANS, CAN FIX THESE PROBLEMS. The West will never fix it for us so instead of moaning and complaining about the West, let us take responsibility for our actions and fight for change.

WAKE UP AFRICA! WAKE UP!

[Tekum Mbeng]

US of Africa is making foolish talk and has no idea of what it takes to go from theory to practice, especially when western interest is undermined. They (the West) will throw the kitchen sink at you.

President Mugabe as Tangwe states is the only black African Leader who has attempted to interprete independence in economic terms. It is a risky strategy because many Africans may not have a stomach for the fight.

It is a tough battle and only history can be the judge. Most African leaders must be wise in preferring constructive engagement with Zimbabwe.

[Fon]

"Instead of condemning him, they have rather called for a national union government, which means the leaders accept his leadership. Is that not an indicator that there is something wrong with the Western campaign?" (Abraham Tangwe)

You missed the point completely. Who do you expect in the AU to condemn Mugabe? Who in the AU is democratic that will have the courage to condenm Mugabe?
Mugabe said it himself; that he is waiting to see that finger from AU that will point at him and to see if that finger is clean.

Mugabe to me is more than insane. He will go down in our history books as one of the worst leaders of this century. You can´t built 10folds and destroy 20folds and still expect that people remember you for the 10folds.
According to Abraham Tangwe, Mandela could have insisted to remain in power claiming that his successor will take S.Africa into the Aparthied era again.

[rexon]

If the West can go behind Biya and Co as they have gone over Mugabe, we would be fine. My opinion is theft is theft, it does not matter who does it. If Mugabe rigs elections in his country, that is crime that can never be justified. Let him dont hide behind some fake rhetoric of "Independence in economic terms".

This is a man who was knighted a year after he masterminded genocide in his own country. This is a man who was offered several honorary degrees. How comes that all of a sudden his government has become soo bad, his economy in shambles, etc. There is a problem here. The charade taking place in Zimbabwe and the response by Western media has opened our eyes. We are planning a demonstration at the BBC headquaters in the UK to remind them that there are many Mugabe's in Africa. Negotiations are still in the preliminary stage and the BBC will never rest if they dont target other African despots as they have done to Mugabe. All other clients of theirs must go.

[eyallow]

Again I will emphasize that this piece is the rhetoric of what the African problem has been.

We lie down on our laurels and blame the white man for all over woes. Fair enough, there has been a great deal of shabby history between the two.

But note, in this life you got to be strong. If you are not strong, the the stronger person will take your land, your wealth and if you have a beautiful woman, he will take that too from you and will enslave you for his benefit. This has been true for every civilization and we had that in Africa even before the white man came.

Thus if we are not strong enough, we must learn to be wise and use this wisdom to make peace with the strong in our own benefit and in a way that does not sell our pride away.

And the white man is strong there is no doubt to it. Therefore we've to be wise in how we approach the issue of becoming self-independent and self-reliant. We cant just get up and plunge foolishly into decisions in the way Mugabe has done in the name that he is the only black ruler who openly opposes white dominance.

Where has this led him and the entire Zimbabwean populace? He'd only go down into our good books if his actions made a positive contribution to our plight. As it stands now, he has only steeped Zimbabweans in a sorry state characterized by 2000% inflation and immense suffering imposed by his draconian dictatorship.

The question then is of what end is Mugabe and his rhetorics? Give us a break-we need leaders that bring about positive change, in the African dilemma, characterized by a sense of wittiness that lays strong claims to what we seek to achieve

MUGABE is a LOSER and an IDIOT!

[rexon]

Eyallow,

I believe in what you have just written above. However, i will like to draw your attention to the fact, we also need to be strong as Southern Cameroonians to defend our land. I know you love mankind like you love that Cameroon should be one. However, what rightly belongs to Southern Cameroonians must be defended by all means. That does not mean that we are against citizens of La Republique or their development. You will never see any of their intellectuals standing against their exploitation of the Southern Cameroons for the development of their territory as we are standing for regime change in their country. Democracy does not mean that other problems should be kept behind the carpet. Southern Cameroonians have a legitimate right for their independent statehood as their country has been colonised through a constitutional manipulation. It started after 1961, Fonlon talked about it, others followed and nothing have changed. As someone who have widely read, i thrusts you must have read some of the works of Fonlon et al. Some development depends on political decision. You have brain, but you cannot implant it in your native Bamenda if the rules managing that junta does not permit you to contribute. You will consent with me that it is wrong for Southern Cameroonians to have to go through La Republiques provinces to get back to some sections of their own territory which is seemingly closer. As we are talking, it is easier to go to Mamfe from Batibo via Bamenda, Bafoussam, Foumban, Foumbot, to Mamfe. A year or so ago, Southern Cameroonian lawyers going to Bangem from Limbe both in the South West province found themselves in a ghastly motor accident at the Njombe, the Littoral province. We shall not sit and see our land underdeveloped by despots. That is why all intellectuals from the Southern Cameroons have to stand up as one to defend their land. Otherwise, La Republique would keep they and their people in perpetual slavery. No matter our differences in approach, we all need to work to take back our country and develop it, that is the way forward.

[Neba Fuh]

The Mugabe saga is a complex situation that has ushered many simplistic explanations and theories with little quest for logical accuracy.

To hide under the notion of neo-colonialism is a lame way to minimize the atrocities you and me know these African dictators have caused in Africa.
The notion of neo-colonialism is vague and has multiple contextual definitions which cannot serve as any excuse for tyrants to submerge their populace to extreme hardship, as they continually embezzle their country's riches to the detriment of the masses who are constantly miserable.

When an African dictator like Mugabe continually endorse the use of nomenclature like 'dollar' to identify his country's legal tender, is that African? When Mugabe stashed away billions in Western banks while his people cannot survive Maslow's bottommost rung, isn't that neo-colonialism? When Mugabe builds many multi-billion chateaux comparable with Louis XIV style while his people live in shambles, is that African? Mugabe's 40years younger wife holds the record as the most valuable Western designers' client before travel sanctions were meted to her, Isn't that neo-colonialism?

The notion of Mugabe taking the African Liberation struggle to the economic level is a big deception. The land seizure policy was an economically naive way of solving a complex post colonial problem. There are economic variables that could have been put in place to permit Black Zimbabweans benefit from the land ownership problem. Increased taxes and state controlled prices are subtle economic tactics western and other countries use to stifle foreign investments in their countries. They force you out of business by fiscal methods, not by Idi Amin's kind of illiterate economic policies, like seizing Asian shops in his tenure as ruler of Uganda. The land seizure has not benefited the common Zimbabweans, only Mugabe and his junta are benefiting from the lands seized. That is Economic African Liberation Struggle???

In as much as Qhadhaffi ought to have bowed out of power, we can not miminize his effort in leading a debt-free and stable libya during years of sanctions meted on Libya by Western powers after the Lockerbie bombing. This is an example to show that an African ruler with just minimal patriotism can man Africa's economy even when sanctions are meted by the Western world. Zimbabwe is an example of failed leadership, as Mandela indicated. A country suffering a 355,000% inflation rate can not hold the West responsible for the mess. Is it the West that instruct African Ministers to embezzle billions allocated for projects aimed at uplifting the standards of living of common Africans? Cameroon is a clear example: We will soon accuse the West for major economic theft like the Ondong Ndong's billions and the Mounchipougate? What a shame! Africans need to move beyond the hypocritical Sarkozyian accusation as presented in his address in a Senegal.

If Africans care they can create their own CNN and BBC, as Abraham Tangwe proposes and deny to show pictures of suffering Africans, brutalized Africans, rigged elections, and Corpse-like rulers. Whether you like it or not, that is the African reality now and the West cannot be our only scapegoat for refusing to move on. Think again!!!

[Radicalbrother]

Mugabe should contact Paul Biya for capacity building on how to rig elections. Biya will teach him in his introductory class that the best way to rig an election is before the election takes place and not after. That is where Mugabe failed.
With his controversial land reforms , Mugabe thought Zimbabweans were behind him until he was shocked when the votes were being counted. Even if the west is supporting the opposition, the West can not tell Zimbabweans to vote the opposition . Zimbabweans are tired of Mugabe and thus need a change. MUGABE HAS REPEATEDLY SAID ,IF THE OPPOSITION WINS , HE WILL GO TO WAR. The question is to go to war with who? Is that a patriotic leader? Mugabe recently bought a bus with a toilet and everything inside. All he needs is a piece of land to stand the bus so that it can be like a house.
Age does not always come along with wisdom. Some times age comes alone. MUGABE SHOULD STEP DOWN FOR THE SAKE OF HIS OWN PEOPLE.LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS AT WORK

[Ma Mary]

Africans do not have to buy the game that the West is playing, but that does not mean we should rush to the side of Mugabe. It is not an either or proposition. There are worse dictators in African than Mugabe, for example Obiang across the channel from Victoria. He is worse than Biya too. Where is the Western outrage? It is this hypocrisy and double standard that makes Africans take pause and mistakenly take Mugabe's part. The west assumes Africans are just plain uninformed ignoramuses, but what is going on has been analyzed well in a lot of places. On the one hand, it is evident that the fact that Mugabe has hurt white people in his land grap infuriated the West. On the other hand, the white people of Zimbabwe are Zimbabweans too, and should be treated like people, while seeking justice for the dispossessed of Zimbabwe.

Another side to this, is the influence of the woman who shares the president's bed and heart.
Mugabe, who has become a megalomaniac and a piece of putty in the hands of his newer younger wife, nicknamed Gucci Grace because of her voracious shopping habits in expensive European stores. His late wife, Sally, of Ghanaian origin (from back in the old days when Mugabe was a simple teacher in Ghana), had her feet firmly planted on the ground and would not have stood for any of this wildness. Grace used to be his secretary and he took her away from her exhusband, a Zimbabwean air force officer.

What is the influence of the Camerounese president's much younger wife on him? What are her own power ambitions? What is the extent of her greed? Abuse of power?

[Pavel Muron]

When I was staying in Buea I was reading The Post wery often for well written articles, even now I still read online version regularly but with this article from Abraham the credit just droppen seriously down. How he can use the phrase ,,Mugabe is not mad but doing things that we do not have the courage to do" To do what, killing own people? Blaming everybody except yourself ? Giving land to top ranking members instead of farmers ? Beat opposition party members ? Bring country close to collaps ? Please let me put charity together to find money for his air ticket to Harare so he can see how people are suffering, how they leave in thousands Zimbabwe every single day an maybe you he can enjoy breakfest for 400 000 000 Zim. dollars. Abraham you should be happy that you live in peaceful Buea and sit quit and not to make your brothers and sisters to be ashamed of your articles.