President Robert Mugabe’s lavish celebrations to mark his 89th birthday in Bindura on Saturday were all, but farcical given that thousands of people were reportedly forced to attend the birthday bash at Chipadze Stadium.
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Besides, Mugabe’s call that “no opposition” party should be allowed to campaign in the province was not called for as it was a veiled attempt to urge violence against his opponents.
That coming hot on the heels of the death in a reported arson attack of 12-year-old Christpowers Simbarashe Maisiri in Headlands last week means if Mugabe is sincere that he will hold a peaceful election, he should have taken the opportunity to dissuade his gullible supporters from violence.
Instead he urged party supporters to ensure Mashonaland Central Province remains a “no-go area” for opponents. Is this not a sign that Mugabe is losing his grip and, therefore, resorting to violence?
Clearly, human rights groups, media and opposition political activists have been the target of a worsening clampdown by police so far this year.
Only on Friday, the police raided Radio Dialogue, a radio station critical of Mugabe, and arrested its editor amid a growing crackdown on media and rights groups ahead of crucial elections.
Zimbabweans will always find it difficult to understand what new things Mugabe still thinks he can improve after 33 years in power.
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Yet he is still determined to remain in power for five more years.
Perhaps that explains why political violence has already engulfed the country ahead of polls. Although Mugabe has maintained his vitality and abilities into old age (89), he has had enough time already in office and his performance has clearly declined, perhaps precipitously.
Yet he is accusing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party of claiming a recent increase in political violence as intended to cover up an upcoming election defeat under the guise that the polls will not be free and fair.
“They want to enjoy the ride to the maximum, they have never had it before and they know they will never have it again,” Mugabe said. “They are building a false picture of violence which we do not know anything about.”
We do not hold any bidding for Tsvangirai or MDCs, but if that is not true that violence has increased, why would Zanu PF militants and loyalist security services, in particular the police, clamp down on civic society, media and radio stations which stops the citizenry from accessing information?
Why would the police require a whole President to order them to investigate human rights abuses as in the case of the suspected murder of 12-year-old Christpowers Maisiri in Headlands?
Why are there no arrests this far? Police have already discounted any foul play in the matter even before their investigations have been concluded. Isn’t this curious?
To illustrate that Mugabe is out of touch with reality, his birthday bash reportedly cost $600 000 yet about 1,5 million Zimbabweans rely on food aid in our troubled economy.
