President Robert Mugabe’s declaration that he is going nowhere despite the hardships experienced by ordinary Zimbabweans clearly shows his obduracy to the plight of the citizenry.
This also demonstrates that the soon-to-be 94-year-old Mugabe does not care about the people’s suffering despite his claims that only the people who elected him will remove him from power when the time comes.
It proves Mugabe simply considers his power as an end in itself rather than a means to an end.
What is regrettable is that Mugabe never takes responsibility for his actions. First, he blamed the British and the Americans, then the opposition and sanctions, now its internal foes in Zanu PF, yet the truth is none of these as this is a pure case of his poor leadership style and endemic corruption in the country.
Mugabe himself is the biggest saboteur. Where did his wife First Lady Grace Mugabe get the money to buy a $1,4m diamond ring, how about money buying latest cars and mansions in foreign lands for his family?
What does he and his family do that brings them all this cash to burn if these are not acts of economic sabotage, some kind of asset-stripping for self-aggrandisement.
History is awash with presidents who opted to step down even if those who elected them had not said so because they realised and appreciated that they had failed their people – even though Zimbabwe’s case is worse than what they had gone through.
It is said age comes with wisdom, but in Zimbabwe’s case, this has become a curse as regards Mugabe and his overbearing wife whose love for opulence is unfathomable.
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Conventional wisdom entails that one knows when it is time to go and when not to. As the situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate every day, it appears there is no likelihood that there will be real economic development as long as Mugabe remains an albatross on the necks of the citizens.
This is despite central bank governor John Mangudya, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and Mugabe’s own hallucinations that the economy is on the rebound.
One can only wonder which economy they are talking about. We have no doubt that surely it can’t be in the once great nation of Zimbabwe.
Mugabe must be warned that he has had his time, and the day for him has already come and gone. The fact that his Zanu PF acolytes could be plotting against him should definitely show him that he has overstayed his welcome and his threats to hold on for as long as it takes is a demonstration of his selfishness and egocentric attitude.
He would rather everyone be impoverished while his family continues to enjoy obscene wealth and luxury.
The President should ask himself why some people would foment economic turmoil as a way of pushing him to relinquish power.
The simple answer is they know Mugabe would never be ejected through the ballot because he has the entire electoral system in his pocket.
If he is confident that he has done extremely well, then why would people plot to push him out instead of helping him to stretch his stay?
If Mugabe did not know, the fact is Zimbabweans are pinning their hopes on Zanu PF’s capacity to destroy itself from within through the factional wars before the next polls.
When a country is in as bad a situation as Zimbabwe, any noble, decent and self-respecting leader would do the right thing and allow someone else to come in and try new things.
This kind of politicking shows the President is not keen on dealing with cash barons within his family because he knows he is the biggest beneficiary. Mugabe has completely lost his marbles, if ever he possessed them in the first place.
