Only Politics

Robert Mugabe may be still revered by many in the Dark Continent as the man who raised his voice against colonialism. He has earned such respect amongst his fellow African leaders that none dare to raise their voice against the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe. But the sand is slowly slipping through the hour glass and time is running out for Mugabe. One still has respect for Mugabe for fighting against British colonialism. One also understands Mugabe’s decision to take away the well run farms from white owners and handing it over to the local blacks. Such a step was to bring up the lot of the local Zimbabweans. (It is another matter that the move failed badly and the country’s agriculture has gone to the dogs. But that is another matter.) But what Mugabe is doing now cannot be described as acts of a good and great leader. The presidential elections are coming up on March 29th. The elections are being held to fool the people of Zimbabwe and other Africans that Mugabe is still popular. It is actually a fraud show. Mugabe is not sure of winning the elections. All dictators the world over always feel insecure. And they adopt wrong measures to sustain and continue their rule. Mugabe is acting like a petty dictator now. The police chief of the country first said that the victory of any other candidate besides Mugabe will not be tolerated. Then the army of Zimbabwe came out with a similar statement. Is this nothing but coercion? media is being suppressed. The other candidates in the presidential fray are being called british puppets and abused. The voter lists are being tampered with. Is this democracy? To make sure he wins the elections Mugabe has starting taking short term and shallow measures like giving tractors to farmers and raising the salaries of government employees. He has also taken away ownership control of companies in the country from whites and foreigners and given it to black Zimbabweans. What happened to agriculture before will now happen to the country’s industry. There is an old Sanskrit saying in India which says "when one is about to destroy himself, he loses his power of thinking properly". This applies to Robert Mugabe perfectly.