Mkapa must deliver us from shadow of fist

Mkapa must deliver us from shadow of fist

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(READ MTHULISI'S PREVIOUS ARTICLES)

THE talk in Zimbabwe these days is of a supposed political initiative steered by former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Makapa, aimed at restoring damaged relations between Harare and London in particular and the the Western nations in general.

While it is true that relations between Zimbabwe's recalcitrant ruler and the rest of the world are currently bad, it is generally false to assume that Zimbabwe's problems lie squarely with the bad relations.

The truth is that Zimbabwe's problems are more of an indegenous nature characterised largely by political misconduct on the part of the first person, sheer thuggery, rapacity, obduracy and the general disregard for the common people's right to political choice.

The supposed initiative rests upon an upside down premise because it assumes that if Mugabe begins to fly to Europe freely with his retinue, nomarlcy would return in Zimbabwe.

It disregards the fact that total political reform will have to occur in Zimbabwe if we are to start speaking of any return to international acceptance.

Those who have purchased wholesesale into the fallacy in question ignore the fact that the Mkapa initiative lends credence to the false claim that Mugabe and the Zimbabweans are victims of foreign devils. President Mugabe is evidently happy with this false notion because it absolves him of any wrong doing and places the blame on the door on an imagined enemy.

Yet the reality remains that once Mugabe abandons his quarrelsome brand of politics characterised by brazen brutality, the thuggish silencing of political
opponents, banning of basic legitimate means of protest, closure of newspapers, seizure of private property, theft, bench-packing, corruption, murder and many other related evils, Zimbabwe would have firmly set itself on the route to international recognition.

"If there is a person who knows that Mugabe is his own enemy, and therefore nobody's victim, that person is Annan"

MTHULISI MATHUTHU

It is, however, saddening to note that some people who otherwise should be respected and have a moral obligation to side with the victims of autocracy and economic incompetence that is emblematic of Mugabe's rule are actually tumbling over one another in a scramble to be heard first in the support of this still-born initiative.

Witness how they ignore the self evident fact that Mugabe was being dishonest when he said Kofi Anan had purchased into his explanations on the way forward on Zimbabwe and that he had blessed the Mkapa initiative.

If there is a person who knows that Mugabe is his own enemy, and therefore nobody's victim, that person is Annan.

Therefore, it is hard to imagine, let alone believe, that he would have bought into the fallacy that Zimbabwe's route out of this mess is via talks with London.

To allow Mugabe to continue peddling the "false fight" he has erected between himself and London will be to allow him to pull wool over our faces at the risk of letting him squirm off the hook.

Mugabe's tactic is to impress it upon his gullible supporters and the lost "African patriots" that his problems began with Britian's neo-colonial machinations. It is his idea to win sympathy from people who will naturally side with him since Zimbabwe is a former British colony.

Why should Mkapa waste time and resources shuttling between Harare and London when the easiest way is for Mugabe to abondon his autocratic ways? The fact of the matter is that Mkapa should start a project of delivering Zimbabwe from under the shadow of the fist which has been cast over her for the last 26 years.

He must tell his fist-waving and air-punching friend to do himself and Zimbabwe a service by abondoning his totalitarian project characterised by a gross and brazen disregard for the entire package of internationally accepted norms of political conduct.

He should abondon his behavior which is totally rejected by modern conscience and has visited upon us varieties of moral degradation.

This is why it is understood why London has refuted the idea of talks with Mugabe. It would be a political blunder for Tony Blair to accept this approach towards a better Zimbabwe because he would be helping Mugabe's claims that he is reposnible for Harare's woes.

Mugabe dug his own hole. Zimbabwe's inflation is not high because anybody in London pushed it that high. Things are generally upside down in Zimbabwe because political legitimacy is lacking and it is so because Mugabe's government has an outright and renowned diregard for other people's fundamental right to make personal choices without being accosted by any liberation war hero.

Isn't it clear that a peaceful Zimbabwe where rights of all are respected, where political crime is punished, where law enforcement agents are politically neutral, where judges are not puppets and the security agents are professional, a person like Mugabe would not survive?

Mugabe's destructive political profile explains the character of a person on a mission to create conditions under which he will thrive characterised by violence, deception, insults, quarells and swearing.

That is why he is always thumping rostrums, punching invisible enemies with a clenched fist issuing unsolicited ripostes trying to convince people that he is fighting anybody.

It is not wholly offiside to suggest that the symbol of Mugabe's rule should be a clenched fist dangling menacingly over Zimbabwe with a dark shadow cast across the entire country with terrified people being sent helter-skelter.

Mkapa should know that instead of us living under the fear of a neo-colonial demon, we are living under the shadow of an angry and paranoid master's fist.

Mthulisi Mathuthu is a Zimbabwean journalist and New Zimbabwe.com columnist. He is currently on leave writing a book. Views expressed here are his own. He can be contacted at: thuthuma@yahoo.com
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