Top 8 Mugabe bootlickers in Zimbabwe
By Lance Guma
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President Robert Mugabe has been in power for 33 uninterrupted years partly because he runs a ruthless regime that has seen loyal party cadres accumulate unbridled wealth and secure impunity for horrendous crimes against humanity.
Oiling this machinery has been a group of sycophants not ashamed to go beyond the call of duty to bootlick the 89 year old and shower him with exaggerated praises and ludicrous comparisons to solidify their place on the gravy train.
That the state media in Zimbabwe are forced to address Mugabe as “Head of State and Government, Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces” all in one sentence is nothing compared to the men and women who have clearly crossed the line beyond what can be considered acceptable praise.
Obert ‘Obedient Son’ Mpofu
Documents produced in court in the diamond mining scandal involving Canadile Miners exposed the fact that former Mines and now Transport Minister Obert Mpofu signs off his correspondence to Mugabe by saying “your ever obedient son”.
During Mugabe’s 89th birthday celebrations in February this year Mpofu went down on his knees as he talked to Mugabe, the man he obediently calls “father”
Webster ‘Cremora’ Shamu
Former Information Minister and Zanu PF political commissar Webster Shamu this year told a press gathering at the Harare International Festival of the Arts that if he had his way, he would have chosen to be Mugabe’s biological son.
“If I was given the option to choose my father before birth, where would I go? I would have been Chatunga’s elder brother. I would have been number one at First House, at President Mugabe’s house. I would have said that’s where I want to be born,” Shamu grovelled.
In March 2011 Shamu said Mugabe was feared the world over because of his intelligence and was like Cremora.
“Gushungo, people say you have Cremora, the whole body. The war the world over, President is about you. They fear you and that is why they are doing all this,” Shamu fawned.
“There is no president the world over who has degrees like President Mugabe. He is brainy and that’s why he is feared. You fought the liberation struggle for a long time and you should also rule for as long as you want,” Shamu said.
Simon Khaya Moyo
In March 2011, Zanu PF party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo did his chances of being appointed the second Vice President no harm when he described Mugabe as a liberator of unparalleled proportions “who God should keep for a long time to rule Zimbabwe”.
“His Excellency you are a liberator of unparalleled audacity. You are a useful and amazing leader and we pray to God to make you stronger and continue to lead us from the front,” he said.
Tony Gara
In 1990 the former Mayor of Harare, the late Tony Gara, invited ridicule when he reportedly drew a parallel between Mugabe and Jesus Christ. His exact words were something to the effect that Mugabe was “God’s other son”.
Nine years later the former Local Government and National Housing deputy minister denied ever making the remarks claiming journalists embellished and distorted his innocent remarks to generate headlines.
“How can I liken Mugabe to Jesus? There is only one Jesus and he can’t be matched by anybody,” the former Mbare East MP said.
Walter Mzembi
Last year Tourism Minister sent a birthday message to Mugabe saying: “You are a pillar of tourism development in Zimbabwe, and many a times we are tempted to declare you a tourist attraction, a centre of tourism development.”
How exactly an autocratic president who was behind the Gukurahundi genocide, Operation Murambatsvina and the June 2008 violence and murders could be a tourist attraction for Zimbabwe was not explained by Mzembi.
Last year in May Mzembi shed tears soon after being handed a life size portrait of President Mugabe before a packed auditorium at the 37th Africa Travel Association Congress in Victoria Falls.
The portrait — of the President portrait in his middle age — inscribed: “Man of the Moment” was a gift to Minister Mzembi from Friends of Joshua Trust at the end of the official opening of ATA congress.
“I was overcome by emotion. I did not expect this. It is monumental! At times I fail to explain to the ordinary person how it feels to serve under a first republican President. This is why I could not hold back my tears,” Mzembi said.
Stanley Mudenge
In September last year the late Higher Education Minister Dr Stan Mudenge described Mugabe as one of “Africa’s all-time greatest men”, saying even enemies of the veteran leader envied his “encyclopaedic” memory, wisdom and courage.
Mudenge spoke for more than 20 minutes while praising Mugabe who was the guest of honour at the official launch of a Research and Intellectual Expo 2012 in Harare. He went on to say Mugabe was a “colossal figure, a fountain of knowledge and wisdom, a teacher, father, a fearless and consistent politician”.
“He has been rated one of Africa’s all-time greatest men,” Mudenge gushed.
Bishop Johannes Nyamwa Ndanga
Johannes Nyamwa-Ndanga, who heads the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe, this year in May told his followers “Mugabe is our king and kings are not elected, they are installed by God,” he said.
Ndanga urged his followers to register as voters “to stop Tsvangirai from battering our old man”. Ndanga even said Tsvangirai was being disrespectful to Mugabe.
“So I urge you to register as voters and show the nation that as Vapositori we are very powerful,” said Ndanga.
“President Mugabe is being abused by Tsvangirai while we watch. How can he (Tsvangirai), young as he is, contest against him at the age of 89? Tsvangirai is beating up our old man and we cannot afford to fold our arms.”
Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira
The late self-proclaimed spiritual healer Madzibaba Godfrey Nzira, was in 2011 controversially freed from serving a 20 year jail term for rape. The 58 year old succumbed to a heart ailment at his house at the ‘Julanifiri Santa Shrine’ in Chitungwiza.
In 2003 Nzira was jailed for 32 years, later reduced to 20 years, on seven counts of rape and one count of indecent assault involving two women who sought help from him at his shrine.
The day Nzira was convicted 2,000 members of his sect went ballistic outside the court, beating up court officials and policemen on duty. Even the magistrate is said to have narrowly escaped death when they pounced on her.
A year before the conviction Nzira had claimed Mugabe was a “divinely appointed king of Zimbabwe and no man should dare challenge his office.”
A large size banner at his Chitungwiza shrine even has a picture of Mugabe and Nzira side by side. This bootlicking of Mugabe paid off when he walked out of prison a free man, courtesy of a presidential pardon.
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