91 years of age: A time to reflect

By Luke Tamborinyoka

OPINION – The month of June 2015 is the deadline of the International Telecommunications Union by which we must have fully digitalised.

But while we are in such haste to move from the analogue to the digital in terms of our broadcasting system, we are still stuck with an analogue president in this digital age; a president whose age today is exactly nine years shy of a century.

Indeed, Mugabe’s age is a serious national issue as reflected in the writings of Jonathan Moyo.

Moyo is now one of the chief-spin-doctors of a government led by the man who nine years ago he said should leave office because of his age, among other issues.

In 2006, Moyo told us that Mugabe must go had become more than an opposition slogan. He in fact penned an article in which the president’s age was one of the key reasons why he ought to go.

“He (President Mugabe) is without compassion, maybe because he is now too old, too tired and not in the best of health,” Moyo told us.

“Of course, Mugabe is still respected as an old man and he still makes very interesting bombastic speeches that are applauded for their entertainment value and which are full of sound and fury but signifying precious little at the level of policy and action.”

The above quoted are extracts from the article, “Why Mugabe Must Go Now”, penned by Moyo in the Zimbabwe Independent issue of September 15, 2006.

As Mugabe celebrates his 91st birthday today, the question is: If Mugabe’s age was an issue nine years ago, how more of an issue is it now, given the frequency with which Mugabe is now mixing his lines and falling at public places?

Today, he must seriously reflect on a lot of issues; especially the dismal failure of his government to deliver to the people and whether this is not the best time to retire before he squanders the last vestiges of whatever remains of his legacy.

The frequency of his gaffes and his mixed lines speaks of a man well-past his sell-by date.

The other time he, in un-Presidential language, referred to Lindiwe Zulu, now a minister in President Jacob Zuma’s government, as “an idiotic street woman”.

He was later to tell us that in 2008, Morgan Tsvangirai won 73 percent of the votes before capping it all by that slogan of the year, “Pasi neZanu PF (Down with Zanu PF)”.

And then came the fall at Harare International Airport, a fall which went viral on the social media and invoked pathetic responses from his equally analogue spin-doctors who failed to appreciate the speed at which information travels in this brave, digital age!

Mugabe’s now frequent gaffes and the consequences of his advanced age have led his spin-doctors to up the path of cheap, embarrassing and unconvincing spin!