July 31: Mugabe’s own farewell

By Courage Shumba

In politics nothing rules like pragmatism, which is why it is important to think carefully about what all of us must do in respect of the July 31 deadline. Mugabe’s Chinese version of independence must be replaced by something authentically democratic.

Mugabe and Zanu PF need a substantive and unambiguous political burial.

The kind of politics Mugabe brings to the table belongs to a past and sad generation where power was a personal thing. In this generation authority is gained through legitimacy and its purpose is for the common good among citizens.

Mugabe has no idea what common good means. That is why we have no jobs, no industry, why our health care is in shambles, our roads, energy infrastructure,and general welfare is a complete mess.

Mugabe has no vision and in his blindness he has created a negative agenda by which we are fast tracked into poverty and destitution. A country such as ours should be hopeful not hopeless, rich not poor, because among other things we have an excellent supply of natural resources.

We have more natural resources than, for example, the United Kingdom or France yet our quality of life is generally very bad by comparison even though our population is significantly less. We have such abundant riches that it is not acceptable for us to struggle.

We must as a matter of urgency change the leadership that continuously misses this point resulting in the shape and form of livelihoods we are witnesses to.

Mugabe has announced 31 July as the date of elections. Let that be a deadline, a no nonsense day, a march against all things inferior. It is easy to be waylaid and distracted by issues and points of law whilst missing the actual matter which is really not about law but governance, politics rather.

Politics is a game of tactics and already by setting the controversial election date Mugabe wants to manage the agenda ,control the flow , patronise everyone and introduce a new focus. Mugabe wants Tsvangirai in the courts sending a message that he is not ready and that he really does not want elections but power.

Mugabe must not be allowed to manage the programme we have which is basically about getting rid of him. His tricks and tactics will go with him and his lot.

We are a new nation, a new and fresh people and we refuse to be hoodwinked into forgetting that this election is about getting rid of Mugabe and Zanu PF and the kind of administration he runs which belongs to that generation where dictators were accepted.

We have no tolerance for administrations that refuse to be accountable. We refuse to be set up for poverty. We are a new nation. We are young people.

In the midst of plenty, diamonds, copper, gold,rich soils,good weather we have increasingly become poorer as a nation. Having lost so many of our own people to the liberation struggle we continue to live under repression. This cannot be our calling.

We must endeavour to be free beyond what Mugabe wants to allow us. We must stand up for ourselves and redefine the agenda. We are not Mugabes we are Zimbabweans : the earlier being a contaminant on that important identity.

As mentioned before Mugabe is at it again, playing divide and rule, like every other Rhodesian. Let him stay in Rhodesia with all its oppressive and brutal mechanisms and all the justifications why we really cant have majority rule. I come back to the issue of fixing our eye on the ball. Let us not be distracted.

Mugabe is probably the worst kind of president we can ever have. He is corrupt, he is a military dictator, he makes people homeless (murambatsvina), he kills opponents (gukurahundi) and has no vision both literally and metaphorically.

He is also very old and uninspiring. Our country needs young and energetic leaders not rusty old men . We need fresh ideas to make our country a paradise of positive competition. Mugabe lets us down. Mugabe is standing in the way of us building for ourselves an alternative attractive Zimbabwe.

Let us judge Mugabe by the quality of schools,roads, hospitals, universities, life expectancy, food security among many other things. Mugabe has been in power for over three decades and what we see around is directly a result of his style and kind of leadership.

What we see around us is challenging and disappointing. Mugabe drags us back into the stone ages, into hunger and political mayhem. We have a unique opportunity to deal with this mess once and for all and decisively.

This election is not about endorsing Tsvangirai but about getting rid of Mugabe and the two are completely different things which is why all of us must look beyond the legal issues Mugabe is throwing into the mix to distract us.

The sooner we start campaigning to get rid of Mugabe the better. Mugabe is a national crisis that must be solved across all political borderlines and fronts.

In my last instalment I raised the issue of securocrats who continously wave guns on democracy threatening voters and creating apathy. However tough they may sound we will not be in our right senses to abstain from this crucial moment.

We must decisively reject Mugabe whether the generals like it or not. We must tell both Mugabe and his generals that Zanu PF has no place in our future and our way of doing so is through the ballot.

If we abstain Mugabe will claim victory which is something he does not deserve and cannot be given. We can not give Mugabe any licence to wreck our country under our watch. Enough is enough. How bad should things go before we stand up to be counted ?

What sort of fathers and mothers are we to stand by whilst the futures of our children are squandered mercilessly by these prodigals? You know, reader ,that we have such a facility of minerals yet we have no money for an election,or electricity.

We are routinely thrown into darkness because Mugabe’s government cannot work out or facilitate a steady supply of energy. Mugabe cannot escape us this time. He has called for an election let us go in there and floor him emphatically they wont be any re-run or run off.

Of course the military junta will try to intimidate us into staying away but we must be encouraged by our experience and the trauma of living under this patronage to do quite the opposite. Not only should we go to vote but we must march there singing and dancing in hundreds of thousands.

We must not only remove him but humiliate him at the polls. Let us not listen or bother with some misguided generals whose loyalty is corrupted by greed and motivated by some fear of reprisal. We cannot allow ourselves to be cowered into giving up democracy for security.

We are not accepting any barter trade over the future of our country.

If we are not clear to the electorate that this is not about Tsvangirai or that this is an issue about which MDC, or Zapu, or Mavambo we risk contaminating the political language and tone with which we speak. This is an election to get rid of Mugabe and everyone must participate.

Mugabe’s leadership is wrong and bad for every one for us. Mugabe is the architect of all the social and economic horror to which we are witnesses.

You only need to consider that he refuses an audit of a national programme, that chaotic land grab which is behind the embarrassment of having now to import food from foreign countries.

What is the land being used for if we can no longer eat without borrowing food from our neighbours ?Why does a government refuse an audit into a national programme? What sort of government runs a country into the ground and insists on staying in power?

Ladies and gentlemen I have merely repeated a known fact that Mugabe cannot continue to rule: we must de-legitimise his reign through the ballot and wait for whoever still thinks we are still in Rhodesian captivity and we must remain vote disenfranchised.

That era is gone. Mugabe’s deadline is July 31.We have a duty to remove him and his sycophants and all the kinds of mediocrity and nonsense they stand for.

To the polls Zimbabwe !Let take back Zimbabwe from the path of destruction and tyranny.