The
opening act in the world’s longest-running coup drama has come to an end, just
a few paces removed from where it all started. Perhaps what saved the entire process
from dissolving into a bedroom farce was the absence of the chief female
interest, Grace Mugabe. Luckily, the action remained firmly in the public arena
where an elderly, now-isolated despot was seen desperately trying to cling to
power. Eventually, someone convinced him that the game was up and that there
was no other dignified option but for him to submit his resignation letter.
The constitutional shenanigans that enabled this coup by
another name are OK by me, but what bemuses me the most is the hypocrisy of it
all. Everyone knows that the membership of ZANU-PF has been the facilitator of
the processes that made Zimbabwe an impossible place to live in. And this is
not just me saying so. The wide diaspora of Zimbabweans living all over the
world, particularly in the neighbouring SADEC countries is testament enough.
Zimbabweans who have stuck it out inside the country have had to be very
careful to avoid the crushing jaws of the man they call “The Crocodile” and
who now stands ready to preside over the country. I hope I am wrong, but how
can a crocodile change its spots overnight, to mix my metaphors? Mr Emmerson
Mnangagwa is unlikely to become a model citizen-president overnight, just
because he no longer has Robert Mugabe pulling his strings. Or Mrs Mugabe
yanking them, for that matter.
What needs to happen in Zim now is pretty obvious. Zimbabweans
have to find a way of getting their government party to deliver prosperity for
them in an environment where they are free from harassment. Is ZANU-PF the
party to do so? This is the party that the people ostensibly supported against
themselves during the dark days of the Mugabe reign of terror. I say ostensible
because I don’t really know how the system worked. Were threats delivered? Or
were threats of actual bodily harm combined with inducements, thrown in the
direction of just key people or spread around more randomly throughout the
country? Or indeed, did the the inflicting of actual physical harm, including beatings,
imprisonment and torture take place?
Whatever the case, there are lessons to be learned because
there are at least 20 other countries in Africa today, this hour and this very
minute, where leaders and their parties are virtually permanently installed,
oppressing people and grinding their economies into the ground. Evidence for this can be seen in the droves who risk life and limb across the Sahara and Mediterranean to escape to Europe. And yet, some
of us are quick to praise and defend them against critics, howling some rubbish
about “neo-colonialist” and “imperialist” or “slavish” impulses that are trying
to “undermine sovereignty” or “destabilize” independence.
Nonsense. We Africans
must have the courage to look at budding dictatorships in the eye and call them
for what they are and nip them in the bud when they are still not so dangerous.
After all, dictators are never fully formed. They have their beginnings when
they are not so dangerous and frightening.
And we must stop protecting them because, if given the latitude, they
will turn on the very people who elected them or gave them permission to
govern. We must have the courage and the good sense to snuff them out at the
earliest indication that they are getting out of hand.
The Zimbabwe drama has many acts to play yet. The people of
Zimbabwe remain the principal players; let's make no mistake about that. This
is their chance not only to rewrite the script, but to take the play in a whole
new direction.
Tell Fren
Tru
