“Natty trash it ina Zimbabwe
Mash it up ina Zimbabwe
Set it up ina Zimbabwe
Africans a liberate Zimbabwe
Africans a liberate Zimbabwe
Natty dub it ina Zimbabwe
Set it up ina Zimbabwe
Africans a liberate Zimbabwe”
– Bob Marley in ‘Zimbabwe’
The legendary reggae musician wrote the song ‘Zimbabwe’ as a war chant in support of the Independence struggle in the Southern African country. That was about 30 years ago.
Today that song is as relevant as it was when the people of Zimbabwe fought for their independence from British rule. Today, the people of Zimbabwe are engaged in what is essentially a second struggle for independence – from Robert Mugabe, the guy who bravely won the first one for them.
The Mugabe of today is the antithesis of the Mugabe who fought for independence. The earlier Mugabe cared about his people. He was in touch with them and he risked his life to have their needs met. Today’s Mugabe doesn’t care about anything beyond his nose and he has lost complete touch with his people. When the whole world looks on aghast as people die of cholera, he insists that there is no such disease in the country. The Mugabe of today won’t give up anything (not even his position) to ensure that his people get what they need – food, water, jobs, good healthcare and education.
Yesterdays, Mugabe was a wise, calculating warrior. Today’s Mugabe is nothing but a delusional coward whose head doesn’t seem to be properly screwed on.
It’s incredible how Mugabe has, in the words of the venerable Archbishop Desmond Tutu, turned “a bread basket” into a “basket case”. It’s an astounding feat and it will take a long time for anyone to even attempt to equal Robert Mugabe’s record of destructive tyranny and misrule.
So what happened to Mugabe?
First, I think Sally’s death affected Mugabe in more ways than we know. He lost a sweetheart and an advisor. After Sally, the lonesome Mugabe married a woman decades his junior. I am sure she can’t stand up to him as well as Sally did and he doesn’t care a toss about what she says – that is if she’s allowed to say anything at all.
Secondly, I think Mugabe became so power drunk – like all those who led various African countries to independence did. Mugabe feels that without him at the helm Zimbabwe will fall on its knees – or, in his delusional mind, into the hands of white colonialists. So he decided to do anything and everything he could to just hang on to power. Desperate people do desperate things that often make us all desperate. That’s what Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe.
Thirdly, and most important of all, I think that in his desperation, Mugabe experienced some ‘fluctuations’ in his ‘upstairs’ and this might have blown a few fuses in his brain. The man has quite simply gone mad. He has lost it and he deserves to be in a psychiatric ward, not a presidential mansion.
I know a lot of Ghanaians (and Africans) still admire Mugabe. They think he’s still a freedom fighter who is standing up to white imperialism and they will continue to encourage him to do whatever he is doing.
But whether you are a fan of Mugabe’s or not, I need you to realise that this is not about him. It’s about the people of Zimbabwe and the future of their country. Think about the hundreds who are dying of cholera, the starving millions, the thousands who have been forced to flee the country to escape persecution and the economic hardship and the fact that the right of Zimbabweans to choose their leaders has been taken away from them by a senile old man.
We in Ghana went to the polls a fortnight ago. Within three days we had the results and we know we have to try again. It was an election widely accepted as free and fair. We are happy and we are proud for what we did on December 7.
In March, when Zimbabweans went to the polls the results were not released for about a month as Mugabe and his henchmen doctored the numbers in his favour. It was shameful – to say the least. But as if that was not enough, the opposition was so intimidated that they had no choice than to pull out of the second-round of the presidential ballot.
I think Zimbabweans deserve better. They don’t deserve any less than Ghanaians. The time has come, therefore, for the rest of Africa to once again heed Bob Marley’s call from 30 years ago and help liberate Zimbabwe. “Africans a liberate Zimbabwe”, the reggae legend urged.
Mugabe has been pampered for much too long. His fellow African leaders used to enjoy rationalising his madness. But not anymore. Now those who won’t condemn him prefer to just keep quiet.
The good news is that an increasing number of African leaders are coming to their senses and realising that it is mad cows like Robert Mugabe who give our continent such a bad name. My favourite African of all time, Nelson Mandela, has spoken out bravely against Mugabe’s sheer stupidity. So has Archbishop Tutu, who suggests that Mugabe should be arrested and kicked out by force if he refuses to go. The leaders of Botswana and Senegal have also condemned his misrule and called for some action to oust Mugabe.
In response to the rising condemnation of his misrule (which makes the Taleban look like an angelic host), Mugabe insults all of us by proclaiming that no African is “brave enough” to oust him. “Zimbabwe is mine,” he defiantly insisted.
Well, at least I am brave enough to wish him dead. We have all been taught not to wish anyone dead. But these are desperate time. So I am going down on my knees – something I don’t do often these days – to pray to God, plead with Him to have mercy on the people of Zimbabwe and strike Mugabe dead so that they can regain the freedom he won for them with his right hand but took away with his left. Mugabe must die! He is more useful dead than alive and he must go. Whatever it takes!
