Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the legendary revolutionary leader of Zimbabwe has been in power for 37 years like the late Colonel Gadhafi of Libya and President YoweriKaguta Museveni of Uganda, they call themselvesrevolutionaries and are known for making statements like a revolutionary cannot leave power by the ballot.
They believe that since they“liberated” their respective countries, they have somewhat earned the right to govern for a lifetime. Once the darlings of their countries, their insistence on clinging topower, by all means, have lost them the favor and love they once enjoyed.
Colonel Gadhafi was violently killed by the very people he liberated. after witnessing this, one would have thought that his fellow liberators would relinquish power peacefully.unfortunately, they learned nothing from that incident.
Mugabe was once the blue-eyed boy of the west, however, his fallout with the west was sealed when he withdrew the farms owned by the whites and handed them over to the blacks.
He has survived coup attempts, sanctions by the west which rendered the Zimbabwean dollar useless and several attempts to remove him from power met with quashing opposition with a heavy hand as Tsvangirai and his mates can testify.
However in the recent past, his young wife Grace Mugabe has made headlines for all the wrong reasons, from her lavish spending to plain arrogance, she has hinted her intentions to lead Zimbabwe after her husband.
Mugabe is 93 years old whilst Grace is 51, an age difference of 42 years, her public conduct and utteranceshave left many in shock. After a fall out with Mugabe’s prime minister, she is said to have influenced his sacking and this is what led to the events that followed.
We began to receive reports that there was a coup in Zimbabwe and that he was under house arrest and his wife Grace had fled to neighboring Namibia. However, the army held a press conference stating that there was no coup and that they were instead protecting the ailing Mugabe from his enemies.
The former Vice President, religious leaders, commanders and whoever mattered were reported to be holding negotiations in Mugabe’s palace. A few days later Mugabe was sighted at a University graduation ceremony. Shortly after reports came out that he had been removed as the head of his Party ZANU/PF and that he was going to resign on TV.
Demonstrations were held all over Zimbabwe, civilians and the army hugged and shook hands, seemingly relieved that Mugabe was ousted finally. I must say the Zimbabwean people must be the most peaceful people on our continent, their demonstrations were so peaceful and ended without any damage to property or loss of life, unlike the Ugandan and Kenyan style demonstrations.
Come Sunday 19th November 2017, with the whole world watching in anticipation for the long-awaited resignation announcement, Mugabe once again showed us why he has been able to cling to power for 37 years.
He launched into a rhetoric reassuring his countrymen of his and their security, admitting that mistake have been made and apologizing for the same, and eventually stating that he will be leading the ZANU/PF December conference. He said everything but resign as expected. He basically held a state of the nation address only that this time he was addressing the world.
On 21st November 2017, Mugabe tendered in his resignation ending his 37 years as President of Zimbabwe.
“I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of Section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation with immediate effect” read part of his missive.
He further said that Africans are not warmongers and we should resist and beware of the imperialists. Indeed this has been one of the smoothest transitions ever witnessed with not a single drop of bloodshed.
We can only hope that the rest of Africa is listening and hopefully expect more resignations to flow in.
Enjoy your retirement Mugabe, it was long overdue, time to go golfing, play with your great grandkids or just bask in the sun as you await the grim reaper, you have lived a full life.
