Whatever went wrong with Zimbabwe.
About 12 years ago Zimbabwe was the dreamland of the African
continent.
There were challenges but everybody believed they would soon go away.
Robert Mugabe, the iron hand who has ruled that
country for 3 decades, had led the campaign that ousted Ian Smith''s minority rule. He was very popular then, he still is, some might argue.
The one-time Africa''s most elitist nation was then well positioned to carry the hopes and aspirations of the
continent into the future.
All those dreams died in one man''s hands, Mugabe. He says Britain is to blame. He is not doing a good job explaining why Britain instead of him has to shoulder responsibility for failures in which he is at its helm. Mugabe blames British ex-prime minister, Tony Blair for the current economic woes of his country and we almost believed him. Now, Blair has slowly become unpopular in his country, what did he do? He resigned; not shifting blames. Mugabe has been unpopular for more than 20 years and all he did was borrow Mobutu''s tactic of inflicting poverty on his people so they would remain dependent on him, which in turn would allow him stay in power for ever.
It is hard to believe that even medical doctors can no longer fend for themselves in Zimbabwe. Every body begs for maize meal that does not exist. Farms have been decimated and now it is the turn of few remaining supermarkets to go. They have been ordered to lower prices by more than 200 percent or close down.
Africa has had more than its fair share of bad leaders and mugabe is on top of that list—no current leader is older. With inflation running at an annual rate of 4000 percent, it is not hard to imagine that anybody who calls himself a leader in such a situation must be reasoning through his behind.
What surprises everyone is how the Zimbabweans have accepted their situation. They have literally rolled up and play dead. Even when you ask them why no one is thinking seriously about replacing their aging leader, and the answer would always be that "there is no one more eligible than Robert." If Mugabe is the most eligible leader out of what used to be the continent''s most educated country, Africa must be a land of fools. No, Africa is not a land of fools—some of its leaders are!
Zimbabweans and Africans in general, are peace-loving people and bad leaders often mistake this for weakness. And like Mobutu, Samuel Doe, Abacha and other bad leaders of the past, Robert Mugabe will be haunted down by nemesis.