Former Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe aka Jongwe or rooster is history vis-à-vis power. Is the man, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa aka Ngwena, who took over from promising for Zimbabwe? Will he spare the chief coup maker namely Grace Mugabe who helped Zimbabwe to pull Mugabe down after being overthrown by Grace? We know. Mugabe’s granted immunity from prosecution. Again, will Mnangagwa have Grace detained or done in? How will he treat the Jongwe who also once wanted him done in through poisoning as he once alleged? Will the Mugabes reimburse the money they’re alleged to have swindled from Zimbabweans? Will there be a Truth Commission?
The coup that’s called internal correction left many questions than answers as far as the future of Zimbabwe is concerned. As one Zimbabwean Lance Guma once put it, was the problem Mugabe or his outfit the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) which he equates with the snake in that Mugabe was a skin whose overthrow means just shedding the skin as it remains as poisonous as it has been for three decades? Now, let us dissever Mnangagwa.
First and foremost, Mnangagwa was part and parcel of the same system renowned for his ruthlessness and cunningness in dealing with dissent voices. Refer to how the Matebele massacres were carried out under his watch not to mention controversial road accidents that claimed the lives of many Zimbabweans who showed to be competent and amiable to the hoi polloi.
Secondly, Mugabe presides over a corrupt and ruthless government formed by the same ZANU-PF that propped him; and fully supported what he is accused of. Has Zimbabwe pulled down the Capon to end up ushering in the Crocodile? Is Zimbabwe now at Oginga Odinga’s Not Yet Uhuru time or Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Easy if not Ngugi wa Thiong’o The River Between?
Again, the Capon has the tendency of dominance while the Croc has the tendency of ruthlessness. Will Zimbabweans judge Mugabe harshly as they myopically and softly spare Mnangagwa and the ZANU-PF for their peril; or take the bull by the horn. Logically, the ZANU-PF is the only vehicle Mugabe and his cronies used to lord it over Zimbabwe for over three decades. Therefore, there’s no way one can emancipate Zimbabwe without deconstructing the ZANU-PF among others. Will Zimbabwe and their new leaders who practically are nothing but the extension of mugabeism smell the coffee and do things based on the history of their suffering namely deconstruct and overhaul the whole system? Will they force the Croc to turn itself into a fish or do it themselves? Will the Croc cling to its nature? Will they purposely and wholesale misjudge Mugabe or treasure the good things he did as they avoid the bad he did for just overstaying?
Due to the newness of the situation, nobody has any inkling of what’ll follow except the Zimbabweans themselves. Importantly, they must avoid fearing the lizard to end up embracing the Croc despite all looking alike. The Lizard has no teeth while the Croc has high-pitched ones. Will the words of Gibson Lovemore, a street vendor that Zimbabwe has got rid of a snake and replaced it with a snake come true?
Further, even the army that started the ouster of Mugabe is the one and the only one that kept Mugabe in power for the entire period of 37 years. Did the army become the born again for the love of the people or their man? Apart from being the part and parcel of the mess that saw Zimbabwe being misruled for many years, is Zimbabwe piloting in the era where the gun is becoming mightier than a vote? Are we seeing the military democracy or a coup ala Zimbabwe coup? Who is using whom here between the army and Mnangagwa? Who is in charge between the duos?
Will Zimbabweans sanction the army and its man to get away with murder? Will they revisit the history of Mugabe’s jumble so as to weed out all who partook in its making? Will they be blinded by euphoria and sanguinity or being guided by logicality? Many’d like to know how Zimbabwe without Mugabe will look like. For, like any despot, Mugabe turned himself into Zimbabwe. He was Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe was him. This is why it was easy for his wife to dream about using their bed relationship to take over from her husband. Will Zimbabweans really credit Grace as the too, who like Delilah and Samson, enabled them to get rid of Mugabe? Again, was Mugabe that bad or Grace herself? It is not easy to tell which way Zimbabwe is heading for especially if we remind ourselves of a long and controversial marriage between the Jongwe and the Ngwena.
Source: Citizen Wed., 29 Nov., 2017.
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