Obituary for Mugabe

In a few months it will be 28 years ( I know because I was pregnant with my eldest son at the time) since Mugabe was voted into power in the then Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which soon dropped the Rhodesia part, and he stated his intention of building socialism on the ruins of capitalism. Well - the latter part of that intention he has achieved, but the former part is non-existent. So I guess that in 28 years he has failed to fully achieve his objectives. Perhaps that's why he is continuing to eradicate any kind of opposition!

The following is an proposed obituary which was sent to me by a friend. We need to remember that Mugabe is mortal - he will die.

Mugabe’s Obituary

During the liberation struggle he was conspicuous by his absence, protected by the regime he sought to overthrow.

After independence he consolidated his power by ruthless killing of tens of thousands. The blanket of fear has successfully suppressed opposition for decades afterwards.

With honeyed words he beguiled many at the start of his reign of terror, and he continued with his lies even when they became most implausible.

He pursued with unwavering determination the task of ruining the country while he enriched himself. In a shrewd appraisal of the effects of his policies, he stored up great wealth for himself in other people’s countries.

His racism was a driving force, to be more clearly seen as an obsession as the years went by. He became increasingly frustrated with the remnant of the white community who remained convinced of their role in developing and caring for the country. When he stole their farms to give to his cronies under the guise of helping the poor, the hundreds of thousands of farm workers were displaced to the towns in squatter camps, only to be bulldozed away in a cleansing ceremony of callous brutality.

He devalued the currency at an increasing rate according to a pre-determined plan, to make the financial commitments of the country meaningless. In order to protect himself and other privileged members of the party from the effects of this strategy, he instituted different currency exchange rates for different categories of people, with his own favourites at the top of the heap.

As the economy of the country imploded according to plan, he cut off the pensions and medical aid from those who had moved out of the country; and he accelerated the inflation within the country to make living an impossibility for the aged and infirm.

He made friends with the world’s outcasts and tyrants, pretending their sins were virtues, and even giving sanctuary and rewards to convicted murderers.

As a committed Marxist he was able to deny all authority but his own, achieved and rooted in lies, deceit, bullying and brutality.

As the decades went by and the situation was driven from one low level of despair to another, a quarter of the population voted with their feet, moving illegally to other countries where there was at least some food. This was a shrewd plan on his part to achieve two things: to remove opposition from the country, and then to ensure a flow of foreign currency sent home by the exiles to their starving relatives.

His epitaph:

“By his fruits you will know him: The father of lies.”