Spare a thought for Zim people

In Zimbabwe, the army has spoken. One blood-soaked Zanu-PF mass murderer, Robert Mugabe, will be replaced as head of state by another blood-soaked ZanuPF mass murderer, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Tweedledum is replaced by younger brother – just 75 years old – Tweedledee.

We are told this is not a military takeover. As the army took over the state broadcaster, as the president and his ministers were arrested, as tanks rumbled through the street of Harare, the army chiefs said: “This is not a coup.”

The non-coup seems carefully planned and skilfully executed. Its main purpose, indeed its only purpose, was to overthrow the “G40” group, led by the slimy Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who wanted Grace Mugabe to succeed her husband as president.

There were scenes of jubilation from the people. There were posters saying “Freedom has finally come to Zimbabwe”.

The crowds were not cheering for Mnangagwa, who is hated and feared. He supported Mugabe from the beginning and helped him to crush the people and ruin the country. In the horrible Gukurahundi campaign from 1983, Mnangagwa presided over the systematic slaughter of more than 20 000 people in Matabeleland.

In 2008, when Mugabe lost the election by a landslide, Mnangagwa led the programme to murder, torture and maim people who had voted against Zanu-PF.

Most fascinating for me was to see how quickly public sentiment to Mugabe changed. Mugabe was hated by the people of Zimbabwe but loved by other African dictators. Revolutionary activists, progressive commentators and SA leaders such as Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema adored him. Mbeki put great effort into returning Mugabe to power in 2008 after the people had rejected him. Now, suddenly, Mugabe is being condemned.

The Zanu-PF youth leader, Kudzanai Chipanga, first criticised the non-coup. He soon changed his mind – “without coercion” – and grovelled on the state broadcaster, confessing his error and saying how right the army was.

Expect similar grovelling from Zuma and Julius Malema, formerly worshippers of Mugabe. Mnangagwa, when he takes over Zimbabwe, will be warmly welcomed into the AU dictators’ club. ANC and EFF leaders will bow before him.

But does anybody care about the gentle people of Zimbabwe?