The of Robert Mugabe regime
THE Biblical book of the prophet Daniel Chapter 5 verses 24-26 tells us of a hand sent from God that was seen inscribing the words mene mene tekel upharsin whose interpretation was that God has numbered the days of your kingship and brought them to an end, you weighed in the balances and are found wanting and more.
The verse is apt in describing the end of Robert Mugabe’s iron fist rule and the coming in of a more liberalised political dispensation under the leadership of Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa.
I am not about to start a sermon on this for I am no preacher but one thing I know is that nothing puzzles God. Yes, people get puzzled as they did in the month of November last year which was dominated by long, medium and sharp political twists and turns that had all the ingredients of a blockbuster action packed movie masterpiece where the plot was two sided and where no-one knew who the real hero or main actor would be.
As in any good movie the plot would thicken in quick motion as if going to a climax as one side seemed to be going for the kill then a spark would flick the hopes again and unsettle the nerves of those that would have seemingly won the episode.
Both action including life threatening ones and a spirited verbal onslaught that would pierce to the bone marrow coupled with public vilification of party comrades, senior civil servants and the security forces of the country based on village well gossip evident of a clearly uncultured child were used as weapons of assault of imagined enemies as the Zanu-PF succession plot thickens and continued to turn its pages.
And it (Zanu-PF) being the ruling party its internal fights that were no longer a secret were inadvertently affecting Government business and even threatening the security of the country hence the intervention of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) on the side of the people, leading to the people’s victory.
Those in the party who were led by the misguided zeal of the then First Lady who had usurped the powers of the President chose to disregard the wise African idiom that says those who gather ant-infested faggots must be prepared for the visit of lizards. And indeed the ructions in Zanu-PF were visited and stopped by the people — the Zimbabweans led by the ZDF Commander General Constantino Guveya Chiwenga.
Prior to November, the fights had to swing from side to side giving the media something to feast on with headlines telling which political side the media houses were sympathetic to.
And to suggest that the events of the month were not concocted in advance of events is as unimaginable as it is to think they were happening in real life and in Zimbabwe.
Although the sacking on spurious charges of former Vice-President and now President Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa on 6 November was to provide the matchstick that ignited the bonfire on an already petrol socked political rag and ushered in a new political dispensation in Zimbabwe, there were a lot of other pieces including but not limited to personalities that collectively contributed to a decaying political system in Zanu-PF but I will leave that to the recording of history, at least for now.
But what is clear was that the goings on in the party was a mirror reflecting a society that had gone completely rotten and maggoty at the centre — where the centre could not hold.
It was however, the execution of the corrective measures that was top notch.
A lot of people never saw it coming the way it did, neither did they dreamt it could happen. It was peaceful, it never disturbed any business individual or corporate and needed no police to control order and yet without them (police) a whole president was made to resign under pressure from the people.
But nothing puzzles God, for he who is born to drown shall never be hanged and that is the explained definition of destiny.
God had it in mind. He had it all planned and well oiled. He even knew the executors of the plan.
He had long authored the script of former President Robert Mugabe’s political demise and the rise to the pinnacles of national political power of Cde Mnangagwa who Government has so far seen a number of changes. His inspiring line that the voice of the people is the voice of God has indeed found expression in the many political and economic reforms that he has so far put in place. He is a listening President willing with ease to give his ear even to the most ordinary citizen.
His coming into power was simply God’s case that no one could have appealed against.
Yes, smiles could be read on most people’s faces as the dawn of a new political era unfolded and true to his promise Cde ED, as he is fondly known, has so far managed to put together Zimbabwe on a proper democratic path with a number of reforms that include but are not limited to the following.
Corruption, police harassment and
roadblocks
Prior to his inauguration people were complaining about police harassment demanding that the Government should move the country from being a police State that it was in the previous political era to a nation where the police are not there to extort the public but to protect them.
All this has since stopped and police are now confining themselves to their main duties of maintaining law and order.
The new Government has made sure police keep to their mandate and not act as the courts as well where they arrest and give you the sentence.
President Mnangagwa has made sure that the idea of having more than ten roadblocks on a single road and yet fail to prevent accidents is done away with. The roadblocks that had become extortionate have since been dealt away with under his leadership.
Corruption, although still rampant, is being dealt with as well. A number of the previous political administration’s untouchables were arrested and are having their day in the courts of law for various corruption charges and more are expected to face their charges after the political melee.
Government ministers were immune to arrest and prosecution under the previous Government and it was cascading down to those that were supposed to stop it.
It was worse in most Government departments where one would expect to be paid to do a job that they are paid to do.
Service delivery was very slow and his Government has bettered the efficiency in all Government departments while calling for zero corruption.
He had no kind words for the police who he branded as thieves in uniform saying the weight of corruption on the country’s economy was more than that of the sanctions. Economic resuscitation, employment,
banks and queues
President ED has removed red tape and replaced it with a red carpet for investors. His equation has been that of political stability minus corruption is equals to investor confidence and job creation.
He seems to be aware that the majority of people do not care which direction investment comes from — East, West or North, what they care for are jobs, job security and managing to develop their lives using honest means.
Still on economic resuscitation Cde ED has been a vivid preacher of the gospel that the economy was supposed to be top priority and politics later.
He has been battling stubborn bank queues and all other queues so that people return to the good old days where they would withdraw cash from banks anytime of the day without having to sleep in a queue or buying cash from the black market.
Political inclusivity and parastatals Cde ED has called for political inclusivity and a high degree of tolerance, something that was alien to Cde Mugabe’s Government.
His belief is that political inclusivity enhances democracy and co-operation and kill the “pull them down syndrome” synonymous with opposition politics.
His calls and liberalisation of the political space has seen the country having a very peaceful campaign period never seen before and has earned him a lot of political marks from the international community.
He has also called for the earnest revival of parastatals such as CSC, NRZ, Zupco and Zisco saying they are crucial in economic revival to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor as well as restore the middle class.