What was it if it wasn’t a coup?

HIS is not a coup.” The broadcast statement by the uniformed head of the Zimbabwean army seemed surreal under the military circumstances.

It reminded some of the genuinely surreal title of Rene Magritte’s painting of a pipe: This is Not a Pipe.

What was it? A carefully staged house arrest with photo coverage of Robert and Constantino having a polite conversation?

It certainly looked like a coup, and set off a semantic craze searching for the right term.

One word which did not make it on the shortlist was “putsch”, borrowed from Swiss German, meaning “a blow”, the literal meaning of French coup.

A putsch is an attempted revolution, somewhat like the Arab Spring. They were quite common in 19th century Europe.

After the “non coup” came the “non resignation speech”, an amazing rambling discourse on other topics, leaving people thoroughly confused and angry. Was it a huge hoax or a defiant show of business as usual?

The whole bizarre scenario has been a series of mixed media messages. The army has had the dramatic images of liberation and adulation, but Mugabe has had the last word. So far.

The people have spoken. But who in authority is listening?

Geoff Hughes is an emeritus professor formerly with Wits University.