Mugabe was no hero of Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWEANS are conflicted about ex-president Robert Mugabe’s passing.
He needs to be condemned even in his grave.
After winning independence from the British minority, he brought in the Koreans to train his fifth brigade and butchered over 20 000 people in Matabeleland, without talking about other mass killings that this man orchestrated.
He and his cronies took all the land from the few white farmers that were left and distributed it to all his accomplices.
He left a traumatised generation, of which I am one. Because of him and Mnangagwa, I had a fatherless adolescence.
In 2001, I suffered torture by his brutal police at Warren Park police station that left me with mental health problems that had a devastating effect on my life.
To date, Zimbabweans are fighting for freedom from a system he created and sustained.
He is not my hero, and the notion that he is the founding father of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe is grossly wrong. He formed Zanu-PF through tribal strength.
The myth of the indispensable man, or “so he thought”, lead to gradually deteriorating governance and chaotic successions in Mnangagwa and the instability these men claim they are guardians against.
Mugabe’s reign led to an economic meltdown that never recovered, he established a template of tyranny and impunity that has been gladly adopted by his successor Mnangagwa, and that is likely to be passed down to a potentially long list of successors.
We continue to push and fight for a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.
He died a bitter man, in a foreign country, Singapore, seeking medical help – something he failed to address in his 38 years in power in his country, and he was humiliated by his own so-called comrades.
BIGBOY SIBANDA | London