ZANU PF secretary for youth affairs Pupurai Togarepi has warned former President Robert Mugabe against denigrating President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Togarepi said that ZANU PF should have a rethink on the honours bestowed upon Mugabe.
Mugabe be careful
THE Shona have a saying “gudo guru peta muswe kuti vadiki vakutye” which loosely translates to ‘leaders should respect those whom they lead lest they abuse their positions and lose that favour’, and as such mudhara Robert Mugabe should take heed and accept the tides of time, bite the bullet and eat the chill pill, we will not go back to his times.Mugabe is part of the past, a relic from the First Republic whose erratic good deeds are of course overshadowed by his ambitions primarily to die in office and then to pass the baton to his equally troublesome wife Grace and also his quest for revenge.
His contemporaries have told us that he does not forgive and we ignored them but his utterances when he turned the ripe age of 95 are proof beyond any doubt that indeed the former president nimble sour grapes even to his grave.
A bitter old man who is angry he couldn’t stop destiny, a bitter old man who is angry that he is no longer the occupant of State House, a bitter old man who cannot rest in the lap of luxury that has been extended to him by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man he and his G40 cabal wanted dead—that is Mugabe in part.
Although he is old, wizened with time vicissitudes, inside Mugabe sees himself as an unstoppable warrior, the only man who is ordained to lead the country, anyone but him is unqualified, what crap from a man who singlehandedly made some unfortunate decisions for this nation.
Instead of celebrating the efforts that are being done to make some of his wrongs right and the crooked straight, this man who has more than ten farms and lives with millions of dollars stashed at his (rural) home, want to be the judge of the Second Republic.
Yes, Mugabe can judge but he should not look at the speck in the eye of the current leadership when his own eyes have giant logs that are obviously blinding his vision.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is not God, he has never tried to elevate himself to deity status, he is a simple man with the mission of making Zimbabwe a better place for all, it is a vision we in Zanu PF support to the hilt and whose achievement we will not allow to be distracted by the rantings of a captured old man whose bitterness could cost him a place in the sun among our other founding fathers.
As I reflected on events of the past month, itself a month of love, I thought about our former leader, a man whose birthday on February 21 is now a public holiday where Youths from across the political divide take a breather and reflect, but do we really need to honour such a person? Yes, then but I am now confused.
Can we keep our international airport named after a bitter man, can we walk on roads named after a person who destroyed the dreams and aspirations of a generation, these are questions that we need to discuss and debate. Least I am regarded as a revisionist, no I am not, I am only a Zanu PF son who loves his nation.
Least this could be adjudged as an attention-seeking stunt, no it is not, will never be but just an expression of pent exasperation at an ungrateful old git.
While dear reader you could ask are we concerned with Mugabe let me give you an example just last week Botswana which was so estranged from Zimbabwe because of Mugabe was in the country doing business with none other than President Mnangagwa, indeed Zimbabwe is open for business and only those who live in a time warp and denial like Mugabe can deny that fact.
Mugabe, I recently wrote, is our founding father, he ran his race but his repulsive utterances put him at risk of being expunged from history. What can stop us from renaming airports and roads, what can stop us from repossessing the many farms he grabbed, absolutely nothing but respect for our elders.
Can Mugabe’s handlers put him on a leash, otherwise the Zanu PF youth league will demand back the time he stole for Zimbabwe at large back?
Robert Mugabe is given special treatment, treated with kid gloves, flown to Singapore when sick, he should not abuse that goodwill, he should be warned and remember that no one is bigger than the nation State.
To our former president, you will do yourself a great service if you silently enjoy your retirement. You could also do Zimbabwe better if you apologize for some of your omissions and commissions.
Zimbabweans are prepared to forgive you but obviously not forgetting that you presided over some bad patches of our history. One would think you would use your advanced age and 37 years experiences to unite the people of Zimbabwe than to play holy as if you think we are all stupid.
Learn from statesman like Kenneth Kaunda and Mbeki who have taken constructive roles even outside active politics.
Time heals all wounds and with time we can always forgive Robert Mugabe. The earlier he realizes that our recognition of some of his positive contributions to this Country is not without knowledge of some of Robert Mugabe’s failures.
Ours is a conscious decision to preserve the legacy of those who sacrificed for our freedom and him as a surviving testimony. He failed our revolutionary love at the last minute and this may be the source of his recent outbursts or is it dementia.