Robert Mugabe, ruling Zimbabwe by stick and iron fist

The shocking photos of Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai are reminder of the brutality of Robert Mugabe’s regime. Since its eviction of white farmers from their land under the pretext of wiping out the relics of colonial masters, things started to get worse. But Mugabe isn’t just against the white minority but against black Zimbabweans. To fight slums, he made thousands homeless. And the situation worsens in face of international isolation.

What is shocking is to see a prominent political leaders with a disfigured face due to torture. Mugabe is symbolically torturing freedom of expression in his country. Super inflation is a daily stick falling hard on the impoverished Zimbabweans because of mismanagement and autocracy.

Mugabe could have become the father of the nation. His name as a hero in the struggle for independence is now marred by enslaving Zimbabweans to his rule and seeking to harshly silence any opposition to his rule. It seems that whatever thanks the Zimbabweans will show him for having freedom from colonialism isn’t enough. He wants from them the land he “freed” for them and to make it his own empire.

Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai can capitalise on the incident to get international support and sympathy. There is little he can do to topple Mugabe from power as long as he has a firm grip on the military and other security forces. Like other dictators, Mugabe doesn’t seem to care about economic sanction or public protest.

Of all the African countries, only South Africa has enough power to put pressure on Mugabe. With the other neighbours using whatever means to impose sanctions on him, this can have enough teeth to bite him with the same strength he is beating hard his opponents. Isolating Mugabe regionally can be a step to weakening him totally. The African Union is playing the conspiracy of silence as a brutally injured opposition leader isn’t yet seen as an assault on the democratic principles it should defend.

Mugabe has got nothing to lose as international measures did little to budge him from power. Nothing will make him step down as international law prohibits toppling regimes or intervening militarily in a country as long as its problems are internal and don’t constitute a threat to international stability. If Mugabe is capitalizing on this, he is a joke among world leaders. Good leaders sacrifice their privileges for the good of their people. They don’t make a hell of their lives to continue living in their illusionary paradise.

Raki « Zimbabwe, A...