By Bernard Bwoni
First and foremost I would like to wish His Excellency, The
President of Zimbabwe a happy birthday and all the blessings that deservedly come
with such. President Mugabe represents a unique brand of an African with powerful principles which have been tried and tested successful against colonialism and more recently neo-colonialism. The defining feature about this extraordinary visionary is the strong commitment to the ideas of self-determination, self-respect and self-preservation. The belief in the struggle to truly separate the Zimbabwe indigene from the unfair neo-colonial construct that has throughout history continued to burden the African continent. A man who has stood firm and facing the front in this struggle to practically disconnect the people of Zimbabwe from a system that has forsaken the people of the continent to second class citizenry on their own soil.
Robert
Mugabe represents a renewed optimism in the African cause and it is proving unstoppable
as evidenced by the recent united stance by the leaders of SADC and AU against
the EU decision to ban President Mugabe from attending a scheduled EU-Africa
summit. That the Mugabe mania is resonating well with the continent is
testimony to the righteousness of the cause that the President stands for. That
the AU have entrusted the Deputy leadership of the respective organisations is evidence
enough that it is a vision with values shared by the marginalised people of
this resource-laden continent. The frenzy that is sweeping across the African
continent has no end in sight until the cradle of mankind is restored to its
rightful place of the economically empowered standing heads up high as equals in
the emerging economic and political world order.
Economic
and political pressure has been put on Zimbabwe and the continent to suppress
this vision for it to continually and identically reinvent itself and re-emerge
with an even more defined drive for economic independence. It is quite
endearing to note that even whites in Zimbabwe have joined in the rest of the
country in denouncing the illegal sanctions placed on Zimbabwe. Whatever the
motive, selfless or self-serving, the sanctions have hurt the Zimbabwe economy and
induced inhuman suffering and undeserved distress on the people of Zimbabwe. So
the white coalition against the illegal sanctions is a welcome move, better
late than never. It is the hope that the white community in Zimbabwe
disconnects itself from ‘all white coalitions’ and join the majority of the
people to collectively denounce these illegal sanctions. This move by the white
community represents a humble adjustment to the unshakeable belief in a cause
that President Mugabe has demonstrated.
It is an honour to have lived in these country and continent-defining
times, the ideas that Africa must define its own destiny and African countries
are sovereign nations who have a fundamental right to self-determination. There
are many Africans who have dedicated their lives to the cause of the continent
but Mugabe is a cut above the rest. His insightfulness and awareness of the neo-colonial
system that the continent finds itself against is what separates him from
others who have attempted and failed where he is finally succeeding in
dismantling the remnants of that structure. This is what prompted former British Foreign
Secretary Douglas Hurd to concede that ‘the trouble with Mugabe is that he
thinks like us’. It is no longer just about Mugabe the man, but the ideas,
principles and values which define this man’s cause. It is about the detail and
blue-prints for the African trajectory which he has now firmly placed in this
generation and generations to come.
What is reassuring is the fact that President
Mugabe is revered on the African continent and loathed offshore only in those
countries synonymous with humanity’s greatest crimes, slavery and colonialism. Some
will counteract this argument and say that slavery and colonialism are dead and
I will say yes colonialism died on the maternity table but its bastard
offspring neo-colonialism was conceived with crafty caesarean and still with us
to date. Robert Mugabe is an embodiment of hardy African fighting fabric and
will not stop until the covert and overtly biased establishment is defeated and
permanently dismantled. He is a man with the African cause etched to his spirit
and being, he inhales what it is to be African and exhales those fumes which
have historically clouded the African mind to resign to a lifetime of slavery
and servitude. His is a lifelong struggle to arm and empower the minds and
spirits of Africans to defend Africa and African ideals.
Zimbabwe has been under economic,
political and economic attack since 2001 and all the attacks against the
country came through one flank, Robert Mugabe. That sole flank has stood
resolute and steadfast to the onslaught of course with support of his lieutenants
and great many good people of Zimbabwe and Africa. President Mugabe’s
resilience is what separates him from other Africans who have stood against the
very same establishment. The man has soaked all dubious allegations and condemnation
with exceptional resolve. A man with the black African cause stubbornly printed
to his spirit and being is what defines Mugabe.
The unjustified denigration of
Mugabe the man is just a smoke-screen to smother the unavoidable spread of the
Mugabe visionary flame that is freely spreading across the continent. It is the
only those disconnected and purblind who cynically clutch to the hope of suppressing
this unique vision which knows no bounds, is here to stay and will forever
enhance the lives of the ordinary citizens on a scale never to be witnessed and
only history will judge this perceptive and reflective African.
Robert Mugabe has dedicated his
life to addressing the unsustainable inequalities which are a result of
colonialism. His ideas articulately advance the all-important and
non-negotiable notion of ownership and total economic independence which has been
his lifelong desire to correct a deliberate and historical imbalance. The long
term vision of lasting prosperity and real ownership is now being realised in
Zimbabwe but continues to be concealed by the relentless manipulation from an
external players who do not want to see this vision succeed.
At 90 years old President Mugabe
still lives by the very same principles which drove him to stand up against an
unjust system and he remains an upright and emotionally intelligent perceptive
visionary leader. An inspiration to Mugabe has gone above and beyond where panAfricanism
has theoretically tabled and he has redressed and restructured inequalities
created by colonialism in Zimbabwe. The Mugabe inspired shrewdness
is showing signs of success in re-arranging the neo-colonial DNA which
continues to tie down Africa and its people to lifelong destitution and poverty
on the continent of plenty!
Here
is to a happy birthday President Mugabe.Bernard Bwoni can be contacted at bernardbwn@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment