Zimbabwe Hoodwinked

The recent overthrow of Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe is an object lesson in the principle that replacing, by any means, a current ruler is not enough. One must always ask:
Who will replace the old leader?

Justice Malala of Times LIVE writes from South Africa:

 I will not apologise for saying clearly and loudly and repeatedly that Zimbabweans have been hoodwinked. They have been lied to. They have been sold a bum steer. They have been bamboozled with words. And they have swallowed the lie that a new dawn has come. It makes me want to weep, watching so many being fooled by so few.

The Zimbabwe state broadcaster greeted new President Emmerson Mnangagwa's reign with the words: "This is a new dawn, a new era."

What a load of horse manure. Mnangagwa is known by his nickname "The Crocodile". Unless he has changed to "The Chameleon", then, believe me, nothing has changed in Zimbabwe. Things will get worse...

First, I want to fly to Harare, grab every Zimbabwean I meet by the shoulders and shake them very hard. The past two weeks' events are a sham and you can see it from Mnangagwa's first speech and actions.

Mnangagwa should have apologised for the killing of 20,000 of his countrymen during the horrific Gukurahundi operation of the 1980s.

Mnangagwa led that operation. He said nothing.

Worse, though, Mnangagwa said nothing about Itai Dzamara and other activists who have been abducted, tortured and "disappeared" in Zimbabwe.

Every word that came out of Mnangagwa's mouth means nothing until the press is free to report on the deaths of ordinary people at the former finance minister's house two weeks ago, for example. There is now a campaign of violence, retribution and murder going on in Zimbabwe. No one, primarily Mnangagwa, says a word.

Replacement, revolution, etc. is not enough. We must always consider what will follow before we cheer.

   -RW