Keeping the suspense

With this ongoing story, that is. With the right kind of international pressure, threats of unrest and frustration domestically, and infighting within the ranks of the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) to compound a likely electoral defeat, Robert Mugabe is a has-been. It is befitting that he has not been seen in public since the election. There is likely not much for the man to see, except the end results of his policies.

David Blair, who is now the Daily Telegraph's diplomatic correspondent, wrote a book on Mugabe in 2002, which I recommend. Entitled Degrees in Violence, it is a work that still stands out for its journalistic qualities and details about the new century in Zimbabwe. I reviewed it some time (i.e. almost six years!) ago here.

Allow me, then, the liberty to quote from this review: "The ironic comparisons between Robert Mugabe and Ian Smith, the last white ruler of what was then called Rhodesia, are striking, since both were bitter enemies, yet have both unwittingly complimented one another. Mugabe has been no different from Smith - racism, xenophobia, brutal suppression of opposition, and more were traits of both leaders. Says Blair: 'Neither should have been allowed anywhere near running a country. Smith's true station in life was, perhaps, treasurer of a provincial rugby club. Mugabe would have made an excellent junior lecturer at the Revolutionary University of Havana. It was their country's enduring tragedy that these men were given such power' (p. 244)."

Let the events of here and now be a suitable way to end things off, without bangs and truncheons, but with the dignity and honour of just throwing in the towel. But, who seriously thinks Mugabe is a man of dignity and honour?