By Wisdom Mumera
President Mugabe opened the 8th session of Parliament on Wednesday to much opposition consternation over the apparent Constitutional sodomy by the homophobic octogenarian. He was not supposed to do that.
However ZANU PF members, as expected, had no qualms about his opening the August House unconstitutionally, and one member speaking on Star FM, lauded the leader for showing that ‘he is up for serious business”, for the simple fact that Mugabe had spent some minutes TALKING.
MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese however dismissed the rhetoric for what it is.
“There is really nothing new from the speech as it leaves out the fundamentals.
“Nothing has been said about the things that matter to the ordinary people especially service delivery, electoral environment and other issues, but we are not surprised because he is not in touch with the reality on the ground as he is always away”.
The leader had just come in and said all that made a lot of common sense and left out a whole lot more of the very fundamental.
With years in public office, Mugabe has grown a reputation for being a great public speaker, saying what the crowd needs to hear and titillating gullible fanatics with sideshow tales that add nothing to life or the country.
During the soon-ending Interface rallies he has been displaying his garb of public speaking tricks.
At the last rally he gave the sun-bleached bumper crowd snippets from lecherous tales of Emmerson Mnangagwa which had the crowd buzzing and tabloid balls in a bunch.
He has dropped bits and pieces about the ongoing factional fights. He has told us about the cooking at State House. And he has reminisced about the 1970’s and tales from the bush.
The whole gamut.
Mugabe is now old and as with all such grannies his every tired-try-of a joke always elicits mirth. That’s human nature.
We all look at the aged as some cuddly humanoid in need of our oils of affection to soothe the cragged ridges time has ravaged upon them. Watching a once bustling man creaking and croaking tugs at the strings of the human heart and nothwistanding political differences one feels an iota of affection for the Mugabe who is old and fading. The sentiment among some today is a fearful conspiracy about what will we do if Mugabe goes. Suddenly some are caught in a paranoid fear that his exit may spell some apocalyptical changes we can’t manage.
A long time with the leader and watching his aged self today, mirror of our many grandfathers, has created an artificial bond that senses a vacuum where the 93 year old no longer there leading.
However that’s far from the truth since Mugabe’s role up there on the podium is to be a leader who bring progress down here. Once he has failed that it does not matter that his empty jokes remind us of our grandfathers, he has lost relevance.
The rhetoric that he has become common for is no longer comforting.
It’s Mugabe who told us about the missing $15 billion, yet as leader he did nothing. No one was arrested, nothing was found.
He has talked about Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef )and the misappropriated funds. Yet as leader he has done nothing, Prof Moyo and Gudyanga are still there with talk about some Constitutional logjam.
He has also complained about too many roadblocks but are they gone?
The Dear Leader has even complained about a Zodwa without panties. So what?!
Complaining and talking is the duty of the citizen, the President has to be a man of action, action and Hail Holy Mother Mary Action.