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26 February 2007
I write as I please - biweekly column by Wilf Mbanga

For 27 years now Robert Mugabe has had his own way in Zimbabwe. At first he could do whatever he wanted to because we the people trusted him. We idolised him. He was our hero and could do no wrong. We believed he could and would lead us to the glorious promised land – majority rule, government of the people, for the people, by the people, are so many bitter decades of oppressions and white minority rule.

Wilf Mbanga
Then, when his popularity began to wane in the nineties, he still got his own way – through manipulating his colleagues and skilfully pulling strings from behind the scenes.

Since 2000 the gloves have been off. Mugabe has ruthlessly, violently and unashamedly crushed any dissenting voices. Whatever he has wanted – commercial farming land, fancy aircraft, luxury cars, more guns, - he has simply taken, using brute force.

But there is one thing he can’t control, no matter how hard he tries. And that is the economy. This has eluded him. It is the one thing he has failed to get a grip on. The economy cannot be thrashed, bribed, shot or otherwise coerced to behave. It has been mismanaged and now is thoroughly damaged. No amount of printing money can help. The only solution is a very bitter pill that has to be swallowed. This is what Mugabe hates most of all – the only remedy is a political accommodation with the opposition and the international community and a return to the rule of law.

Only in this way will it be possible for Zimbabwe to claw back from the precipice of total collapse.

He has tried everything. He has increased salaries of the army and the police. He has threatened doctors, nurses, teachers and other workers with arrest, imprisonment, thrashings – you name it. He has imposed price controls on all basic commodities. But nothing is working. The economy will not be controlled. It has spiralled out of control – way beyond his reach, even beyond the reach of his precious Reserve Bank Governor and personal banker, Gideon Gono.

Mugabe’s worst nightmare has come true. The economy will spell his political demise. The past two weeks have seen a marked acceleration in the rumblings of discontent among all sectors in Zimbabwe, including those who were the most loyal - his own soldiers and the police. The forces have been rocked by massive resignations and desertions. Doctors, nurses and teachers are on strike. Nothing he has done ahs been able to force them back to work. Students are rioting everywhere.

Zimbabwe is now a powder keg – it could go up at any time – it just needs a catalyst to blow it sky high.



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Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in the UK. He writes about the current situation in Zimbabwe.

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