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IN the eyes of his Western detractors, President Mugabe can never do right. In their dim view of our President, he is the ultimate evil monster and in their frenzied attempts to discredit him, they end up with egg on their face. While he continues to confound them at every turn, they never seem to learn. That he is an African liberator and icon has completely escaped them. They would rather he is viewed through their coloured lenses. Ones that they have carefully crafted to create a demonic evil caricature.
The passing on of another giant of the African liberation movements, former South African president Nelson Mandela, has created a perfect opportunity for the anti-Mugabe zealots to once again spew their hate-filled rhetoric at the direction of the President of Zimbabwe.
In their amateurish bid to create a wedge between Cde Mugabe and the late Cde Mandela, some Western media organisations and commentators have concocted a non-existent feud. They have blatantly and shamelessly sought to paint a picture of two people who did not get along. In the process, some even went to the ridiculous extent of querying why President Mugabe had taken “long” to issue a condolence message.
On returning from Cde Mandela’s memorial service and body viewing in Pretoria on Wednesday, President Mugabe expressed surprise that some people thought the two did not get along. “I don’t know about any feud. If anything, there was an alliance. We worked very well with him when he came out of prison. We gave him support”.
He added: “We established the principle of national reconciliation (at independence in 1980), they took it over and used it as a basis to create what they have now as the Rainbow Nation. There was no feud, where was the feud, what feud”. The President said he hoped that the principles that Cde Mandela stood for would be pursued in South Africa. We also hope so.
Madiba stood for the complete emancipation of the oppressed black people of South Africa. His party, the ANC, and its military wing, Umkhonto WeSizwe, waged a protracted struggle to rid their country of the evil apartheid regime and all it stood for.
Sadly, today, while the levers of political power are in the hands of the majority black people of South Africa, their society remains one of the most unequal in the world. The South African economy is very much still in the hands of a privileged white capitalist class with the black masses swimming in a sea of poverty. Surely this is not the South Africa Cde Mandela fought for. But the Western media and its white-dominated cousins in South Africa would have us believe that all is well in the Rainbow Nation. The reason is simple. No one and nothing should upset the current scenario and hence their feting of Madiba as if he is their hero.
Suddenly the entire world is overcome with grief and yet it took 14 years for the West to remove Cde Mandela and the ANC from their list of terrorist organisations. This duplicity and rank hypocrisy should be unmasked so that the world understands the real reason why there is so much hatred for President Mugabe. The frantic efforts to separate the people of South Africa and Zimbabwe is all aimed at ensuring that white capital is protected in South Africa.
To them, Zimbabwe is a bad example to the rest of the continent because of its people-centred policies such as the indigenisation and economic empowerment and land reform programmes. The lionisation of Cde Mandela and demonisation of Cde Mugabe should be understood against this background. It should be irritating to Western imperialists that despite their best efforts, President Mugabe remains a hero of the oppressed and downtrodden people of this continent and world.
Establishment British media organisations such as Sky News and the Guardian newspaper were astounded when virtually the entire Soccer City stadium erupted in cheers and blaring of vuvuzelas when President Mugabe entered the arena for the Mandela memorial service on Tuesday. Their confusion was manifested in false tweets and news feeds from the Guardian’s men in Johannesburg who wrongly stated that Cde Mugabe was booed when the opposite was true. You can never go wrong when you stand by your principles and not shirk your responsibilities to your people.
We sincerely hope that one day, the majority black people of South Africa will be masters of their destiny and control the means of production of their country as Tata Madiba would have wished. For now the struggle continues. Aluta continua!
Online Reporter