(By Michael Onyebuchi Eze) - The last of the Titans! I started my academic journey in Zimbabwe! In the early 2000s it had the highest literacy rate in Africa! Everything worked just fine! Mugabe was a darling of the West. Like Mandela he had forgiven all colonial banditry even as 70-80% of Zimbabwean’s “farmable” lands were in hands of a few white minority – most of whom were lessees
Since actual lessors lived in London, Brussels, New York or any other fancy western country. Some of the owners do not even know where Zimbabwe is on the map except that they inherited a colonial booty! As at early 2000’s the white minority controlled everything – and majority of the black population lived in abject poverty, at the periphery of human existence. Even at the Jesuit school where I was studying, we were very often reminded that we were the “chosen” ones – but of course not for those rebellious Jesuits from Nigeria! These Nigerians….
Then he did the unthinkable. Mugabe decided not to be anyone’s darling much less a Mandela prototype. He appealed to a form of transitional justice that is not just an ideological rhetoric of politics but one that includes mandatory reparation. He recognized that any theory of transitional justice without economic justice is a fraud. He appealed again to the British to honor the terms of agreement reached during the December 21, 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. He was rebuffed. Over and over again. It was at the moment that our hero became a villain but a villain crafted primarily by the Western media (CNN, BBC and their likes). Then came the sanctions, the embargoes, the criminalization and simplification his humanism…
For many in the Western world you will be remembered as a villain who took white owned farms and gave them back to black farmers. This was your biggest crime. It was not the intention but the fact of challenging neocolonialism and neoliberalism. For me the only crime was that it was “chaotic”! You could have passed a law and nationalized the land thus turning colonial legacy on its toes. History will judge you… I agree so many things could have been done differently. For example you could have retired 15 years ago… that was your second error… Yet, like every hero, there is always the Achilles heel!
Rest in Peace Sekuru Baba Robert Gabriel Mugabe!!!
(By Michael Onyebuchi Eze) - The last of the Titans! I started my academic journey in Zimbabwe! In the early 2000s it had the highest literacy rate in Africa! Everything worked just fine! Mugabe was a darling of the West. Like Mandela he had forgiven all colonial banditry even as 70-80% of Zimbabwean’s “farmable” lands were in hands of a few white minority – most of whom were lessees
ReplyDeleteSince actual lessors lived in London, Brussels, New York or any other fancy western country. Some of the owners do not even know where Zimbabwe is on the map except that they inherited a colonial booty! As at early 2000’s the white minority controlled everything – and majority of the black population lived in abject poverty, at the periphery of human existence. Even at the Jesuit school where I was studying, we were very often reminded that we were the “chosen” ones – but of course not for those rebellious Jesuits from Nigeria! These Nigerians….
Then he did the unthinkable. Mugabe decided not to be anyone’s darling much less a Mandela prototype. He appealed to a form of transitional justice that is not just an ideological rhetoric of politics but one that includes mandatory reparation. He recognized that any theory of transitional justice without economic justice is a fraud. He appealed again to the British to honor the terms of agreement reached during the December 21, 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. He was rebuffed. Over and over again. It was at the moment that our hero became a villain but a villain crafted primarily by the Western media (CNN, BBC and their likes). Then came the sanctions, the embargoes, the criminalization and simplification his humanism…
For many in the Western world you will be remembered as a villain who took white owned farms and gave them back to black farmers. This was your biggest crime. It was not the intention but the fact of challenging neocolonialism and neoliberalism. For me the only crime was that it was “chaotic”! You could have passed a law and nationalized the land thus turning colonial legacy on its toes. History will judge you… I agree so many things could have been done differently. For example you could have retired 15 years ago… that was your second error… Yet, like every hero, there is always the Achilles heel!
Rest in Peace Sekuru Baba Robert Gabriel Mugabe!!!
Makorokoto
Thank you, my brother! I couldn’t have said it any better! 👏👏👏
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