Sometimes I wish Mugabe were dead

Does that make me a bad person? I know that one does not say these things in polite company. Even in less-than-polite company, I suppose. But I do wish he would die of old age and not wake up in the morning. I think it would be better for him and for Zimbabwe.

I know that these things should not be said; they should not be thought of, even. But I can’t deny that I have thought these unthinkable thoughts. Do they make me a bad person?

President Robert Mugabe swore to serve and protect his people — and to protect the Constitution of Zimbabwe. What we have witnessed, though, is a man only interested in serving himself, protecting himself and bullying those who are weaker, those with nothing. Instead of serving them, he sows fear into their lives; instead of protecting them, he continues to abuse them.

The days of Robert Mugabe the hero are long gone and may never be salvaged. He made sure of that. We said goodbye to Robert Mugabe the liberator, the hero, and hello to the villain almost a decade ago.

It is a pity, for when he is buried the words of Shakespeare will be echoed by many: “I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” When he dies, people will file past his coffin, not to mourn him but to make sure that he really is dead. He has managed to erase his good works with a series of carefully orchestrated unfortunate events. His legacy may be beyond repair.

Maybe he does not understand why his people are rejecting him, why they are turning away from the one who delivered them from their enemy. He cannot accept that his people are turning their backs on the man who gave them the best education in Africa. Perhaps he thinks that they are an ungrateful bunch that deserves to be punished. It’s possible that he believes that they should show a bit more appreciation for his struggles for them. He is like a jealous boyfriend who won’t accept that his girlfriend wants to leave him.

Maybe he thinks that because he suffered in prison, the people of Zimbabwe somehow owe him a god-like status. He served them all these years and now they want to thank him by ejecting him? I’m sure that’s pretty hard to accept, especially for an egomaniac.

If he had died in office 10 years ago, he would have been a great African hero. Had he resigned from the presidency 10 years ago, like Nelson Mandela did, he would have been a great man. If he had not seized farms the way he did, he would have been a legend. If. Unfortunately we don’t deal in “ifs”; we deal in what is. And “what is” is the disaster he has managed to turn himself into: a sorry, desperate figure that wants to take an entire country to the grave.

How can a man spit in the face of greatness the way he has? His place in the history books was assured. Now it will be there for all the wrong reasons. Is it possible for him to redeem himself? Is it possible that he is behaving this way because he believes that redemption is beyond reach anyway?

The only way he can save himself from this self-afflicted descent into the annals of bad eggs of history is if he does something unexpected. For example, if he were to resign and apologise for the pain and suffering he has caused, that would be a start.

As a black South African, it was easy for me to understand why Mugabe wanted to force the land-restitution issue. His tactics, though, destroyed any good intentions he may have had, if he had any in the first place. I am not unaware of the possibility that he used land as a means for staying in power.

Many South Africans realise that we too have a land problem that needs to be resolved before some populist leader takes it up as an issue in order to attain power. A skilled populist can use the land issue to his advantage because he will know that for the poor it is a big deal. Mugabe knew this very well.

I am not from Zimbabwe; I do not live there. In fact, I have never even been there. And so I wonder if I have the right to share my thoughts on what’s going on there. What gives me the right to wish that he dies in his sleep of old age if I am not of that country? I have friends who have told me terrible stories about the situation in Zimbabwe. Besides, the last time I checked, friends are supposed to care for what their friends care for.

The stories I hear from the people who live there cause me to have these thoughts. I wish I didn’t have them. President Robert Mugabe is a human being, even though many of his victims would beg to differ. I wish I could write a blog that would hide these thoughts. Do they make me a bad person?