Zimbabwe has Cancer

Yes it's true dear reader, Zimbabwe, that once proud and beautiful land, has cancer. It was diagnosed a few years ago but then it was thought to be benign. Now, with the latest news about the cholera epidemic that is causing such devastation amongst the people, it's recognised that it's malignant. In fact it's pretty well about as malignant as it can be, although to many it seems to worsen every day. Of course the worsening effect is that this cancer is terminal.

Back in 1980 the people elected, albeit under duress, Robert Gabriel Mugabe as their Prime Minister, and the first President, Canaan Banana, was appointed. There were even a couple of white ministers in the new government which helped the illusion that Zimbabwe was about to enter a period of stability and prosperity previously never dreamt of. However, it didn't take too long for Mugabe to show his true colours and decline set in. Before too long Zimbabwe, which in pre-Mugabe times had been referred to as 'The Bread-basket of Africa', started to have difficulty to produce enough food for its own needs, let alone enough to be able to export and help to feed other nations. Of course, provided that you were one of Mugabe's henchmen then you managed to have almost everything you could desire, notwithstanding the fact that the more you desire then the greedier you often become when it comes to the materialistic view of the world.

Soon Mugabe appointed himself President as well, and shortly after that declared that he was President for life. he broached no opposition and surrounded himself with sycophants, thereby guaranteeing that his position was fairly unassailable. Anyone who threatened real opposition was disposed of either by straight forward murder, or by the slightly more subtle subterfuge of accident. People have been incarcerated and mysteriously died in prison. Whole areas, particularly in Matabeleland, were subjected to a scorched earth policy that was tantamount to genocide. There are many mass graves in the country districts that support this.

The more that Mugabe did and got away with so the bolder he became. His posturing against the West, particularly against Britain as the previous Colonial power, is legend. Every time that the accusations about him got a little too close for comfort then he started to shout that it was someone else's fault, that it was an attempt by Britain or America, or both, to de-stabilise Zimbabwe. African leaders, fearful that their own corruption would soon be on public view, supported Mugabe as only the politically blind can do. in their support, tacit or otherwise, they have aligned themselves with this megalomaniac to such an extent that they are guilty by association.

Having caused such massive inflation that the term 'banana republic' would be considered a massive step upwards rather than a derogatory term, Mugabe attempted to blame that on the West, claiming that it was the West attempting to de-stabilise the currency and accordingly the government.

Now, despite more than 1000 known deaths from the cholera epidemic and many more expected to die every hour from this wholly preventable and treatable disease, this idiot clings onto power by his finger-nails as he screams out that the cholera has been given to the people by the British! With the threat of possible intervention he then boldly states that there is no longer an epidemic, that it has been brought under control. I guess what this fantasist meant to say, should the claim that the epidemic is over be true, is that every Zimbabwean who is not a part of his favoured clique is dead.

Mugabe is nothing but a malignant cancer on the nation of Zimbabwe, and as such he needs to be excised whilst there is still a possibility of recovery for the people and the land. Like all malignant cancers, if is not cut out for ever, it will continue to spread until all that sustains it is destroyed. If Zimbabwe as a nation is to survive then Mugabe must be cut out from it's heart, and nothing less will suffice.

Perhaps it might just be possible to salvage enough from the detritus of this once-proud nation to rebuild it, although rebuilding will take many, many years. Who knows? Perhaps what will follow in terms of leadership might just conceivably be as bad or --- heaven forbid --- worse than the leadership of Mugabe, but one thing is certain, and that is that if nothing is ventured in terms of political change then nothing will be gained either.

This week the posturing buffoon has stated that Zimbabwe belongs to him. He has said that he will remain in power as long as the people want him to. What! When he was voted out earlier this year, despite all his attempts to rig the elections and silence the opposition, despite the beatings, kidnappings and murder, despite the threats of starvation and deprivation, he refused to go. Even now, although he has paid lip-service to a power sharing deal with the MDC and Morgan Tsvangarai, he has refused to honour the deal in any meaningful way, and furthermore i don't believe that he has any intention of doing so.

For the world to stand by and make tut-tutting noises rather than taking positive action to remove Mugabe for ever (preferably from the face of the earth) is pathetic. If we really care about our fellow man then that means that we should care about them all, regardless of colour or ethnicity, and so our concern for the beleaguered Zimbabwean people should be a prime concern for each of us.

Good people have stood by and done nothing about Mugabe for too long. As a result evil has flourished to the extent that the nation is in its death throes. If good men continue to stand by and do nothing then the evil that is Mugabe and all he represents will have the final victory. When the last Zimbabwean outside of Mugabe's inner circle is dead then it will be too late to attempt resuscitation.