Comedy with a little distortion of history

Zimbabweans have a knack for laughing at themselves even when things are not going well and they should be moaning and groaning, according to a story by South Africa’s News 24.  One comedian is quoted as saying that Zimbabwe is the only country that will fail the simply test: Who is your former president?  "Zimbabweans, for all our literacy – with a 99.9995% literacy rate – we are the only country that will fail to answer a simple question: who is your former president?" he is quoted as saying in an apparent reference to President Robert Mugabe’s 35-year rule. “For many, Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, is the only leader they have known,” News24 says. But while Mugabe has been in power for 35 years, he has not been the country’s president for 35 years. He was Prime Minister for the first seven years.Zimbabwe’s first President was Canaan Banana who only stepped down in 1987 after the signing of the unity accord between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union. Indeed, Mugabe has held executive powers for 35 years, but Zimbabwe has a former president.

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