Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has just disclosed that he had very few friends towards the end of his reign with most probably regarding his ousting as good riddance.
Mugabe told the Sunday Times that when the military intervened he called then South African President Jacob Zuma, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenya, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Zambian President Edgar Lungu and Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi asking them to intervene, but no one took any action.
He said South Africa could have done more since it was the chair of the Southern African Development Community but instead Zuma sent junior officials who, Mugabe said, were biased and “turned a blind eye” to what was happening.
"They had come here, they had seen the situation and then they went to say there was no need for intervention. That is because they had spoken to the commanders," Mugabe told the Sunday Times.
"South Africa did not have to send an army, but to engage more," he said.
"You see this group of ministers that came; they gave a false impression that all was OK and they had spoken, not just to us, but also to the soldiers.
"Now if they had spoken to soldiers and then gave out that there was no need for intervention because they had been assured, then the other countries just sat on their laurels and they said, 'Ah well, South Africa says there is no need.' Afterward, when the situation became worse, they didn't want to change their original view."
Mugabe said he felt betrayed but said he understood their situation.
"In a way I feel betrayed, but you have to also look at their conditions. Besides South Africa, most of them did not have the capacity to intervene. South Africa could have done much more, but they didn't. They set a bad precedent," he said.
But some Zimbabweans feel that Mugabe brought this upon himself because he had told regional and international leaders over and over again to stay out of Zimbabwe politics saying Zimbabweans were capable of solving their own problems.
They said this in response to a tweet by Jonathan Moyo, that new South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is the new SADC chair, should do something about the “illegitimate” junta in Harare.
One Collin Mboto tweeted: “What you keep failing to comprehend my learned friend is that that coup was so so necessary the world over was fed up with you lot so even if we were in ECOWAS the world was still going to turn a blind eye. Everyone knows how you were removed. It was a necessary evil.”
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