President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is an industry. A money spinning industry. A cash cow.
If Mugabe Inc. were listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, it would probably be one of the top performers, competing with mining giant Rio Tinto whose share price has risen by 4 471 percent since the beginning of the year beating inflation which stands at 455 percent nearly 10 times.
Mugabe and Rio Tinto have one thing in common. They are both unpredictable.
Rio Tinto, like its other gold producing counterpart, Falgold, has been complaining about viability problems over the past two years, yet it has continued to post record profits.
Mugabe has been presiding over an economic crisis, and a country on the brink of collapse, for nearly six years.
He has been reported to have collapsed on several occasions, with some reports saying it was a daily occurrence at State House, but the old man still globe trots whenever he can beat the international sanctions imposed against him by the European Union, the Commonwealth and the United States.
Mugabe, who has presided over Zimbabwe for the past 23 years, is now one of the longest serving leaders in the world but he has not given any indication about when he will retire despite intense pressure both from within Zimbabwe and internationally.
Several polls have indicated that most Zimbabweans want him to retire, including those from his ruling ZANU-PF, but he continues to defy the odds.
But it looks not everyone who is calling for Mugabe to retire is genuine.
His demise, like the advent of independence in 1980 and the end of apartheid in South Africa a decade ago, would see several organisations closing down, and thousands of workers losing their jobs.
Though he has become a pain in the neck for most organisations, Mugabe is the raison d'etre for the existence of several organisations.
Some of the organisations calling on him to step down could merely be doing so because that is what they are paid to do but deep down they know that their own survival is dependent upon his continued stay.
Mugabe's ironfisted, dictatorial rule has seen the sprouting of several human rights organisations which would have no reason to exist if he exits from power.
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