When does one let a little lie about Mugabe slip through?

Mugabe and I shared two things. He was principled. I believed I was too. We were both former students of Kutama whose motto was Esse Quam Videri, which means To be rather than to seem ,  or simply,  Be what you are.

If I let the little lie go, just because it had given me free publicity, was I being myself? NO. I would never have said, and still do not think, that Mugabe was a villain. More importantly, to me Mugabe had not destroyed everything that he built.

Apart from that, I was not based in Harare. I had worked in Harare, on and off, for some years, but I had never been based there. My family had always been based in Bulawayo. The last time I had worked full-time in Harare was in the year 2000. Even The Insider was started in Bulawayo.

This might appear to be a small factual error, but I remember a New York Times reporter being suspended for using a dateline when he had not written the story from Florida but had used a stringer.

The Insider, which started as a newsletter in December 1990, was indeed critical of Mugabe and his administration but so was it of the main opposition, Movement for Democratic Change when it was formed a decade later.

But despite losing my entire pension and savings under Mugabe’s rule, I have never thought of him as a villain because he gave me two great things, that no one can take away from me: exposure and personal pride.

Mugabe had allowed me to see the world, to compare my country with other countries including the most developed countries like Australia, the United States, Britain, Switzerland and Germany. I had even, under Mugabe, stayed a few days in Singapore where died. None of this was funded by his government.

Under Mugabe, I had worked for a couple of weeks or more in each of the neighbouring countries but had spent four years in the regional power house, South Africa.

This exposure had helped me to appreciate my country more. Yes, Mugabe had outlived his welcome because 37 years was too long. In fact the 10 years, which have now been agreed under the new constitution, are more than enough.

I remember, after being labelled a Mugabe apologist after defending Zimbabwe at one international conference in South Africa, telling the audience that I was simply patriotic and patriotism in my opinion was love for my country and not necessarily for Mugabe or the ruling party.

I got so put off that I told the audience that some of those who were accusing me of being a Mugabe apologist were supporting Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front financially for that matter. I did not support ZANU-PF but was merely defending my country.

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