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

A study by one of Mugabe’s critics showed that Mugabe was never more popular than the party but the Movement for Democratic Change was never more popular than Tsvangirai. Now Nelson Chamisa is turning out to be even more popular than the party than Tsvangirai was. So why would I blame Mugabe as a person instead of the party that he led?

ZANU-PF had ruined our country and allowed Mugabe to stay in power for 37 years because his colleagues were benefitting from his rule, so much that in 2008, they told him that he was not going anywhere when he wanted to give in to Tsvangirai after the MDC leader had beaten him in the March presidential elections.

Mugabe to me, therefore, was a victim, rather than a villain.

Besides, I hated the African “big man” mentality that some people were trying to perpetuate. I also asked why we were obsessed with who was going to succeed who in Zimbabwe or Africa in general when no one ever asked who was going to succeed Bush, or Obama or Trump; Blair, May or Johnson?

I therefore decided to raise my complaint about the Mugabe death story with the news agency. I told the agency that I had not said what they said I had said because I had not spoken to their reporter and would never have said that anyway. The reply I got, three days later, said:

“Hi Charles,

“It’s very long time… Various iterations of Samsung/Google somehow wiped your phone numbers from my contacts list on my cellular. I want to apologize for taking you by surprise. The obit was started about a decade ago when rumors of Bob’s health first started doing the rounds. It’s been updated at moments of importance. I know we spoke, a very long time back, because I’ve been an avid admirer of your work for as long as I can remember — and it’s hard to get an unbiased perspective.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for the late response. I failed to raise (name) over the weekend, but did so this morning and he sent your email address — which I’ve now saved on my phone. If there’s anything I can help with, please let me know.

“Best wishes,

(Name)”

I replied:

“Thanks for responding. I cannot access the stories in full because of your subscription limits but even if we talked years ago. I would not have said: “He ushered in independence and brought a lot of hope but destroyed everything he built.” or “He was a hero who turned into a villain.”

“That is not the way I viewed Mugabe.

“I do not agree that he turned into a villain or that he destroyed everything he built.

“My writings as reflected in God, Mugabe and the West show what I think of Mugabe.”

I never heard from the news agency again. I went back to read God Mugabe and the West, which I wrote soon after the 2003 elections, again. It confirmed that I would never have said that Mugabe was a villain or that he had destroyed everything that he built.

That reminded me of a book that I had just read and enjoyed. It is entitled: It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. The news agency writer, probably like many other Insider readers, thought he knew me.

He does not.

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