Categories: Stories

Why Mugabe won

People have been groping for answers about why Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front leader Robert Mugabe won the July 31 elections.

They could not accept that the 89-year-old, third most evil man after Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, both now dead, could win a free and fair election so overwhelmingly.

They could not accept that ZANU-PF’s 108-page party manifesto had more to offer than the much-favoured Movement for Democratic Change’s 36-page party manifesto.

Mugabe won 61 percent of the vote while his party won more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, a drastic power shift form 2008 when ZANU-PF and MDC were neck and neck while MDC-leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first round polling 48 percent of the votes against Mugabe’s 43.

To me, there was no surprise because a Mugabe victory was predicted a decade ago, but the world did not want to listen because they hated the man so much.

In the movie, Godfather III, Mafia don Michael Corleone tells his protégé Vincent Mancini why it is dangerous to hate someone. Vincent wants to kill Joey Zasa because Joey persistently makes derogatory remarks about his godfather.

Michael tells Vincent that Joey is nothing. “He’s a small-time enforcer. He bluffs, threats, but nothing.” Vincent insists he must kill Joey but Michael tells him: “No! Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”

This is what has happened to the West. They hated Mugabe so much that it clouded their judgment.

They cannot believe that Mugabe is still popular in his country, because they have been relying on organisations that they are funding, and therefore tell them what they want to hear.

A look at who is accusing Mugabe of stealing last month’s elections shows that most of the organisations singing this tune are funded by the United States or by members of the European Union.

Yet, over the past four years, I have written several stories that it will be difficult to unseat Mugabe because he has a mission to accomplish-a divine mission to save the people of Zimbabwe.

This was something I knew over a decade ago and wrote about way back in 2003 because it pitted my journalism principles against my religious beliefs.

I wrote the second story in 2009 and last September wrote a kindle book in which I asked whether United States President Barack Obama could outlast Mugabe.

No one paid attention. But Mugabe has done it, thus fulfilling prophecy made 10 years ago.

I even pointed out how ironic it was that this year’s elections were being held at the same time that the Zion Christian Church, where the prophecy emanated from, was celebrating its centenary under the theme- 100 years of true prophecy.

Maybe this time, people will listen.

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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