The relatively successful history of South Africa in the period following the disbandment of white rule contrasts starkly with the recent history of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe has presided over Zimbabwe’s economic implosion which appears to be almost exclusively attributable to governmental economic mismanagement, yet he still remains astounded by the ingratitude of the people who fail to remember how he liberated the country from the white oppressors.

The problem is that people want to live a good life now; they don’t want to dwell in the past. Things that happened thirty years ago are recorded in history books. Most Zimbabweans are to at least some extent pleased that the old white government was overthrown many years ago, but they feel that Mugabe and his cronies have helped themselves to vastly more than they deserved as payment for such services as they claim to have rendered.

And yet Mugabe refuses to let go of his idiosyncratic view of the world. In his latest electioneering he has pledged to “go to war” to fight the “lackeys” of the white oppressors who still want to take over his country. The only interest in the country that the “white oppressors” want nowadays is the humanitarian desire to ensure that the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans get food on their tables.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Present. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.