IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe’s capital,
Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country
that is experiencing economic and political turmoil.
Two hours earlier, the body of the late former Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe had arrived at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International
Airport from
Singapore, where the long time ruler succumbed to a long
illness at the age of 95.
Mugabe’s death came nearly two years after he was deposed
in a military coup in November 2017 which catapulted his long-time aide and
friend Emmerson Mnangagwa
into power.
However, Mnangagwa’s two years in power have been
tumultuous.
Since he took over the reins, Mnangagwa has twice deployed
the army to deal with protesters venting their disquiet on the direction he is
taking the country,
leaving dozens dead and hundreds injured, nursing either
gunshot or baton stick wounds.
The economy is tanking and shortages of basic goods,
including bread, fuel and medicines, amid price increases and an erosion of
workers’ income, a situation
which has left many Zimbabweans poorer and more afraid of
the State, which has not hesitated to unleash its security apparatus on unarmed
citizens.
While Mugabe is no angel, and has, during his time in
power, presided over phases of human rights abuses, political crackdown on
opponents, economic
mismanagement and corruption, the current deteriorating economic
and human rights situation has kept the memories of Mugabe stuck on the back of
the mind of
some Zimbabweans.
It is within this context that when the announcement of
Mugabe’s death came, it was met with confusion over the true nature of the
veteran leader’s legacy, with some choosing to remain indifferent.
So, as Mnangagwa presided over the processions to receive
Mugabe’s body at the airport, named after the late ruler, it was business as
usual in Harare, with
the largely small-scale businesspeople choosing to ignore
the big news, or at least, talking about it as they went about their daily
business.
It was only when the sun was setting, with the majority of
people beginning to leave the city centre, that commotion began near Town
House, at the heart of the
city, following a rumour that the motorcade accompanying
Mugabe’s hearse was about to pass through the city.
Immediately, and spontaneously, hundreds of people, rushed
and lined the edges of Julius Nyerere Way, chanting Mugabe’s totem “Gushungo”.
As the motorcade began to pass, people kept chanting,
hoping they would catch a glimpse of the hearse carrying Mugabe’s body.
They did not see it, and instead, watched as Mnangagwa’s
motorcade, complete with snipers pointing guns at the crowd, made a movie style
drive-by.
Many could not wait to grumble in disapproval as they went
back to their business.
Within minutes, a police motorbike blew a siren as it led
another motorcade along Julius Nyerere Way, and almost immediately, crowds
formed on the edges of the
street, and this time, it was Mugabe’s hearse.
As the people cheered, top-of-the-range vehicles carrying
Mugabe’s relatives and friends rolled by.
It was almost like some uptown, elite motor show, except
that this was Julius Nyerere Way, where those that were cheering were the
ordinary poor Zimbabweans who had borne the brunt of the ruinous policies of
the system that Mugabe presided over for the 37 years, and the same system that
Mnangagwa has taken over and continued to follow by the book.
As the last vehicles drove past, the cheers died down, and
it was back to the normal; a normal that is characterised by vending, transport
woes and hardships.
Mugabe had made his last roll past the street that he used
for his many trips from the State House to the airport — for 37 years!
It was only in death that his motorcade received an ovation
as it rolled past, for in his lifetime, he was a feared creature, a brutal
dictator who had earned
a reputation of not tolerating any unusual behaviour
towards his motorcade.
It appeared that it was only death that demystified him,
and whether it was genuine love or something else, for the first time, people
whose lives Mugabe had
ruined for nearly four decades, praised him as they got the
closest to his motorcade as it passed.
However, for some in the crowd, the cheers for Mugabe were
to spite his predecessor, Mnangagwa, who has so far wasted the goodwill he was
accorded soon after
the 2017 coup, where he promised to open up democratic
space and improve the economy.
Instead, it appears that he is taking Zimbabwe down the
familiar road, of repression and economic ruin. Newsday
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