By Nqaba Matshazi
In the late 1990s, a big birthday bash was planned for the
late vice-president Joshua Nkomo at Ascot racecourse, with the late former
president Robert Mugabe being the guest of honour.
When Mugabe arrived, with a huge convoy as usual, other
guests were told to clear the way, but one man, rugged and probably slightly
intoxicated, remained defiant and muttered under his breath: “Mugabe, Mugabe chi ichocho?” (Who is Mugabe?)
Lo and behold, Mugabe’s security heard him and not before
long they had pounced on him ready to mete instant justice.
Nkomo quickly intervened, whispered to Mugabe, asking if he
had forgotten who the obstinate man was. The man was a former detainee, who was
detained together with Nkomo and Mugabe.
Mugabe then called the man closer, dug into his jacket
pocket and gave him some money.
The following day, The Chronicle carried a picture of that
man, sleeping on the ground at Ascot, dead drunk, courtesy of Mugabe.
Another story is told of a man who worked at State House in
Bulawayo.His brother joined the MDC and was soon one of their
candidates in a by-election.
Soon the hawks were on the State House employee demanding
that he be summarily fired; since his brother was an MDC candidate it meant
that he also belonged to that party and should be axed immediately for being a sellout.
The guy was quickly ostracised and he waited for the
guillotine. The issue came to Mugabe’s attention on one of his visits
to Bulawayo.
Mugabe summoned the man, who must have feared the worst. Mugabe asked him one question: “Do you still want to work
here?”
Timid and scared, words failed the man and all he could
manage was a weak nod.
Mugabe then looked to State House officials and told them
that if the man wanted to work, he could continue working; that his brother was
an MDC official was not an issue.
In another case, Mugabe spotted a soldier wandering around
State House grounds and summoned him. He asked the soldier what he was doing and the soldier said
he was on leave.
Oh dear, if he was on leave, shouldn’t he be with his
family, Mugabe demanded to know.
The soldier removed his payslip, showed it to Mugabe and
told him that he could not afford to go to his rural home, where his family
was.
That embarrassed Mugabe, who promptly gave the soldier some
money and sent him off on his way.
The mandarins at State House were not too pleased at this
and, if I am not mistaken, immediately began proceedings to discipline the
soldier.
Those who knew and were close to him, say Mugabe was
disarmingly charming.They say he was quite warm and affectionate.
He ensured that he knew all his close employees and
followed up on their lives.
When former Education minister David Coltart’s daughter was
bitten by a lion, Mugabe took him aside at a Cabinet meeting, to ask about her
well-being.
Coltart had been a thorn in Mugabe’s side for eons and the
president probably had every reason to revel in the MDC politician’s ill
fortune.
But on that day, Coltart wrote that Mugabe “appeared
genuinely concerned about her”.
It is very difficult to reconcile this side of Mugabe with
his other side, where he is accused of being a malevolent mass murderer.
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