“Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, in a rare interview Thursday, depicted himself as an African hero battling imperialism and foreign attempts to oust him rather than the widespread perception of a dictator clinging to power at the expense of the welfare of his people and country.”

In my book, “Without Honour“, I make reference to a rally which Mugabe addressed in Plumtree whilst I was in the ZRP, and how he ordered me to sit with him – albeit for two minutes. Having spent such a short time with him even then, when he was the ‘darling of the West’ in the early 1980s, I made the observation that intelligence does not necessarily bequeath wisdom.

Mugabe is of the misbegotten belief that if he repeats an untruth often enough, that it will, in time, become the truth - and he himself has begun to fall for his own lies.

Here are a few of his utterances in the CNN interview aired last night:

• LIE!: “He denied that his country is in economic shambles, saying it grew enough food last year to feed all its people, and defended policies that have driven white farmers off their land as properly restoring that land to indigenous Africans.”The land reform is the best thing (that) could have ever have happened to an African country,” said Mugabe, a former revolutionary leader who came to power when white-ruled Rhodesia became black-ruled Zimbabwe. “It has to do with national sovereignty.”

FACT!: Half of Zimbabweans in the country are in need of food. There is no way that the farmers managed to feed the population last year. The agricultural sector has all but collapsed. The new ‘owners’ of the seized farms have no experience in agriculture and spend more time tending to other concerns instead of working the land. The farm workers have all been dismissed and the land is occupied by war veterans. Land reform has nothing to do with “national sovereignty” but more to do with Mugabe’s rage at the new constitution being rejects by the population - so he set the war veterans and his loyalists on the white commercial farmers as he believed that the rejection was sponsored by the commercial farmers.

• LIE!: “Mugabe denied that his ZANU-PF party lost elections in 2008 that forced him to accept a power-sharing agreement with his chief rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who now is prime minister. Violence surrounding the disputed election, much of it against opposition supporters, further damaged Zimbabwe’s standing, but Mugabe rejected any blame on Thursday. “You don’t leave power when imperialists dictate that you leave,” he insisted. “There is regime change. Haven’t you heard of (the) regime change program by Britain and the United States that is aimed at getting not just Robert Mugabe out of power but get Robert Mugabe and his party out of power?”

FACT!: The numbers speak for themselves. ZANU PF lost their parliamentary majority in last year’s election. In the first round of the Presidential election, Mugabe lost to Morgan Tsvangirai. And he had the polling boxes spirited away for five weeks and the results were re-engineered An orchestrated reign of terror was then visited upon the MDC faithful and about 200 people were brutally slaughtered whilst hundred of others were abducted, beaten and incarcerated. In direct response to the violence, Tsvangirai withdrew from the election second round - and Mugabe went ahead with a one-man sham election - and had himself sworn in with alacrity that is seldom seen in Zimbabwean politics.

• LIE!: “Asked about Roy Bennett, a white opposition figure who has yet to be sworn in as agriculture minister a year after formation of the power-sharing government, Mugabe stammered before saying Bennett faces charges of “organizing arms of war” against Zimbabwe. He added that he’s heard the prosecution lacks evidence in the case, but said he won’t agree to swearing in Bennett until after any charges are dropped.”

FACT!: Mugabe has a history of laying blame at the feet of people that he does not trust, nor like. Early in his reign, he made allegations against Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU that they were stashing arms in preparation of a return to the bush. When these allegations were proved not to hold any water, he shifted the blame to the York brothers, farmers in Marula - but even those allegations were proved false. Mugabe sets his sight on a target and will move heaven and earth to ensure that that target, at the very least, is given the hardest time of their life. Mugabe has made no secret of his dislike of Pachedo (the vernacular nickname of Roy Bennett), and knows that allowing him to be sworn into cabinet will result in many secrets being uncovered.

• LIE!: “Mugabe also denied any responsibility for harm to the nation from his economic policies, instead blaming what he called “unjustified” and “illegal” sanctions that he said were intended to bring regime change.”The sanctions must be lifted. We should have no interference from outside,” Mugabe said. “The continued imperialist interference in our affairs is affecting our country adversely.”

FACT!: There are no economic sanctions in place against Zimbabwe. The sanctions are targeted sanctions against individuals loyal to Mugabe. These sanctions seek to curtail travel and business ties with quite a sizeable list of Mugabe’s party members and ministers. The notion that these are economic sanctions is ridiculous. Before Mugabe came to power in Zimbabwe, the same country, known as Rhodesia, was subject to full economic sanctions – and it was able to still maintain a vibrant, healthy economy. Even if the country were subject to full economic sanctions as alleged by Mugabe, how come he is unable to sustain a decent economy as was done in the Rhodesian days?

When will Mugabe actually accept the truth of his ‘rule’ instead of pedalling these lies - lies that he himself believes?

Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man