Man Zimbabweans will recognise the humour with which I lace the title of this editorial...

Mugabe is in New York, attending a meeting of the United Nations. I am not sure why the United Nations decided that they needed to invite him, but he is there and, no doubt, they will give him the floor as they always do, and he will rant and rave against the West and he will repeat all of his unproven, unsubstantiated claims that the West is looking to foment regime change and want the natural resources of Zimbabwe.

Anyone listening to Mugabe’s speeches for the first time, would be forgiven for thinking that Mugabe owns Zimbabwe, that it is his in title deed… The man famously told Tony Blair, “Let me keep my Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe does not belong to Mugabe. It belongs to all Zimbabweans. And that includes me. I am insulted that the man should, through his determination to remain top dog in that country, have separated my family onto various continents. I am insulted that the country that I call ‘home’ is a mere shadow of the country it once was.

I am disgusted at the manner in which he announced that he can only be “removed from office by God” even though he was rejected at the polls by the voting public.

The negotiations between his party and the two factions of the MDC have been shelved whilst Mugabe is in New York, ostensibly representing the people that he ‘led to freedom’. If what Zimbabweans are experiencing is ‘freedom’ then I do believe that they would happily revert to being a ‘oppressed’ society.

And Mugabe’s latest move is a typical Mugabe-ism. Re-appointing his cabinet as a temporary measure is not only illegal, it is undemocratic. There are people in this cabinet that have lost their seats – how can they continue to hold office when they are no longer the choice of the people?

This is the very same cabinet that Mugabe called ‘the worst in history’, yet he appoints them nonetheless!

Mugabe’s abuse of power knows no bounds. He is a law unto himself – and does not care who sees it, or how they view it.

The man is a power-crazed despot and one who will remain in power regardless of what the Zimbabwean people want. They have no wish to continue being led by a man who has virtually single handedly reduced the bread basket of Africa to a begging bowl.

Mugabe claims that ‘Zimbabwe is a democracy’, that it is a ‘sovereign state’ – but recent events in that country prove him a liar. Not that he is going to ‘fess up that he got it all horribly wrong.

He will remain in power until he falls off his mortal coil… and – if he could – beyond the grave…

Mugabe believes he is omnipotent – a God of some sort. Yet in reality he is little more than a tired, sad, morbid old man with mental issues that would take years to resolve.

Years which Zimbabweans do not have to spare.

The clock is ticking and at least Zimbabweans know that the presence of the ‘mad one’ can not go on indefinitely…

Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man