The Herald fights on Mugabe's corner, tears into Eddie Cross

TODAY, the State-owned by pro-Zanu PF Herald published an opinion piece in which it tears into Eddie Cross whom it described as a racist. Cross tore the line last week when he allegedly penned a blog article in which he claimed Mugabe has suffering from stroke before he went at length to demonise the ruling Zanu PF party.

Below we published the unedited opinion piece from the Herald:

There are very few blogs that read like Eddie Cross', in its weird and nauseating way which betrays the psyche of an old, racist unrepentant "Rhodie". (And he should pay for this free advertising!) He is perpetually angry and bitter – the principal targets of his anger being President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.

He also appears to hate the very country Zimbabwe, itself, which country he once wished would "crash and burn" – unless it changed hands to MDC, his party, or more precisely unless it would be renamed Rhodesia, the country of his colonial pioneer grandfather.

But last week Eddie Cross seemed to overdo his hate.

Those were the days the unhealthy rumours about President Mugabe's health once again resurfaced and Cross, catching the virus and seeking to believe the same lies, wrote something that he should be really ashamed of as it still stands on the blog today.

In fact, he wrote two.

Pretending to know more than we all do, and actually pontificating on President Mugabe's health he told us that the Head of State, "had some sort of medical collapse" on the plane to Swaziland and "collapsed in the meeting and was given medical treatment and then taken to his plane to fly home early".

Then he spun another yarn about flying to Lusaka, Singapore and Dubai.

Then these following lines:

"What was wrong – as usual we were told nothing but we hear that the Old Man had a stroke.

"I do not think he can come back from this and we must now assume that the long-awaited transition to a new government and new leadership is at long last about to start. It would have been so much more dignified if he had recognised that his "sell by" date had arrived and he had retired and handed over to a chosen successor.

"What now happens is that the constitutional transition to a new President starts. The Acting President is Emmerson Mnangagwa who will now assume control of all the levers of the State. This phase runs for 90 days and then Zanu- PF must hold an elective conference at which a new leader will be elected who then completes the term of office of Mr Mugabe through to July 2018 . . ."

The rest is drivel.

Not least, we all know that it was all in his old head that he was cooking up.

President Mugabe had, of course, a more than perfect riposte.

On his arrival from Dubai where he had gone for a family matter, he said: "Yes, I was dead and again I resurrected as I always do . . ."

That was a classic.

You wouldn't want to be in Eddie Cross' shoes, one could imagine.

Yet, somehow, you are tempted to think he never cares.

If he was really an African (he calls himself a white African [which is nonsense]) he would know something about a skin over one's face.

But then the people of his colonial stock never did.

This is why the stupid speculation still stands under his name on the blog.

We said he had two, as we pointed out, the sequel of which reads: "This is just a short note to follow my letter entitled 'A New Beginning' in which I detailed the flight from Swaziland to Dubai, via Harare and Lusaka of Robert Mugabe. In that letter I said he was not going to be able to come back and was probably the victim of a stroke.

…our sources are impeccable and there is no doubt that he is very ill and frail. There is also talk that he needs an operation but that his chances of survival are limited and that Singapore – his traditional choice for frequent medical treatments – has said that they are reluctant to allow further visits on the basis that his survival his in doubt … I remain convinced that he cannot come back from this. This is the end of the Mugabe era and the start of a new era under new leadership for Zimbabwe the only questions are how and when."

Hallucinations of a transition

Cross then outlines the so-called "transition" to take place after his much wished-for demise of President Mugabe.

You cannot help but see the desperation of the likes of Cross and other opposition forces locally and abroad.

Here are people who have failed to unseat President Mugabe and his revolutionary party for all the dirty racist money and efforts such as sanctions and other odious measures.

They now dream of the demise of President Mugabe and we have seen a number of such permutations as what Eddie Cross purveys.

There was another piece the same last week, this time written by a Joshua Meservey which outlines how the US "should plan for a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe".

Meservey proposes that the US should "Plan for how—or if—to engage with Mugabe's successor", "Avoid tainting the (anti-government) protests with direct support" and "Oppose any bailout package for the regime".

He wrote: "Robert Mugabe's approaching departure could herald a new era of Zimbabwean democracy and prosperity, or result in the continuation of the disastrous status quo. The US should plan for a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe, and use what influence it has with the country and the region to encourage a transition that brings hope to all Zimbabweans."

This kind of talk has been in vogue for a couple of years now and Western elements and their local lackeys have been spinning all manner of these scenarios with annoying regularity.

Some of the rehashed scenarios are pretty empty and would do better not more than as bar talk.

The one thing that they fail to realise is that it is Zimbabwean electorate that has the final word on the processes and fate of the country.

What is more, there is a spirit which the pseudo political scientists cannot box and too bad for the likes of Eddie Cross, Zimbabwe is not going to be a colony again.

That is for my bottom dollar!