Opinion / Columnist
Mugabe bluffing, trip to China wont stop economic meltdown!
08 Sep 2014 at 06:58hrs | Views
The West imposed sanctions on Mugabe in 2002 and he countered by announcing his "Look East" policy. But as the Zimbabwe economy continued to go down the tube Mugabe reverted to the mantra of blaming the economic collapse on the "illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the imperialist west". What he has failed to explain why his look east policy failed to take up the slack created by the sanctions imposed by the west.
The simple explanation is the look east policy did not stop the economic collapse because it was not the sanctions causing the collapse but the gross mismanagement and corruption. By pretending it was the sanction to blame Mugabe allowed the gross mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread and now they are the cancers with tumours the size of tennis ball.
"We were in China recently and they said whatever programmes you have just tell us what you need and we will support you," said Mugabe. "So those who imposed sanctions to make us suffer because we removed white farmers can see for themselves that we still have friends who are prepared to help us."
Mugabe is just putting up a brave face; his recent trip to China is no more the panacea to end Zimbabwe's current economic meltdown than his "look East" was 12 years ago!
Miles Tendi reveals in a recent article on demonization discourses between the UK and Harare that former South African president Thabo Mbeki told Blair that the UK had a better chance of positively influencing Mugabe than Pretoria.
Mbeki, SADC's dialogue facilitator in Zimbabwe, said Mugabe was angry with the New Labour government in London because, unlike Margaret Thatcher, Blair did not want to talk to him.
"Bob Mugabe used to quarrel violently with Thatcher but afterwards she would still talk to him. It is a very sore point for Bob Mugabe," Tendi quotes Mbeki saying.
Mugabe has created this myth that he got on well with Mrs Thatcher than he did with Tony Blair, it is all nonsense. Mugabe is but a spoilt brat did not want the generosity of the west after independents to stop regardless the growing evidence that he was wasting it all. Mugabe dramatized the seizure of the white farms by setting his violent party thugs on the white farmers, their workers and his political opponents and critics alike for his own selfish political gain. Tony Blair had the misfortune of being the one to wean off the brat.
Mugabe has played the helpless victim for years and the world has played along by giving him the benefit of the doubt but the truth has started to emerge and the world is not amused to learn they were being taken for a ride. The economic meltdown in Zimbabwe is serious and it is getting worse by the day; Mugabe's claim that the Chinese promised help Zimbabwe is a bluff and the world have called his bluff! The first challenge is the civil servant wages due in three weeks; will the Chinese give him the money to pay the wages without him scrounging around for cash?
The simple explanation is the look east policy did not stop the economic collapse because it was not the sanctions causing the collapse but the gross mismanagement and corruption. By pretending it was the sanction to blame Mugabe allowed the gross mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread and now they are the cancers with tumours the size of tennis ball.
"We were in China recently and they said whatever programmes you have just tell us what you need and we will support you," said Mugabe. "So those who imposed sanctions to make us suffer because we removed white farmers can see for themselves that we still have friends who are prepared to help us."
Mugabe is just putting up a brave face; his recent trip to China is no more the panacea to end Zimbabwe's current economic meltdown than his "look East" was 12 years ago!
Miles Tendi reveals in a recent article on demonization discourses between the UK and Harare that former South African president Thabo Mbeki told Blair that the UK had a better chance of positively influencing Mugabe than Pretoria.
Mbeki, SADC's dialogue facilitator in Zimbabwe, said Mugabe was angry with the New Labour government in London because, unlike Margaret Thatcher, Blair did not want to talk to him.
"Bob Mugabe used to quarrel violently with Thatcher but afterwards she would still talk to him. It is a very sore point for Bob Mugabe," Tendi quotes Mbeki saying.
Mugabe has created this myth that he got on well with Mrs Thatcher than he did with Tony Blair, it is all nonsense. Mugabe is but a spoilt brat did not want the generosity of the west after independents to stop regardless the growing evidence that he was wasting it all. Mugabe dramatized the seizure of the white farms by setting his violent party thugs on the white farmers, their workers and his political opponents and critics alike for his own selfish political gain. Tony Blair had the misfortune of being the one to wean off the brat.
Mugabe has played the helpless victim for years and the world has played along by giving him the benefit of the doubt but the truth has started to emerge and the world is not amused to learn they were being taken for a ride. The economic meltdown in Zimbabwe is serious and it is getting worse by the day; Mugabe's claim that the Chinese promised help Zimbabwe is a bluff and the world have called his bluff! The first challenge is the civil servant wages due in three weeks; will the Chinese give him the money to pay the wages without him scrounging around for cash?
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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