President Mugabe should be honoured

The Good Book on Mark 6 verse 4 says "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home." This saying is proving too true in the case of the revolutionary leader, President Robert Mugabe, who misplaced individuals who do not constitute the majority of Zimbabweans are calling for him to step down when he commands respect throughout Africa and the world for his gallantry and visionary leadership.

President Mugabe has been given an ultimatum to "leave office" by the 31 August 2016 by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) youth executive fronted by Chairperson Happymore Chidziva. If this ultimatum was not so silly as it is inappropriate, one would be laughing his lungs out. How old is Chidziva to even utter those words to the stature of President Mugabe?  This follows Acie Lumumbas' insult of President Mugabe with unprintable words, a case he has to answer before the courts.

What are our youths coming to when they no longer have respect of their elders?  No country can be built with such caliber of youths who seem to misconstrue such impertinence for courage.  They seem to be equating themselves with the courageous men and women who took up arms to fight the yoke of colonial oppression, but the glue does not stick and it's even an insult to make such a comparison. As we speak, pastor Evan Mawarire of #thisflag campaign has taken himself to a self-imposed exile in South Africa, it that the kind of courage these spineless foulmouthed youths are taking about.

President Mugabe has been nothing but loyal and selfless to the people of Zimbabwe. He has the vision of seeing our political emancipation commensurate with economic emancipation, a reality which has eluded Africa. Under his tenure Zimbabwe embarked on the land reform programme and instituted the indigenization law, all in the hope of empowering the people of Zimbabwe to be owners of their own destiny and cease relying on the begging bowl to the West, a situation the majority of African countries have accustomed themselves with no weaning in sight.  

Mugabe has receiving standing ovation at different foras with the recent being at the African Union summit in the beginning of the year. Yes, President Mugabe has been an inspiration to Africa and the majority of Zimbabwe. There is going to be no other leader like him as he is the last of his contemporaries, men like Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Samora Machel, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah. These men envisioned a liberated Africa politically, socially, economically and intellectually, a vision which have brought President Mugabe at loggerheads with the West, who would want nothing better than to see Africa continue in this penury state.

Who has called for the African Union to be independent of foreign funding than President Mugabe? Who has been calling for the United Nations reforms than President Mugabe? Who has been calling for Africa to benefit from its vast resources by beneficiation?  He remains a fearless leader, who does not shy away from calling a spade, a spade. How many of such leaders do we still have in Africa?  President Mugabe remains an iconic leader, whose footsteps will be difficult to follow.  

The writer wants to concur with Amai Grace Mugabe who once said "There will come a day when [president] Mugabe will not be there and people will regret and miss his leadership,"  "Not many people are able to make the sacrifices he [Mugabe] makes. He puts his all to represent his people. He is someone who wants the best for the present and future generations".

It is a usual African custom to honour someone when they have departed from this earth. But Zimbabweans have an opportunity to honour the legendary President Mugabe whilst he is still with us. President Mugabe has prioritised education of his people, hence Zimbabwe remains one of the African countries with a high literacy levels. This is not an end in itself but it is a strategy to secure the future of the country whereby those educated minds will contribute to the socio-economic-political development of the nation. Do we need Africa or outsiders to should us how exceptional our leader is?

President Mugabe might have made some mistakes along the way like any imperfect being and who amongst the 13 million Zimbabweans without blemish is willing to cast the first stone. The best that Zimbabweans can do is to learn from those mistakes with a view of taking the country forward.   

President Mugabe will eventually leave office when he has completed his mandate as bestowed on him by the people of Zimbabwe. If the people do not want his leadership anymore they can air their voices in 2018 and only then will we have leadership change. The current malcontents who are calling for President Mugabe to "step down now" are misguided elements who want to disturb our cherished prevailing peace.  The pockets of protests calling for Mugabe's ouster are deluded and suffering from delusions and those machinations to subvert the will of the people will come to naught as others before it.

President Mugabe remains in power and let's honour him whilst we still have the opportunity.  

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Mandla Nsingo <nsingoma@gmail.com