Why Mugabe is so paranoid...
Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 06:53 Written by Administrator Monday, 05 March 2012 15:19
In most countries, treason is an offence which is taken seriously and which normally attracts capital punishment. For one to be charged with treason, it is done after thorough investigations are conducted and irrefutable evidence is presented before the courts for determination as to whether an offence has been committed or not. However in Zimbabwe, although many people have been charged with treason, only the late Ndabaningi Sithole was convicted in 1997. It has become a trend for President Robert Mugabe and his functionaries to accuse persons of attempting to unseat him without sufficient evidence. In an interview on Zimbabwe television on the 20th of February 2012 ahead of his 88th birthday, President Robert Mugabe accused the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of trying to stage a coup through inclusion of a clause on age restrictions and term limits in the new constitution ahead of general elections expected between 2012 and 2013. Despite the fact that most people during the COPAC outreach meetings, including his own supporters, advocated for the inclusion of term limits, Mugabe exhibited his paranoia by labelling proponents of the term limits and age restrictions ‘coup plotters’.
President Mugabe’s paranoia, which is evidently a knee jerk reaction to his growing unpopularity, dates back to the 1980’s where he accused the late Dr. Joshua Nkomo, Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku among other ZAPU leaders of attempting to unseat him. Charges have also been brought against the following over the past 32 years;
1. In 2002, MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, Proffessor Welshman Ncube and Renson Gasela were charged with plotting to assassinate President Mugabe
2. Former student leader, Mehluli Dube was charged with treason in 2007
3. Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) Director, Jestina Mukoko, journalist, Andreason Manyere and other pro- democracy activists were abducted in 2008 and charged with treason although concrete evidence was never presented by the prosecution.
4. Former Chimanimani Member of Parliament, Roy Bennett together with Giles Mutsekwa and other MDC officials was charged with treason in 2009 after weapons were allegedly found on the farm of Peter Hitschmann.
5. In 2009 as well, serving and retired middle and lower ranking officers from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) were charged with treason.
6. International Socialist Organisation coordinator and University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturer, Munyaradzi Gwisai, ZIMCODD employee, Hopewell Gumbo and 42 others were charged with treason for watching news coverage of the Tunisia and Egypt uprisings and discussing the Arab Spring in relation to Zimbabwe.
The list above is non- exhaustive. The trend of continued arrests of pro- democracy activists and civilians for treason is understandable considering that Mugabe’s strangle hold on power is experiencing stiff resistance from within ZANU PF, his much trusted military and pro- democracy activists.
In a bid to maintain his power and to discourage growing dissent against him, the octogenarian leader continues to use the judicial system as a weapon for control and persecution. The treason charges against popular pro- democracy activists are meant to instil fear in ordinary Zimbabweans who dare to question the dictator. The arrests are also meant as an excuse to attack and persecute his opponents.
In 1982, following the alleged discovery of an arms cache at a ZAPU owned farm, Mugabe said,
‘ZAPU and its leader, Joshua Nkomo, are like a cobra in a house. The only way to deal with a snake is to strike and destroy its head’.
Thereafter, the Korean trained Fifth Brigade was unleashed in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands provinces resulting in the murder of close to 20,000 people according to the CCJP and the rape and displacement of thousands more. The treason charges were used to start genocide and to push for the formation of a unity government in 1987 and a de facto one party state.
Moreover, the 2002 treason charges against Tsvangirai and his top lieutenants was deliberately aimed at discrediting the political party ahead of elections in the same way that the charges against Mukoko were orchestrated as a deliberate ploy to discredit information gathered by the ZPP of people responsible for violence in communities around the country. In similar fashion, the charges against Gwisai and others are meant to discourage the discussion and contemplation of an Egyptian style uprising in the country.
The apparent escalation in treason cases since 2008 when Mugabe lost elections to Prime Minister Tsvangirai shows his growing fear of his inevitable exit from power. President Mugabe knows that his days as the ‘Head of State, Government, Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces and Chancellor of all the Universities in the country’ are numbered. This has resulted in his increased paranoia hence the growing need to continue subverting the will of the people by using trumped up charges to thwart dissent. What is very clear is that just as the sun rises, it will surely set and when it does, Mugabe’s 32 year rule will ultimately come to an end.