The Goodwill Felt towards Mugabe
In a matter of days, Robert Mugabe was appointed and then stripped of his positon as a goodwill ambassador for WHO after an outpouring of public horror. Let’s see how long the WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus continues in his post after this sorry debacle.
Tedros Ghebreyesus reminds me of Sepp Blatter.
Blatter faithfully rewarded African supporters who had helped him get the top job with prominent positions and lots of under-the-table cash. The degree of African patronage afforded to Ghebreyesus can only be measured by Mugabe’s appointment. No one in their right mind would have taken this step. The blowback was inevitable. Ghebreyesus’s inability to not make this appointment indicates a man who owes a lot and couldn’t afford not to repay his debts.
That said I’ve chatted with many Zimbabwean friends lately about Mugabe. Mugabe is elderly, and his nation is preparing for his departure. The genuine goodwill felt and expressed towards Mugabe amongst many of my friends (all highly-educated, successful professionals who have spent many years working abroad outside of Zimbabwe within Europe, America and the UK), much to my surprise, is respectful, genuine and quite uniform. Many of them have family members who have suffered during Mugabe's reign, so I take their opinions seriously.
A few caveats about Mugabe’s leadership are offered up, and then long soliloquies about Mugabe’s greatness, his longevity, his continued fight against imperial colonial powers, his status as one of the 20th century’s last remaining revolutionary lions along with the likes of Castro, Arafat and Mandela, ensue.
Mugabe will soon be gone. His obituaries have already been prepared and merely await the POST IT button to be pressed for a timely release.
It will be interesting to see how coming generations of Zimbabweans, perhaps after a period of fifteen or twenty years, will judge Mugabe. Despite the opprobrium heaped on him by European leaders, I won’t be remotely surprised if they refer to him as a great man.