By Gabriel Princewill-
Robert Mugabe has described his removal from power in Zimbabwe last year as a “coup d’état” in his first interview since the army takeover led to his succession by Emmerson Mnangagwa
Mr. Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation as a tyrant for 37 years, told the South African state broadcaster SABC on Thursday that his successor was “illegal”. Mr. Mugabe has been conspicuously silent since last November, accused his nemesis, Mr. Mnangagwa of betraying him by taking sides with army generals who sent tanks on to the streets to resolve a power struggle in the ruling Zanu-PF.
The takeover was launched to derail Mr. Mugabe’s wife, Grace, from succeeding her husband after he fired Mr Mnangagwa as vice-president, forcing him into exile abroad. Mr. Mugabe resigned under pressure of impeachment by his party, after which Mr. Mnangagwa was sworn in the new president. In an intuitively discredited statement, Mugabe rants:
“I never thought he whom I had nurtured . . . that one day he’d be the man that turned against me,” Mr Mugabe said at his Blue House mansion in Harare, where soldiers detained him during the army operation.
“The army made sure that other organs of state were neutralized, completely neutralized,” Mr. Mugabe said. “We must undo this disgrace we have imposed on ourselves,” he said
. Mugabe conveniently forgets how badly he betrayed humanity when he presided over a murderous and brutal regime, abusing the country’s finances and natural resources in the process. Many Zimbabwe’s hailed him for his strong-handed restriction on white farmers and white occupation in South Africa, but his radical implementations of change were rarely proportionate or measured. He exploited even his own people and was not accountable for the depth of bullish actions he executed.
Mr. Mugabe has recently been affiliated with a new opposition party, the National Patriotic Front, that is contesting the election this year and accuses the army of running a junta with Mr. Mnangagwa as its puppet.
Mr. Mugabe still has secret supporters from the Zanu-PF party, but he is currently a political none entity in political terms. Mugabe will go down in history as a dictator, who despite his very high intelligence and education, conducted his regime with self-greed, arrogance, and brutality. He may still have something positive to offer politics in some areas, but political demise is positive for mankind
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