Posted on 2017-11-21 | 04:25

Roger's comments on the situation in Zimbabwe:

Although I am not in favour of military coups to overthrow democratically elected Governments I very much welcome the fact that the tyrannical dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, appears to be on the verge of being pushed out of office.

When Zimbabwe first became an independent country and Robert Mugabe was elected as President there were genuine hopes that the transition to democracy in Zimbabwe would follow the same path as in South Africa under Nelson Mandela but, sadly and tragically, this has not been the case. Robert Mugabe very soon turned himself into an autocratic dictator who authorised the killing of large numbers of opponents, particularly in the minority Ndebele tribe based around Bulawayo, and also plundered the nation’s wealth to the benefit of him, his family and his cronies.

Zimbabwe was, at one time, the breadbasket of Africa, producing not only enough food for its own population but exporting surplus food to many other African countries. But it has now become a basket case, with large numbers of the population starving or malnourished and food production incapable of providing enough to feed the country's own people. It is quite likely that Mugabe’s successor will also rule like an autocrat, but whoever it is cannot be worse than the 93-year old tyrant who has presided over the destruction of his own country.