The Sunday Mail
President Mugabe is not a god. Like all other sons and daughters of Adam, he is imperfect and makes mistake.
To err is human.
But he is an icon. That can never be in dispute. What else explains the presence of tens of thousands of people in Victoria Falls yesterday for President Mugabe’s 91st birthday celebrations?
Those who were there felt it, experienced the depth of appreciation for all he has done palpable in the air.
Zimbabweans — of course with the democratic exception for those who think otherwise politically and the West’s useful idiots in the lunatic fringe called the private media — love their President.
Africans hold him in high esteem.
He is a liberator, an unapologetic proponent of the doctrine of the total emancipation of Africans every where.
That is why Victoria Falls yesterday reverberated to the rhythm of our redemption song, our song of freedom.
The thing is this: they don’t make them like President Mugabe any more. He is one of a dying breed of politicians who money cannot sway and threats cannot dissuade from the path of principle.
It is this intellectual clarity, ideological steadfastness and love for his people that inform the entire ethos of the 21st February Movement.
The 21st February Movement is at the centre of the President’s birthday celebrations. This has been so for 29 years now.
There is a lobby for February 21 to be declared a national holiday. This is a proposition that very few can cogently argue against. But President Mugabe being President Mugabe, this might not happen any time soon as the man is famously stridently opposed to gestures that could be viewed by some as self-adulatory.
All that is besides the point, though. What is of importance here is that the 21st February Movement has become a truly national phenomenon.
Since 1986, the Movement has sought to help young Zimbabweans to appreciate the values that President Mugabe represents, the principles that have propelled this otherwise very private man to international superstardom as a statesman like no other.
The 21st February Movement seems to have largely done a good job, especially after the turn of the millennium.
The putsch to destroy all that President Mugabe stands for was premised on securing the vote of young people against him.
It worked for a while.
But just look at how the million-plus first-time voters trooped to the ballot boxes in July 2013 and delivered a body blow to regime change and the elixir of life to the politics of liberation.
Zimbabwe’s young people increasingly identify with President Mugabe the man, President Mugabe the liberator, President Mugabe the statesman, and President Mugabe the black African who has remained unbowed of all manner of opposition.
The challenge, we feel, is now with the older generations, those we all know should know better.
This is something we all saw in the lead up to the ruling party’s National Congress in December 2014.
The problem lay with older politicians, men and women who evidently unlearnt all the lessons that the youth have learnt in recent years.
Around this time three years ago, President Mugabe warned that if the old guard did not deliver on the promises of the revolution, the youth would rise against them and re-pivot and re-align liberation movements.
And so we suggest that as of this year, the 21st February Movement should start programmes to re-align those older politicians who for whatever reason are supping with the devil while selling away that birthright of the youth that President Mugabe has given his life to safeguarding.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: A small suggestion for the 21st Feb Movement
The Sunday Mail
President Mugabe is not a god. Like all other sons and daughters of Adam, he is imperfect and makes mistake.
To err is human.
But he is an icon. That can never be in dispute. What else explains the presence of tens of thousands of people in Victoria Falls yesterday for President Mugabe’s 91st birthday celebrations?
Those who were there felt it, experienced the depth of appreciation for all he has done palpable in the air.
Zimbabweans — of course with the democratic exception for those who think otherwise politically and the West’s useful idiots in the lunatic fringe called the private media — love their President.
Africans hold him in high esteem.
He is a liberator, an unapologetic proponent of the doctrine of the total emancipation of Africans every where.
That is why Victoria Falls yesterday reverberated to the rhythm of our redemption song, our song of freedom.
The thing is this: they don’t make them like President Mugabe any more. He is one of a dying breed of politicians who money cannot sway and threats cannot dissuade from the path of principle.
It is this intellectual clarity, ideological steadfastness and love for his people that inform the entire ethos of the 21st February Movement.
The 21st February Movement is at the centre of the President’s birthday celebrations. This has been so for 29 years now.
There is a lobby for February 21 to be declared a national holiday. This is a proposition that very few can cogently argue against. But President Mugabe being President Mugabe, this might not happen any time soon as the man is famously stridently opposed to gestures that could be viewed by some as self-adulatory.
All that is besides the point, though. What is of importance here is that the 21st February Movement has become a truly national phenomenon.
Since 1986, the Movement has sought to help young Zimbabweans to appreciate the values that President Mugabe represents, the principles that have propelled this otherwise very private man to international superstardom as a statesman like no other.
The 21st February Movement seems to have largely done a good job, especially after the turn of the millennium.
The putsch to destroy all that President Mugabe stands for was premised on securing the vote of young people against him.
It worked for a while.
But just look at how the million-plus first-time voters trooped to the ballot boxes in July 2013 and delivered a body blow to regime change and the elixir of life to the politics of liberation.
Zimbabwe’s young people increasingly identify with President Mugabe the man, President Mugabe the liberator, President Mugabe the statesman, and President Mugabe the black African who has remained unbowed of all manner of opposition.
The challenge, we feel, is now with the older generations, those we all know should know better.
This is something we all saw in the lead up to the ruling party’s National Congress in December 2014.
The problem lay with older politicians, men and women who evidently unlearnt all the lessons that the youth have learnt in recent years.
Around this time three years ago, President Mugabe warned that if the old guard did not deliver on the promises of the revolution, the youth would rise against them and re-pivot and re-align liberation movements.
And so we suggest that as of this year, the 21st February Movement should start programmes to re-align those older politicians who for whatever reason are supping with the devil while selling away that birthright of the youth that President Mugabe has given his life to safeguarding.
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