Recently we have heard reports in the local media that one Zimbabwean cabinet minister has properties in every municipality and is amassing more.
When dictators are in power their fortunes seem to be a private affair but as soon as they are out of power it becomes public knowledge. Is this the reason why dictators do not want to relinquish power? It also seems they do not believe that they are dictators until the very day they are forced to run away. It would not be surprising that some of them could even face their deathbeds believing they were right.
Such is the nature of dictatorships. They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Who then can teach our dear leaders when it is enough? Muammar Gaddafi has been in power for over 40 years and he still thinks he has the mandate to rule Libya. Hosni Mubarak was in power for 30 years and wanted to add a few more months until September 2011 to vacate office.
The problem may not lie squarely with dictators. We who are ruled by these autocratic regimes do not aspire to be rulers one day.
Who said only one person is destined to lead? Even those people in the same party should try to bring sense to a dear leader that leadership must change hands. The eventual dictator begins in his/her own party and is allowed to get away with it.
Is it then that dictators are not born but we allow them to flourish? When all is said and done we are all to blame because we tend to tolerate dictatorial tendencies and before we know it, this cancer destroys the freedoms of all in the nation.
Those who benefit are also under dictatorship because they do not have a say in how things are run.These are the people who would soon say, “What could we have done? We also did not want the system but it was so overwhelming.”
