Just a few weeks ago, Gaddafi boasted that Libyans were 100% behind him. The rebels, he said, were rats, Al Qaeda elements and armed gangs without any grain of support. Now he is part of Libyan history.
In Ivory Coast, former President Laurent Gbagbo lost an election but refused to quit claiming he was the Ivorians’ choice for president. He was driven out of office in embarrassing scenes.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is yet another long-serving dictator who thought crowds gathering in the famous Tahrir Square were only a few malcontents who were against his rule.
Mubarak, who was in court last week on a stretcher, now knows he was only day-dreaming when he thought the Egyptian people loved him. Here at home, President Robert Mugabe falls in the same league as Gaddafi, Gbagbo and Mubarak. For the past 10 or so years, Mugabe has refused to heed calls to retire, arguing that Zimbabweans are fully behind him, except for “a few MDC malcontents who have sold out their souls to imperialists”.
Now disclosures by whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks, show Mugabe that no one, even those belonging to his inner circle, want him to remain in power. Cables dispatched to Washington by successive envoys show that Mugabe is isolated even in Zanu PF. Politburo members, who should form the bedrock of his support base, have been working day and night to find ways to remove him from office. They see him as an albatross around Zanu PF’s neck and the sooner he goes, the better. The question that Mugabe must answer is: if those in Zanu PF don’t want him, who wants him to remain in office?
In the wake of the leaked cables, Mugabe should begin the process of leaving gracefully in the shortest possible time.
