At 27, Kim Jong Un had rested upon a “hot seat” and the recent threat of a war against bitter rival South Korea and the United States over the military drills that the two countries are staging boggles the mind. One hopes the young dictator won’t be pushed into starting a dangerous war with the two stronger allies.
Barely three months after the death of his father, Kim Jong Un is already showing signs of being a warmonger and the world should not take his threats lightly. What can the world expect from somebody who just inherited power on a silver platter?
So is the Syrian incumbent Bashar al-Assad, another inheritor of power who continues to kill his own people because they are demanding democratic rights.
The late Libyan strongman Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was rumoured to have been eying to catapult his western educated son, the now incarcerated Saif Al Islam, to the presidency.
Such arrogance by the dear colonel and the overzealousness displayed by his son prior to the February 2011 uprisings, led to the demise of both father and son.
Back home, President Robert Mugabe’s son Bellamine Chatunga was quoted by his father as being interested in the presidency. While there is nothing sinister in the young boy’s statement, such remarks could have sent wrong signals to power-hungry Zanu PF members who are eager to take over the hot seat once the ageing Mugabe steps down.
The failure by President Mugabe to groom a possible successor has resulted in a lot of hearsay pertaining to who will succeed him. Possible candidates have been hinted by the media and chief among them is Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
For a tried and tested party member, Mnangagwa has been tipped to succeed his boss and one wonders how Ngwena received such utterances being made by Chatunga.
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At 15, Chatu-nga even falls short in reaching the age at which Mnangagwa joined active politics when he bombed a goods train resulting in his imprisonment.
Some might have laughed off Chatunga’s utterances as a boy’s fantasies, but it would be naíve to assume the same of the numerous power-hungry army generals.
Indeed, it was rather naíve for President Mugabe to reveal on state television the wishful thinking of his son.
While this debate does not seek to find possible successors of the ageing octogenarian, it is very advisable for Chatunga to concentrate more on his education rather than dreaming of being the next head of state.
In doing so, he will do his father proud since his brother disgraced his learned father by scoring “undertakers” at Advanced level. Zimbabweans aren’t prepared to witness a North Korean or Syrian type of power transfer and democracy is the appropriate route that they want to determine their destiny. President Mugabe wishes that he had a grown up son whom he could catapult to the presidency but God had his own will.Dynasty-like power transfers have proved to be a continuation of the old order since the sons of dictators invariably inherit authoritarian tendencies of their fathers thus maintaing the status quo.
For instance, Kim Jong Un s threats of war against the North have displayed to the world that he isn’t a reformer as the world expected. So is the Syrian incumbent Bashar Assad, another inheritor of power who continues to shell and kill his own people because of their demand for democracy.
Democratic forces in Zimbabwe including those within ZANU PF should resist any imposition of a member of the Mugabe family. Whether the President was serious or joking, he has to groom a successor from within his party so as to avoid a leadership vacuum in the event of his demise.
Children of seating Heads of states should not view the Presidency as a personal family asset but a job that every citizen can aspire to vie for. Zimbabwe has a population of more than ten million people with a cream of ‘capable thinker’s that can formulate the country to roll again.
BY TERRY MUTSVANGA
