Last week, Zimbabwe witnessed an embarrassing and yet frightful spectacle unfold at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Precabe farm in Kwekwe where the stage was set for the creation of a demi-god and fake opposition politicians bared themselves.
Over 200 ruling Zanu PF legislators and 14 opposition pretenders converged at the farm, ostensibly for a field day event, which was, in fact, a political meeting to endorse the extension of Mnangagwa’s presidency beyond the constitutional term which ends in 2028.
Scenes at this shindig were reminiscent of the last days of the late former president Robert Mugabe. Literally possessed with “patriotism”, ED’s bootlicking clique went down on their knees to beg him to rule forever and at any cost, while opposition charlatans led by Sengezo Tshabangu sang their hearts out for the cause.
The supposed opposition leader took to the floor and outshined ED’s bootlicking hangers-on in what became a mission to make Mnangagwa believe he has become super-human, some little god — larger than life.
While theatrics by Tshabangu and his team of about a dozen sell-outs can be ignored, being self-destructive and not harmful to anyone, the danger that comes with the level of bootlicking that Zanu PF has reached is that it stupefies otherwise good leaders, turning them into incorrigible dictators who do not have to fear even death.
The implications are far-reaching and perilous. When leaders are deified, they begin to believe in their own omnipotence, convinced they should be life-presidents because in their heads, everyone fears and loves them.
This leads to a disconnect from the people they are supposed to serve and fosters an environment of impunity, where leaders feel emboldened to disregard the rule of law, ignore human rights and silence opposition voices.
The shenanigans we are witnessing in Zimbabwe; this blind determination to make Mnangagwa life president, is evidence of how leadership has disconnected with the suffering masses.
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Former Zanu PF political commissar Webster Shamu’s embarrassing public begging of Mnangagwa to stay in power flies in the face of Zimbabwe’s jobless and hungry people who would have loved to see the man’s back yesterday.
These efforts to deify Mnangagwa are particularly worrisome, given the country’s history of authoritarian rule under Mugabe. By seeking to elevate Mnangagwa to an infallible status, the MPs are, in effect, creating an incorrigible tyrant out of a mere mortal.
But then again, the manner in which Mugabe was kicked out of State House, a shock which probably contributed to his death shortly after, is stark evidence of the consequences of arrogant impunity — horrid proof of what happens to leaders that blindly fall victim of hyperbolic praises and sycophantic flattery.
The normalisation of authoritarianism is a slippery slope, and Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink.
