Day of “march“, the public supports the Army without any pre-conditions or setting out the kind of post-Mugabe dispensation they want, giving the new order a “blank cheque” on the basis that Mugabe had to fall first & everything else would be dealt with after this, the Army become “new heroes” notwithstanding their actions in thwarting the public’s solemn electoral choice in March 2008. On “coronation” day, a “secret” declaratory order before High Court Judge Justice Chiweshe confirming “coup” as legal, the public & press gives this a free pass since it is an “inconvenient truth” that could otherwise sully a desperately long-awaited cherished moment.
The operation violently targets a few unpopular G40 political opponents without due process – the public enthusiastically embrace this because “they deserve it” owing to their past conduct. After some delays, the new President’s Cabinet far exceeds the no. that is permitted under the Constitution, the public gives him a free pass on the basis that he is a Lawyer & knows what he is doing & will in any event, “self-correct“. Some discerning few members of the public see some old forces whom they think should also have been targeted as corrupt appointed to the Cabinet instead – the majority of the public think EDM should be given a chance to focus on the economy, or maybe they will change because it is him now at the helm or that this doesn’t happen overnight & the critical ones are just being overly critical.
Military Generals who participated in the coup are openly rewarded by being appointed to the Cabinet – the public gives this a free pass, some saying it’s some kind of clever demotion as it’ll remove / retire them from the chain of command, some saying that Army guys are very professional & yet others arguing it was only normal for him to reward them this way. When the new Cabinet is sworn in, it’s not clear whether the Generals have resigned from the Military as they should – with the public once again giving EDM a free pass on yet again another Constitutional breach maybe on the assumption that he knows what he is doing. The soldiers remain present on the streets carrying out policing duties & move to target vendors – the public is not overly concerned as vendors are a nuisance and in Mugabe fashion, tarnish the “atmospherics” and in any case, they are much more polite and are doing a great job in comparison to the overly corrupt, evil, and rude Police Officers.
The new President says nothing on his 10th day in office about addressing Mugabeism – (an array of unjust repressive tools, legal & human, omissions & commissions dating back to the Rhodesian regime) through reform / repeal & creating conditions for a free & fair election. To make matters worse, having said “the voice of the people is the voice of God”, the new President makes Robert Mugabe Day a public holiday one of his very first acts soon after coronation though there is no evidence that this represented the “people’s voice” or God’s one – yet the public insist that this is because he is only & rightly focusing on the economy and people want too much and too soon and some of these things will come later.
Some say, wait a minute, he is being used by God, you’ll see great things. In the meantime, the new President has ordered his own brand new “portraits” to replace those of the former President & already has his own coterie of sycophants who are defending him to the hilt aided & abetted in this by a gullible majority who confuse informed criticism with disloyalty culminating in the creation of yet another dictatorship through blind adulation, until it becomes way too late to hold the former new President to account and another revolution then becomes necessary!
