Zimbabwe's Aristocratic Thug

That grand old man of African battle against western colonialism so honoured by his peers in their universal struggle for independence, appears finally to have worn his regard rather threadbare.

One could only wonder what it would take for other leaders of African countries to identify him for the megalomaniacally murderous thug that he has ultimately proven himself to be. It wasn't the ouster of Zimbabwe's white farm owners, nor the prime agricultural land lying fallow as Mugabe's "land distribution" to ZANU-PF stalwarts sat on the land.

It wasn't the complete disregard of this distinguished man of African revolutionary zeal of the plight of his people, facing unemployment, food, medicine and energy shortages, and an economy in desperate free-fall. It wasn't the vision of Mugabe and his henchmen living in luxury despite an onerous inflation rate that ensured consumables were rare on retail shelves, even if people had the wherewithal to acquire them.

It wasn't the brutality with which Mugabe's police and his military - all well recompensed by his regime, while people lived tenuous lives of desperate want - meted out discipline to dissenters. Mugabe demonstrated himself to be more than a little comfortable with dealing death to those who chafed under his rule, and that too, didn't seem to unsettle his support among other African leaders unduly.

And when Morgan Tsvangerai and his MDC appeared to win Zimbabwe's election, despite mass voting fraud, and Robert Mugabe and his ruling elite, aided and abetted by the police and the country's military refused to recognize the legality of the count, that too didn't appear to upset his ruling peers. Nor did they become too exercised when Mugabe withheld international aid from starving Zimbabweans to hand it out to his supporters.

Now that ZANU-PF's supporters have rampaged throughout the country, murdering supporters of the MDC, they're doing a double-take. That a new tactic has been adopted where leading figures of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have seen their wives abducted, tortured and murdered, an impact is being felt, finally. Manifesting itself first among the grieving husbands, rendering them impotent to act, and now additionally among horrified onlookers.

Charges of treason, with convictions earning the death penalty. Abductions of MDC supporters, their torture and murder. Distribution of international aid to supporters only of the Zimbabwean African National Unity-Patriotic Front. Withholding of business licenses to Zimbabweans who hold MDC memberships. Encouragement of "war veterans"' brutality against MDC supporters.

The list goes on. And meanwhile millions of Zimbabweans live tenuously on the verge of starvation. Inflation has resulted in 23-billion Zimbabwean dollars having the equivalence value of one U.S. dollar. Mugabe has gifted his supporters with flat-screen televisions, loftily asserting that all would be well with the economy; that it is Britain's interference that has resulted in the country's economic collapse.

Finally, representatives from the Pan-African Parliament, from South Africa, Tanzania, and other regional African countries seem to be ready to abandon their support of Robert Mugabe. None too soon. It would be instructive to know what kind of practical efforts, authoritative and useful actions they would be prepared to undertake on behalf of Zimbabwe, to help free the country from Mugabe.

Because it doesn't appear feasible that mere tut-tutting will do the trick.