Early this Wednesday, November 16, the Zimbabwean military rapidly moved into the capital city of Harare and allegedly took control of the government. After small confrontations and limited violence, the military was able to take the 93 year old President Robert Mugabe prisoner. A military general then came on public television to claim the situation was under control and President Mugabe was “safe and sound” confined in his home. The military is claiming that this takeover is not a coup d’etat, but rather an attempt to target and take out criminals surrounding Mugabe and his advisers. For the most part, history has looked upon coup’s as dangerous, confusing, and damaging to a country’s physical, political, and social infrastructure. But I think the Zimbabwe “coup” is different. President Robert Mugabe has ruled the country ever since it gained independence from Great Britain in 1980. He is now the world’s oldest head of state, having served for a whopping 37 years. So, what has he accomplished for Zimbabwe? Well, nothing to be proud of. The country has been in a decades long depression. The unemployment rate is at a traumatizing 90%. The infrastructure of the nation is crumbling: in the capital city alone, only 50% of the residents have access to 24/7 water. Pipelines have been ripped up in the countryside by citizens to be sold as scrap metal. Starvation is a serious problem form people in more rural regions. And government corruption has plagued the nation since it’s very birth. The one man who could have fixed these problems chose instead to live his own decadent life while his corrupt lieutenants ran the country off to the side. Adding on to the mess Mugabe has so splendidly concocted is his wife. Grace Mugabe, 41 years younger than the President, is now in prime position to be Robert’s successor. Over the past couple of years, Grace has become more active in politics, gaining more power and ousting those that opposed her. She was also granted diplomatic immunity adding to the public’s frustration with their corrupt government. After you analyze these facts, one can understand why the military would want a takeover. I believe this nation is so corrupt, that the only way to fix it is a fresh start. It has been reported that Grace has already fled to country, fearing for her life. Hopefully, she’ll never return. Bloodshed should be avoided at all costs, but the corrupt politicians who led their own people into ruin should pay for their actions. My only fear with this coup is that the top military leaders will realize that they want the power for themselves, and turn the country into a military dictatorship. Yet who knows. Perhaps their intentions are just as they say they are: to hunt down and punish the “political criminals” and hopefully re-establish a democracy such as our own. Coup’s are always a sign of troubled times for a country. My only hope is that the tanks rolling down Harare’s streets and soldiers occupying the main square are enough to scare the current political state of Zimbabwe into a more democratic and someday prosperous nation.
