Mugabe Falls, Zimbabwe Left Bruised

It has been reported that Robert Mugabe has suspended a retinue of bodyguards for not preventing him from taking a tumble last week.

While this sort of overbearing behaviour is not untypical of Mugabe it does show the mental frailty that is increasingly accompanying his physical frailties. Someone should inform him that the elderly are prone to falls. Mugabe has long been one if those leaders who is determined to rule on till death. And as is typical of these types of tyrants as they age and become enfeebled so does the country they claim to be serving.

Africa has a long history of rulers hanging on to power - Kaunda, Sese Seko, Gadaffi, Mubarak, Jawara, Boigny, Kenyatta, Nyerere, Bokassa; the list is endless. It also has a history of democratically elected rulers trying to make constitutional changes in order to extend their reigns - Obasanjo's third term manoeuvring and Goodluck Jonathan's six year term proposal of recent memory. In all of these cases the leaders have not distinguished themselves during their stewardship. So it is no surprise they were oblivious to the conventional wisdom that rather than increase stability, staying in power for life only tends to embed existing malaise and create more division. And when such rulers die or are removed from office the country is almost always left worse off. Succession becomes a problem, whether it's because of the instalment of an unwanted heir apparent or due to rival factions fighting for power. 

Mugabe has long since fallen from grace and his recent history of physical falls are just his body coming to terms with the infirmity that has plagued his mind for a long time now. Under his stewardship Zimbabwe has become one of the poorest countries in the world. That is the legacy his long reign will leave. In addition to the many hilarious memes his fall generated.