89 year old Robert Mugabe has ‘won’ the election in Zimbabwe and in true ‘Uncle Bob’ conciliatory tones he has told the opposition to “go hang if they wish” and that, “Even if they die, dogs will not eat their flesh”.

We should not be surprised at such comments from Robert Gabriel Mugabe: Gabriel he may be, angel he most certainly is not.

JAMAICAN MEN ARE “DRUNKARDS”

Last year he let fly at Jamaicans: “the men are always high and the universities are full of women”, said the great Zimbabwean statesman, and opined that Jamaican men are “drunkards and perennially hooked on marijuana”.

Of course it was no surprise that he referred to President Bush as a “liar”, as he did with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

MUGABE AND MANDELA

What was a surprise was to read recently that Mugabe had called President Mandela a “coward” and an “idiot”. As it transpired, this report was based on a ‘spoof’ article on a US-based website but the current President of Zimbabwe has not always paid due homage to the former President of South Africa.

MANDELA “TOO SAINTLY”

In June of this year, just after the ailing South African anti-apartheid hero returned to hospital for a recurring lung infection, Mugabe said that Mandela had “gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities” and added, “He’s been too saintly, too good, too much of a saint.”

“TRAGIC FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP”

Nelson Mandela for his part has always maintained a loyalty to liberation era allies like Mugabe but even the great South Africa icon has in the past criticised Mugabe’s rule, lamenting “the tragic failure of leadership” in Zimbabwe.

It is a tragedy says the Kenya Forum that the Robert Mugabe remains in power in Zimbabwe. It is a tragedy for that country and its people and it is an embarrassment for Africa in the second decade of the 21st century that such a man should be a leader on our continent.