The Subterfuge Of An Entire Nation

There can be no bigger subterfuge than lying to the population of a country that allegedly voted a leader into power. But Mugabe has done this, quite successfully, I might add, for 31 years.

Not very long after he assumed the mantle as Zimbabwean leader, he addressed the country in what has since been dubbed 'The Hand of Reconciliation'.

From my book "Without Honour": "He wasn’t interested in what colour you were. He wasn’t interested in who you fought for pre-1980… He didn’t even care who you voted for in the election - he had secured 63% of the votes in the election that brought him and his party to power.

If you wanted to stay, you could stay. He just wanted people who would help build Zimbabwe into the pride of Africa.

And do you know the strange thing about his speech? We all believed it. We all swallowed it - hook, line and sinker."

Time has since proven Mugabe to be nothing more than a liar.

Yesterday, there was a report on the internet that Mugabe and his wife had flown to Singapore for Grace to have treatment for a dislocated hip following a fall in one of the bathrooms in their huge Borrowdale Brook mansion.

I was a little dubious that this was the true reason as surely medical people in Zimbabwe are capable of sorted out a dislocation like this. And now people are beginning to feel the same that the visit to Singapore is really for Mugabe...

"Reports say that Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace flew urgently to Singapore on Friday. It's alleged that Grace is there to receive medical treatment for a painful hip."

The President's office was not very helpful with details, so once again the Zimbabwean people are being kept in the dark about the health of Robert Mugabe, and now, his wife.

Personally, I do not believe that it is necessary to fly all the way to Singapore to deal with a dislocated hip - even if she is Mugabe's wife. This is a smoke screen laid down by the Mugabe family once again. They have this need, this want to hide the truth from the population - the very people that reportedly voted him into power...

"Reports from Harare claim the first lady recently slipped and fell in the bathroom at the Borrowdale house and has not fully recovered from the fall.

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba confirmed to the Zimbabwe Standard newspaper that Mugabe and his wife were in Singapore, but would not disclose the purpose of the trip.

Since January Mugabe has flown to Singapore three times, allegedly for checkups following an eye cataract operation. The Standard said that Charamba did hint that Grace Mugabe was seeking medical attention, saying that she had not fully recovered from a complication she suffered 14 years ago, while giving birth to her youngest son, Chatunga.

But there is renewed speculation that this is a cover-up for the fact that it is Robert Mugabe who is seriously ill, since he was seen struggling to walk at the recent SADC Troika summit in Livingstone, Zambia. The 87 year old had to use a golf cart to move around the summit venue and there were 6 medical personnel on call at all time in the group that accompanied him to the summit."

mugabe golf cart zYQyZ 16744

Are we supposed to agree that there are no specialists in the Southern African region that can deal with either the hip problem for Amazing (Dis)Grace, or the eye problem for Mugabe? The alacrity of the need to get Mugabe to Singapore displays something a little more urgent than eyes or hips...

But perhaps we will never know.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man