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By Wisdom Mumera.

Harare, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) -In this evening of his reign, and even existence, President Mugabe has been slowly painted by the state media onto the public mind as the striking but soft portrait of the aged but grand old man whom we all love.

He is a polarizing figure and those that love him hold on for dear life whilst those from the opposite end, scoff at his past, present and future.

It’s not an anomaly as he has another figure in Kenneth Kaunda who is equally divisive up to this day.
The two founding fathers of their nations however also have an uncanny resemblance in their type of politics, a factor which should throw a hint at Mugabe of the type of legacy he may have as his sunset draws near.

However since he has already hinted that nothing except death will remove him from his post, he may never live the post-presidency era and this is where Kaunda comes in, the mirror for what Mugabe may be.

After independence Kenneth Kaunda found himself the central figure in a Zambia that had a diverse collection of tribes requiring to be brought together into one coherent national tribe united towards
building a single nation.

That he managed to do this is historically one of the main reasons why he has become something of a father figure for the nation of Zambia.

However they exists another controversial side to Kaunda’s politics with some critics accusing him of being dictatorial during his leadership years and also destroying the Zambian economy with his over
enthusiastic socialism after independence.

“From 1968, all political parties except UNIP were banned. At the same time, Kaunda oversaw the acquisition of majority stakes in key foreign-owned companies. The oil crisis of 1973 and a slump in export revenues put Zambia in a state of economic crisis”, the African Federation says.

“Ill-timed economic projects such as his nationalization policy which saw the acquisition of 51% stakes in some foreign owned companies resulted in dire consequences for Zambia” it adds.

In 1973, the massive increase in the price of oil was followed by a slump in copper prices and a diminution of export earnings.

In early 1973, the price of copper accounted for 95% of all export earnings; this had halved in value on the world market by early 1975.

By 1976, Zambia had a balance-of-payments crisis, and rapidly fell into debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Third National Development Plan had to be abandoned as crisis management replaced long-term planning.

All these economic problems created a fertile field of opposition politicians fighting to remove Kaunda who then instituted a constitution that banned all opposition parties leaving only his UNIP
to reign freely.

International pressure finally saw Kaunda succumbing to the removal of this ban and he inevitably lost the first multi-party elections to Frederick Chiluba in 1991.

Mugabe instigated a heightened and dis-coordinated Land Reform Project in 2000 which has led to a multiplicity of problems for the country, economically and politically.

He sought to placate war veterans with unbudgeted for grants that bore holes through the state fiscus and has of late brought theindigenisation programme.

Mugabe has however been a shade shrewder that Kaunda and has neverbrought in a ban against multi-party politics.

However he has always seen to it that state apparatus that would make the multiplicity of these parties count, is on his side, rendering the whole system nearly academic.

Save for MDC, a recent addition in 1999 most local opposition parties name of democracy but lacking the strength to square against ZANU-PF.

After the ban on opposition parties Kaunda started preaching Zambian Humanism to perpetuate the creation of his cultic figure, and so has Mugabe though in a different manner.

Today it’s largely agreed amongst analysts that Mugabe is holdingtogether the revolutionary party and his demise can result in an apocalyptic shattering of its being.

Mugabe has perfected a picture of himself that stands clean from any dirty that may be ascribed to ZANU-PF acting the father figure who has a rabble rousing bunch of thieves and crooks that he has to constantly keep in check.

Of late he has expelled a number of supposed unclean elements including Mai Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa, Francis Nhema and others.

Thus he can stand in the halo glow of being clean. Kaunda just like Mugabe had his own Gukurahundi with the massacre of the Lumpa adherents by UNIP militia and the Zambian security forces.

This has been called the darkest chapter in the story of the regime of Kaunda.

According to the African Federation between July and September 1964 when the Lumpa-UNIP war started, over twenty thousand Lumpa faithful fled the country and settled in the Katanga province of the Congo.

“It is also estimated that at least two thousand members of the sect were killed by government soldiers alone, though official sources claim the figure to be slightly lower”.

“The statistics, however, exclude thousands more who were wounded, and others who died from starvation, sickness and trauma on their journey into the Diaspora”, Malama Katulwende a Zambian writer says in an article.

“Significant though the Lumpa conflict is to our appreciation of Zambian historiography, the Zambian government has, however, imposed a curtain of silence over this dreadful event”.

“The burnt churches and mass graves of the Lumpa are not recognized nor celebrated as memory sites. The whole episode of murder and destruction has been banished from the public domain as though nothing had happened”, he adds.

The similarities between Kaunda’s Lumpa and Mugabe’s Gukurahundi are the ultimate de javu experience one can experience in politics.

For all their father figuring roles, it shows a frightening belief in violence as a weapon against dissent that in another world could warrant a psychological study.

Today however Kaunda has remained seated at the high table of Zambian politics.

The segmented field divided over what his true standing is has meant the adoption of a middle ground that gives him the benefit of the doubt.

Considering the multiplicity of their political similarities, it’s safer to say Mugabe could squeeze through a reception more or less the same as the one Kaunda is getting currently, where he to exit power today.

For all his perceived failures to operate with local political criticism and navigate the global system of economics, he is still respected for his part in national liberation and reconciliatory attitude towards whites in the immediate aftermath of independence.

Locally, at his age the population can grind out enough mercy to leave him in peace post-presidency, warranting no need for his fake drive to keep on, on some national liberatory epic when the only reason is the cold fear of a courtroom.

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