Mugabe turns down offer of tents.
Comrade Robert Mugabe, eternal president (no capitals deserved), of Zimbabwe, Great mongoose of Africa, Heavenly God of nothing, King of disaster mismanagement etc. etc. has refused tents from the UN to house the 700 000 rendered homeless by his " Clear Out Trash" campaign.
Jan Egelund, UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, a man I greatly admire, has been touring Zimbabwe and has offered to give the crippled government tents for the homeless who were evicted/hounded out, by the "Clean-Up" campaign.
"No", says Minister George Cheramba," tents are not in our culture. We are not tent people. The UN should provide permanent shelter for our people."
The minister, who no doubt drives a large Mercedes Benz and has a pool in his back garden, is obviously not aware that tent life can be quite comfortable. Actually, some 700 000 people would find them more than comfortable after sleeping in the rain, the cold and the lack of sanitation, water or food. Mr Egelund must be quite frustrated as tents are only a first phase in helping people who have nothing. He offers food, health aid and fresh water too. Senile Mugabe feels these things are not necessary for human survival. His people are well-fed and supported by large harvests of grain (while incompetent farmers fruitlessly try to till the same land that produced the biggest tobacco crop in Africa!), and the maize crop is weaker than His Majesty himself.
Honestly, I, like Mr Egelund, am frustrated by the fact that Idi Amin The Second continues to drive his once wealthy country into the dust. I can't even find a solution, for that great country is, for want of a good word, buggered!
I can tell you this though: Lesotho, Mocambique and Swaziland thrive whilst Zimbabwe weeps. And they were once in its shadow.