On 15 November 2017, Robert Gabriel Mugabe the President of Zimbabwe was held under house arrest by the head of the army in an attempt to oust him out of power.
Since the country’s independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has known only one leader Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party.
His power was taken by force, after being under British rule, and he saw himself as almost messianic, as the ruler and liberator of the nation and maintainer of its independence.
Mugabe was defiant in his efforts to hold onto power and it was only when under duress that his resignation became imminent which then ushered in a new era for Zimbabwe.
The country has had years of vote rigging, political oppression and erosion of civil liberty and after almost 40 years, the removal of Mugabe has united the nation in celebration. However, the question remains as to how the country will move forward after decades of dictatorship is yet to be seen, as the country ventures into the unknown.
As Zimbabwe enters a new era, it is without a doubt that the country will now need a period of restorative leadership and recovery with a democratic voice lead by Mnangagwa at the helm but incorporating other opposition voices and activists.
It is reported that the infrastructure across the country is entirely run down and the economy is reduced to the levels of the 1960s and it is no easy task for his successor to rebuild.
More worryingly, the Zimbabwean diaspora remains completely excluded from the electoral process because Mugabe had long suspected Zimbabweans in exile of being opposition supporters. The critical broadcast media sector, in which independent players have been completely excluded for years, would equally need a massive overhaul.
Over the years many voices have been silenced. However, as Zimbabwe enters into a ‘new season’ of change, it is a time for voices that were silenced to be heard. Ecclesiastes 3:7 speaks of ‘A time to be silent and a time to speak…’
As stated by Socrates — ‘The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not fighting the old, but on building the new.’
This week, let us spend some time praying for the new president of Zimbabwe, his government and the country on a whole. Let us also pray for those in leadership.
