He has been through some torrid times, has Didymus Mutasa - appointed to the colonial civil service, the first of such appointments; sheltered by the religious at St Faiths; tutored by Clutton Brock, the great exemplar of self-reliant living in a co-operative at Cold Comfort Farm; briefly housed in a relatively civilized jail (unlike his government's jails today) where they didn't starve him or torture him; hosted by foreign countries, Britain amongst them, which extended cash for his ZANU party; given a top job as Speaker in the new Zimbabwe; faltered a little in difficult lowly administrative jobs until finally, he has all the power a man could wish for. He is in charge of state security and has the land, all the land at his disposal. Or effectively that last heaven is where he has landed. Is this the stuff of which a great dictator is made? I think he must be running for President. Note his more recent brilliance: he would cheerfully halve the population - the half that will not support his crazy party, and the very latest is the Sunday Times report; Mutasa's claim that journalists and NGOs must get out of Zimbabwe because they are a threat to state security. These latest utterings are strangely apt. When you aim to become a great dictator, journalists and NGOs, especially humanitarian ones ARE a threat to Zimbabwe's state security at this time. They might be a threat to all those years of suffering Didymus has had to endure and take away the great prize that he has won, weilding unhindered power. He is a rare survivor of the Manyika clan. I think he feels just a little bit insecure and may well be trying to impress his cronies with his toughness. He would make a great dictator.
Copyright © 2004 Diana Mitchell
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