Ordinarily, Zimbabweans are highly nationalistic and patriotic. But it seems that the antics of President Robert Mugabe have succeeded in affecting their love for the country. One may love his country and despise its political leaders. This apparently is the case with Zimbabweans who took to social media to celebrate the embarrassment meted out to President Robert Mugabe who has been stripped of the ambassadorial role earlier bestowed on him by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
President Mugabe had visited Uruguay last week where he was appointed the continent’s first ever Goodwill ambassador on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
According to the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesu, the honour was because the Zimbabwean leader’s administration has “placed universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health for all”. But the controversial conferment was met with global outrage as most critics of the award insisted that Mr. Mugabe did not in any way qualify for the honour. Zimbabweans cried foul and accused the sit-tight President of running down the country’s health system as he used to abandon it at the slightest excuse to seek expensive treatment in the developed nations.
But Mr. Ghebreyesu promptly took a bold action by revoking the appointment, a move that ignited global admiration for the principled stand taken by the WHO.
Eminent citizens including the former Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, said the power of social media had triumphed over President Mugabe’s dictatorial regime. “They may take away our right to demonstrate, ban away our matches & tear gas our protests but our smart phones & tablets are battle fields,” said Mr. Biti, a renowned politician.
He declared: “Every tin pot must know that the world is now a very small place. That authoritarianism is elastic & temporal.” MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu also said in a tweet that the UN health agency had finally read the writing on the wall. “WHO finally sees sense: It has rescinded Mugabe’s unjustified appointment as its Goodwill Ambassador for NCDs,” Gutu said through twitter.”
Firebrand youth protest group, Tajamuka also welcomed the decision to “reshuffle Robert Mugabe from the undeserved ambassadorial role he had parachuted himself to assume. Mugabe presided over the collapse of health institutions in Zimbabwe and cannot be a brand on health issues,” the group said in a statement.
Tajamuka continued, “Mugabe superintended over water crisis in Zimbabwe that claimed lives of thousands of citizens due to the cholera epidemic of 2007/8. He has lost confidence in Zimbabwe’s hospitals and seeks medication in the Eastern nations where he spends millions of dollars from taxpayers’ money. Even his family has done the same. Appointing ailing Robert who sleeps everywhere every time, to be a brand of health at a global level is a serious error in reasoning. There is no premise to elevate Mugabe to such an ambassadorial position.”
#My Zimbabwe, another protest platform, also applauded the ability of the WHO to “self-correct” over Mugabe’s appointment. The group said the decision “restores the credibility it has lost as a world body in the past few days. It is encouraging to learn that as a nation we are not living in isolation. Our cause and our struggle for freedom are being recognized internationally. All the world corners join us in objecting to the shocking recognition of Mr. Mugabe as a health champion”.
The platform went a little bit personal, “Mugabe is a shameless and cruel old man who doesn’t deserve even an inch of recognition or acknowledgement by a civilized world”, it said.
