Zimbabweans have finally dared to dream

Whatever happens with the discussions behind closed doors in Harare and elsewhere in Southern Africa – as the region’s leaders decide on the best way to engineer Robert Mugabe’s graceful exit from the political stage – there is little doubt that the Zimbabwe president’s time is over.

And that, alone, may be just the tonic the country has been thirsting for, for so long.

No matter who takes over in Harare under the auspices of the military, the reality is that the image of Mugabe will finally have been severed from that of the country he has been running for 37 years.

He has been in charge for so long that few people had dared to dream about what the country might be like without his malign brooding presence at the helm.

Now they can dream, and dream big. Mugabe, despite the immense role he played in the liberation of his country, will forever be associated in the minds of many of his people – and the world at large – with dictatorship, oppression and economic ruin.

Removing him will be the symbolic excising of a cancer from the body politic of his country.

Once that cancer is removed, the healing process can begin – and there are encouraging signs that it has already begun, as opposition politicians start talking to each other.

If the ruling Zanu-PF politicians and the military realise that they can no longer sustain their one-party regime – and that it is a dated anachronism this late in the 21st century – then the future for Zimbabwe could be so bright that you’ll need to wear your proverbial sunglasses.

Mugabe’s departure will create confidence – a confidence that could see the return of millions of the country’s exiles and bring in billions in investment.

The only way now is up …

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