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Fundisani Dewa
As I wrote this piece, I pondered that a lot has been said about Cde RG Mugabe, a lot has indeed been published enough to establish the doctrine of Mugabeism.  

What new perspective could I come up with to describe this living icon?

Then it dawned on me that Cde RG Mugabe leadership style, selflessness brings a lot of happiness to me as a youth and to the nation at large. I realised that he is a leader who is in pursuit of happiness, not just his happiness, but mine, yours and millions of Zimbabweans.

I took time to reflect on his leadership since 1980, and mostly the time I was politically conscious and smiled upon the idea that he is indeed a Josephlite.

It is my strongest conviction that Cde RG Mugabe’s leadership is akin to that of Joseph in the Bible, from a humble and noble house Joseph became a ruler and saved a nation.

Leadership is the ability to influence. The influence must always be positive influence and never negative influence exhibiting characteristics such as charisma, stoicism and humility.

The ability to anticipate upcoming trends such as how one would fare as an individual when put to the test. Cde RG Mugabe has remained stoic, steadfast and unwavering towards the adversity of the harsh sanctions imposed on him and the nation. He has remained consistent and unshaken towards his call for the removal of these punitive measures. As such I have learnt that leadership is a not an event but a process and that process requires character and determination to persevere despite difficult and changing circumstances in the political arena.

When history is being made, mistakes can also be made. I have learnt that it is wise to learn from one’s mistakes, dust yourself and try again. This can only be achieved while enhancing one’s personal growth. It is in this light that I can safely conclude that Cde RG Mugabe’s immaculate character is contagious, irresistible, reliable and respectful.  Cde RG Mugabe’s character is impeccable, impressive and extremely lovable. He is an honest, truthful leader. His leadership is about being passionate. You have to be passionate about being a leader I have also learnt and as Donald Trump puts it “without passion, you don’t have energy, without energy you have nothing. Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.”

I would like to encourage the youth that before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticise them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

Cde RG Mugabe spent 11 precious years of his life in the jail of a white man and another 15 years fighting white colonial injustice in our country. He has further dedicated the past 37 years in a drive to instil and inculcate the vision of self-determination not only as a country and as a citizen but also at an individual level. He has spent the past 37 years positioning Zimbabwe as a force to be reckoned with against all odds.

According to Franz Fanon “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it, in relative opacity.”

This is Cde RG Mugabe’s most devout purpose for his people. At any given chance he gets to address the nation and moreso the youth, he impresses upon the youth the need to be confident in being Zimbabwean, confident in their country and confident in themselves. He encourages the youth at any given time the importance of being self-dependent, self-reliant and self-loving. He makes it a point to always remind us to be patriotic to Mother Zimbabwe. This gives him great happiness and calmness to know that he has instilled the principle of self-determination in his people. His journey in pursuit of happiness remains contagious to me as a young Zimbabwean.

Also according to Fanon “To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a demiurge, that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for everything, but that the demiurge is the people themselves and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people.”

Indeed, Cde RG Mugabe’s call for black empowerment and emancipation from mental slavery is a clear testimony that he believes in the potential of the people of Zimbabwe and particularly the youth. His pursuit of happiness is to see every young person at an advanced stage with their lives and also ideologically sound and ideologically principled.

What is an ideology? Are the youth appreciative of the ideology or vision or they are lacking in vision and suffer from ideological bankruptcy? Cde RG Mugabe’s lifeline is set on motivating the people of Zimbabwe to have a common binding on ideology and set his people free from all forms of oppression.

He has stood strong against the adversity of sanctions. Sanctions are used as a tool to influence a nation to follow the ideals of another nation.

They have been noted to cause devastating effects more than the bullet itself. They have serious ripple effects that can equally be as devastating as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

My personal philosophy is “never let the people down”. Cde RG Mugabe inspires this personal philosophy. The people are the water in which politicians survive as fish in water. So to me disappointing the water is committing political suicide.

As such Cde RG Mugabe has never disappointed the people of Zimbabwe and moreso he has never disappointed the youth. He remains in touch with the concerns and needs of the grassroots and above all the youth as witnessed by the on-going youth interface rallies at which the common concerns of the youth are tabled and addressed by him as our leader.

The interface rallies are clear testimony that he wants no bureaucracy between him and the voice of the youth in Zimbabwe. The rallies are clear testimony that he himself is a leader willing to bridge the generational gap by being at the closest proximity with the young people of this nation.

The rallies are a clear testimony that he is still a competent and effective communicator and problem solver of the youth challenges in our country. Indeed the rallies are a testimony that he still values the youth and wants to keep an open door rapport with the youth.

Thus it is safe for this writer to conclude that President Robert Gabriel Mugabe is not revolutionary, he is the revolution.

Fundisani Dewa is the  Zanu-PF Youth league Provincial Dep. Secretary for Transport and Welfare
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