AROUND the first century AD when Nero was the emperor of Rome the city was engulfed by an inferno that razed almost the entire sprawling metropolis to the ground.
Nero was rumoured to have been culpable in starting the fire in order to rebuild the city in his taste. At the time the fire was engulfing the city, Nero was rumoured to have busied himself by playing the fiddle.
This led to him being infamously renowned as the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned.
In her current political and economic state, Zimbabwe is facing her own inferno. The economy is burning away into oblivion. In the process of burning away it is releasing toxic gases that continue to poison the lungs of the people.
Agreeably, there are tiny dots of economic activity that are surviving here and there, yet they mean nothing to the ordinary people.
The diamond mines continue to yield dividends for the rich few while the ordinary citizens wallow in abject poverty.
The fires of economic destruction were set alight through Emperor (President) Robert Mugabe’s litany of mismanagement and corrupt practices. There is no greater crime than deliberately subjecting the ordinary people to the fires of economic misery.
It is unforgiveable for the emperor and his cronies to be seen throwing pies at each other and exchanging expensive jewellery while the people suffer.
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In the political front, everything seems to be on fire. There is no sanity, no hope and no direction, and above all there is no genuine patriotism. Every politician is for himself or for herself.
This leaves the ordinary people clinging on the hope that divine powers will one day intervene on their behalf. Oh yes, the political landscape is on fire as seen by the matrices of disagreements and disorganisation.
The president and the vice-president are on each other’s throats; the secretary-general and the president are executing excruciating holds on each other’s manhood.
There is no denying that the number one lady and the one who was widowed after a localised barn fire are treading a fiery political path. It is unfortunate that the fire they are fanning is burning the core of the ordinary people.
The fires of political doom have been lit and the emperor is fiddling as the fires engulf the nation. Who has sprinkled some kerosene all over the land? Why are the people being so cautious about not upsetting the current untenable balance?
Why are so many people clinging on to the hope that no political fool will make the situation worse by turning on the heat? But then with the state of politics teetering on the brink, there is no guarantee of avoiding a conflagration.
It is indeed a desperate situation which calls for desperate measures. In his idea of taking desperate measures to rid his empire of the desperation, the emperor is contemplating a coup de grâce by dropping a lit match stick on the fuelled environment.
The emperor is sure that he will end the miserable experiences of the people of Zimbabwe by executing a mercy kill. This is the way the warped mind of an out-of-control and deluded emperor works.
Mugabe is slowly but surely dealing a death blow on the people of Zimbabwe in the misguided belief that it will end their suffering.
There is no denying that the people of Zimbabwe are severely wounded. They do not need any mass culling to relieve the economic and political pain that afflicts them. They deserve a better approach that is punctuated with compassion.
There is a need for a new beginning, a new belief and above all, there is a need for heightened resoluteness.
The people need to exercise some mastery on their destiny. There is no political or economic rationale in waiting for divine deliverance. Silence and wishful prayer are no longer regarded as effective weapons of voting dictators out of power.
The people can disobey the emperor instead of cheering him on and ululating in joy when he insults their intelligence from his podium of nudity.
Gone are the days of covering the nakedness of the emperor by singing his praise and clothing him with fake assurances. The truth about the emperor’s new suit has to be told.
He has to hear it from the people that he is parading his nudity in the skewed believe that he is safe-guarding his wisdom. The emperor needs to be told that his type of wisdom is either alien to the people or too archaic to be accepted in these modern times.
The emperor has to be told without reservations that he is indecently exposing his shrivelled modesty for all and sundry. The question is who is going to be bold enough to tell him of his nudity?
Is the opposition in a position to stand up and be counted among those who should be informing him about his bad fashion choice? Is there anyone in Zanu PF who can stand up and tell Mugabe that his service to the nation is no longer sustainable?
Could it be that after seeing so much of the emperor’s folly and nudity both at home and on the streets to last her a lifetime, Grace is now determined to put a stop to the eyesore?
Masola waDabudabu is a social commentator
