Robert Mugabe<\/a> had arrived at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport from
\nSingapore, where the long time ruler succumbed to a long illness at the age of 95.<\/p>\nMugabe\u2019s death came nearly two years after he was deposed in a military coup in November 2017 which catapulted his long-time aide and friend Emmerson Mnangagwa
\ninto power.<\/p>\n
However, Mnangagwa\u2019s two years in power have been tumultuous.<\/p>\n
Since he took over the reins, Mnangagwa has twice deployed the army to deal with protesters venting their disquiet on the direction he is taking the country,
\nleaving dozens dead and hundreds injured, nursing either gunshot or baton stick wounds.<\/p>\n
The economy is tanking and shortages of basic goods, including bread, fuel and medicines, amid price increases and an erosion of workers\u2019 income, a situation
\nwhich has left many Zimbabweans poorer and more afraid of the State, which has not hesitated to unleash its security apparatus on unarmed citizens.<\/p>\n
While Mugabe is no angel, and has, during his time in power, presided over phases of human rights abuses, political crackdown on opponents, economic
\nmismanagement and corruption, the current deteriorating economic and human rights situation has kept the memories of Mugabe stuck on the back of the mind of
\nsome Zimbabweans.<\/p>\n
It is within this context that when the announcement of Mugabe\u2019s death came, it was met with confusion over the true nature of the veteran leader\u2019s legacy,
\nwith some choosing to remain indifferent.<\/p>\n
So, as Mnangagwa presided over the processions to receive Mugabe\u2019s body at the airport, named after the late ruler, it was business as usual in Harare, with
\nthe largely small-scale businesspeople choosing to ignore the big news, or at least, talking about it as they went about their daily business.<\/p>\n
It was only when the sun was setting, with the majority of people beginning to leave the city centre, that commotion began near Town House, at the heart of the
\ncity, following a rumour that the motorcade accompanying Mugabe\u2019s hearse was about to pass through the city.<\/p>\n
Immediately, and spontaneously, hundreds of people, rushed and lined the edges of Julius Nyerere Way, chanting Mugabe\u2019s totem \u201cGushungo\u201d.<\/p>\n
As the motorcade began to pass, people kept chanting, hoping they would catch a glimpse of the hearse carrying Mugabe\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
They did not see it, and instead, watched as Mnangagwa\u2019s motorcade, complete with snipers pointing guns at the crowd, made a movie style drive-by.<\/p>\n
Many could not wait to grumble in disapproval as they went back to their business.<\/p>\n
Within minutes, a police motorbike blew a siren as it led another motorcade along Julius Nyerere Way, and almost immediately, crowds formed on the edges of the
\nstreet, and this time, it was Mugabe\u2019s hearse.<\/p>\n
As the people cheered, top-of-the-range vehicles carrying Mugabe\u2019s relatives and friends rolled by.<\/p>\n
It was almost like some uptown, elite motor show, except that this was Julius Nyerere Way, where those that were cheering were the ordinary poor Zimbabweans who had borne the brunt of the ruinous policies of the system that Mugabe presided over for the 37 years, and the same system that Mnangagwa has taken over and continued to follow by the book.<\/p>\n
As the last vehicles drove past, the cheers died down, and it was back to the normal; a normal that is characterised by vending, transport woes and hardships.<\/p>\n
Mugabe had made his last roll past the street that he used for his many trips from the State House to the airport \u2014 for 37 years!<\/p>\n
It was only in death that his motorcade received an ovation as it rolled past, for in his lifetime, he was a feared creature, a brutal dictator who had earned
\na reputation of not tolerating any unusual behaviour towards his motorcade.<\/p>\n
It appeared that it was only death that demystified him, and whether it was genuine love or something else, for the first time, people whose lives Mugabe had
\nruined for nearly four decades, praised him as they got the closest to his motorcade as it passed.<\/p>\n
However, for some in the crowd, the cheers for Mugabe were to spite his predecessor, Mnangagwa, who has so far wasted the goodwill he was accorded soon after
\nthe 2017 coup, where he promised to open up democratic space and improve the economy.<\/p>\n
Instead, it appears that he is taking Zimbabwe down the familiar road, of repression and economic ruin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is experiencing economic and political turmoil. Two hours earlier, the body of the late former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had arrived at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[370,812,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-13610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-grace-mugabe","10":"tag-mugabes-burial","11":"tag-robert-mugabe"},"yoast_head":"\n
Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"532\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare\",\"name\":\"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":532},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare - zimbabwe","description":"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare","og_description":"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":532,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare","name":"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-14T14:46:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"IT is 5:30pm in the city centre of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare, and the sun is setting to mark the end of yet another day in a country that is ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/09\/Mugabe.jpg","width":800,"height":532},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mugabes-last-drive-in-harare#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mugabe\u2019s last drive in Harare"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}