Who is really behind the Robert Mugabe quotes?

What you need to know:

  • HUMOUR. He might be one of the oldest African presidents, and his straightforwardness and stubbornness while making speeches makes him an icon.
  • President Robert Mugabe speeches laced with satire and to some degree, a sense of humour make him an interesting figure.
  • In this digital-first era, Mugabe has through a social media account been attributed certain hilarious and satirical quotes. SARAH AANYU explores the motive behind these words.

When you ask anyone who President Robert Mugabe is, most people will associate him with either his old age or the quotes that go around on social media which bring out a clear picture of how famous the ironical Mugabe quotes are. Some of the quotes however, are derived from his speeches, especially at the different African Union Summits, national addresses and press conference. Some come along with much humour and vulgarity but at the end of it all, they bring out a message that the public members feel free to use with a disclaimer.
Being the president of Zimbabwe and one of the oldest ruling African presidents, these portray him as more satirical than the other ruling presidents.
Looking at Facebook, all these quotes either come with a picture of president Mugabe having the right expression or funny expression that exactly fits the message the individual is trying to put across. These are some of the few quotes that have become a meme on social media.

Some of the quotes
“When God gives you beauty and no brains, your private parts suffer most”.
“In Africa the only warning they take seriously is low battery”.
“So Blair keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe”.
“South Africans will kick down the statue of a white but won’t even attempt to slap a live one yet they can stone to death a black man simply because he is a foreigner”.
“We are living in an era where people “in love” are free to touch each other’s private parts but you cannot touch each other’s phones because they are private”.
“How do you convince the upcoming generation that education is the key to success when we are surrounded by poor graduates and rich criminals?”.
“Your friends are getting married. You are there claiming all men are players. My sister be there you will marry a referee”.
When you read them, the humour it brings out leaves many wondering who the real mastermind behind the quotes is. If it is not him then what does the person behind them intend to achieve and why does he or she have to hide behind Mugabe’s “shadow” to put his or her messages across?
His spokesperson says
George Charamba, Presidential spokesperson in Zimbabwe, terms the Facebook page as a “ghost page” and the fact that when you type in his name, you will find there are three Robert Mugabe quotes pages, each with multiple followers, leaving behind many questions of who the controversial writer of the quotes is.
“Of course all these are fake quotes! The President of Zimbabwe does not have a Facebook page at all. [He] never has had one since its launch. Nor is he capable of such small and patently pedestrian thinking, a man of such vast intellect and maturity,” says Charamba.
These quotes have become the centre of communication, conflict and fun in a way that many people use them to suit their needs at a specific time because despite the language that is used, each puts across a message that is for public consumption.
Not only the youth use them but adults as well, who are fans of these controversial wordings and each time they read the quotes, all you see is a smiling face.
His response somehow clears people’s doubts because looking at the latest quote that is going around social media which states, “your pastor has six bodyguards and you only have a sticker on your car to protect you, my friend is your brain paining you,” portrays the situation in the country today where people have stickers of preachers, church names, radio stations that belong to a specific preacher on their cars.

From Zimbabwe on who could be behind the quotes
Charamba says not all the quotes are famous in Zimbabwe but the president has knowledge about it and they as a nation are used to all this and take it in stride.
He adds that it is not black propaganda, but considering the fact that he is a big and important enough to be a worthy opponent of the western imperialism, they will use all types weapons to fight him and according to him this is flattering.
“We have a local saying: Ane bhora ndiye anomakwa! loosely translated as, “In a match, it is one with the ball who is worth tackling. When you consider what Robert Mugabe has done to settler colonial imperialism by repossessing the land from settlers, and also by insisting that access to depletable natural resources [minerals] by all multinational companies should be on 51/49 per cent shareholding basis in favour of locals, then you understand the brickbats that are aimed at him,” he says.

MUGABE AT A GLANCE
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924 in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia.
His father, Gabriel, was a carpenter, while his mother Bona taught Christian catechism to the village children. They had been trained in their professions by the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic apostolic order which had established the mission.
Angered that Southern Rhodesia was a British colony governed by white colonists, Mugabe joined African nationalist protests calling for an independent black-led state. After making anti-government comments he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of ZANU.
1975-1980: He chaired the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) group and has led its successor political party, the ZANU - Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), since 1980.
1980-1987: He led Zimbabwe as Prime Minister.
1987 to date: President of Zimbabwe.
He avoided smoking and drinking, and—according to his first biographers, David Smith and Colin Simpson—had “enormous affection for children”. He was also a fan of the English game of cricket, stating that “cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen”.
1996: He wedded Grace Marufu and they have a son (Robert) and a daughter (Bona).

Other famously quoted personalties

Tamale Mirundi
Former Presidential Press Secretary Joseph Tamale Mirundi does not fear to say anything even when speaking on a public platform. Some of his quotes are in form of Luganda proverbs which he translates.
His quotes are famous because he is always attacking the opposition but they also carries some vulgarity.
On August 21, the Facebook page Tamale Mirundi Quotes read, ““I struggled to make my name I don’t want anyone to play with it. Did you escort my father when he was going to collect my mother oba you bought offals?”
This apparently was in defence of his personality. The next day, he posted;
“Nambooze is confused. She says Mulago has no drugs but she bought an Ambulance which takes patients to Mulago, is it taking them to the mortuary?” This called for a one Joseph Kwoba to reply: Joseph Kwoba “She should answer”.

“If you go to a bar, spot ugly girls properly, if they start looking beautiful it’s time for you to go home.”
“ If a man impregnates his two wives at ago and they give birth at the same time, it doesn’t mean he’s a twins’ father (ssalongo).”
Such are quotes from the account whose “said bearer can utter anything.

Fred Mukasa Mbidde
He is one of the famous city lawyers who relish the usage of complex lingo to put across a message. He gets the public roaring because he spews the Queen’s language with pomp use either on TV, social media. In February, he was responding to the DP Youth saying in part “...I can’t kowtow in their poohoo....” This phrase has become part of the youth’s vocabulary. If you attempted to look it up on social media, you would get many ‘usage’ posts from the different platform users.

Donald Trump
He was famous for being one of the richest businessmen on the globe before he became president of the United States of America recently. Donald Trump is now famous for tweeting not only ridiculous but also outrageous statements that often result in a distinctly unique feeling of combined and immense disbelief, anger and frustration to those he feuds. Most of them seem insulting people he thinks are against him and he does this just to put his point across on what he thinks about them. They are never indirect, he just tells it as it is and never has regrets. On September 14, from a parody Twitter handle @reaIDonaldTrunp: “North Koreans haven’t gone to war in 60 years, but look at all the medals their generals are wearing. We could defeat them with magnets.
On September 11,2014 using @realDonaldTrump, his official Twitter handle he said: “If Obama resigns from office NOW, thereby doing a great service to the country—I will give him free lifetime golf at any one of my courses!.”