New Leader?

[carrie]

I believe that part of the reason that Mubarak was over thrown was that lots of people suspected that he was grooming his son to take over the Presidency from him. Now there appears to have been a coup in Zimbabwe, part of the reason is that the President was also hoping to hand over to a much disliked member of his family. Is there nothing ever learnt from even recent history?

[newcastle]

It does seem ironic when a country, having dispensed with the concept of a hereditary head of state, then seeks to emulate succession by right of birth/marriage.

Mind you...it can work well. Take North Korea for example

Where the head of state is just a figurehead I suppose hereditary succession is relatively harmless...even if one has to put up with a tree-hugging loony - who has to have his valet apply toothpaste to his toothbrush* - for a few years. As long as he can cut ribbons and lay wreaths...who cares.

I thought Mugabe had discovered the elixir of life. His shiny taught face looks like he's submitted to the attentions of an embalmer rather than the usual makeup artists.

If it is a coup.....good luck to them. It's hard to imagine anything could be worse for Zimbabwe than the current incumbent and the succession of his wife.

*

Spoiler

I jest of course. I'm sure his valet has better things to do...those cufflinks can be tricky. And talking to plants is something we all do....don't we? Pass me the Tramadol Jeeves.

[Horus]

Mugabe and his ilk are responsible for turning a prosperous former colony into a hell hole for the people living there, lets hope they manage to replace him with something better, but with the current state of their economy I doubt that can ever happen again.

[newcastle]

Agree Horus.

Jesse Jackson commented during a visit to South Africa in June 2006, "Land redistribution has long been a noble goal to achieve but it has to be done in a way that minimises trauma. The process has to attract investors rather than scare them away. What is required in Zimbabwe is democratic rule, democracy is lacking in the country and that is the major cause of this economic meltdown."

The total redistribution of white-owned farmland to incompetent black farmers has been an unmitigated disaster.

Like you, I suspect the damage is irreversible...except possibly in the very long term.

Whether the new leaders (and the coup seems successful and bloodless) are any more democratic or less corrupt than Mugabe's regime remains to be seen.

Going by the track record of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, it's hard to be optimistic.

[Who2]

Mubarak was overthrown due to his inherit greed and screw his people.....
Ps: Like father like sons....

[newcastle]

Mubarak was overthrown due to his inherit greed and screw his people.....
Ps: Like father like sons....

Not sure about that.

If Gamal had been in, or ex, the army/airforce, and cosy with Sisi, rather than a business pimp, I wonder if the"revolution" might have ended differently.