Everybody including Mugabe saw the End coming but as the African Proverb goes, the disease that will kill a dog starts from the Nose; indeed, Mr Gabriel Robert Mugabe failed to smell the end of his political journey and Career.

As was expected today his Party the ZANU-PF has held its meeting that has finally hammered the nail in Mugabe’s Coffin by recalling him and respectively expelling his wife from the organs of the ZANU-PF Leadership. Dictators like elsewhere on the African Continent tend to take their people for granted, this is not the case for the resilient people of Zimbabwe who have vehemently gave Mr. Mugabea humiliating end.

After ruling not governing with an iron fist for 37 years, his world has crumbled in less than a week. Consequently ZANU-PF has endorsed Mugabe’s former comrade EMERSON Mungagwa who until recently was his Vice President. Mr. Mugabe on orders of his Wife Grace sacked Mr. Mungagwa who has been the catalyst for the downfall of the Mugabe’s.

We tend to think of dictators as all-powerful, but the manner and style that Mugabe’s army who have kept him in Power for the last 37 years have pushed him out of power will open the eyes of many people on the African Continent but also send clear message to the African rulers who change the constitution or rig elections to keep themselves in power, that the rules of the game have changed.

In Africa leaders have acted with naked cruelty and impunity. Think of Kagame of Rwanda who came to power after millions of Rwandans had been butchered by Interahamwe and his own forces, now he has ruled Rwanda with iron fist, killing and incarcerating whoever challenges his authority. Think of Diane Rwigara and the whole family who have been tormented, Bernard Ntaganda, moreover these are less influential politicians but to Kagame they pose a threat.

Kagame’s cruelty is incalculable, the whole business like Mugabes , is owned by the Kagame’s or their proxies, big construction contracts are given to their own companies like Real Estate, COTRACO, HORIZON, just to mention a few, all are operated by Kagame’s without mentioning the so called state  companies like Rwanda Air.

But the film “The Dictator” — and our imagination of dictators — is getting outdated. The new dictator is more evolved and more attuned to how people think. Kagame has mastered the cunning style, where he will organize the award ceremony of Medals to people Prof. Like Linda Melvin, US Tycoon Buffet, Dick John, these are people who cannot tolerate, let alone talk to a dictator like Kagame in their respective countries.  I will never know with certainty what drives people like Buffet and an Intellectual Prof. Linda Melvin to shake hands with this Rwandan Devil.

A new book highlights that trend. It’s called “The Dictator’s Learning Curve” by William Dobson.

Dictators have gotten smart, Dobson writes, to keep pace with changes in technology. Old-school oppressors like Mao, Pol Pot or Idi Amin could keep their atrocities relatively secret. That’s not possible today. If a dictator tried to orchestrate a mass killing and keep it secret, he’d likely fail. It would end up on YouTube. However, unlike other African dictators, Kagame will never hide his secrets, he even boasts of killing his opponents in Church or in his parliament and in all occasions Kagame receives standing ovation or applauses.

Some cleverest dictators have evolved. They allow a certain amount of dissent, as an escape valve. There’s a new study by three political scientists at Harvard. They’ve devised a way to analyze millions of social media posts in the world of Dictators. The study provides a unique insight not just into what the World of Dictators think to censor, but also what the government deems necessary to censor.

What did they find? Contrary to what you’d think, it turns out criticisms of the state are not more likely to get censored. Even some vitriolic criticisms are allowed. Instead, the focus is on stopping mass mobilization. Kagame has blocked internet searches with online news Like Inyenyeri News and other outlets that could mobilize or are critical of the RPF Regime.

Kagame has censored and clamped down on all the independent media in Rwanda and all the political parties have been swallowed or banned.

We’re witnessing a people’s revolution in Zimbabwe and many other African countries will follow soon, gone are the days when dictators could completely ignore the demands of their people.

As citizens become more exposed to events around the world, more connected to each other on the internet and social media, dictators will have to make greater concessions. It’s a situation that is far better than how things were 10, 20, or 50 years ago. Regimes like those in Rwanda and elsewhere on the African continent can act with all-out brutality, but they are outliers – they represent a fading order.

The new model is to allow a controlled space for free commerce, for open education, even for dissent. Perhaps people in these countries can use that space to expand the realm of freedom and liberty,

Ruhumuriza Joseph