KING Lobengula said about England: “Did you ever see a chameleon catch a fly?
“The chameleon gets behind the fly and remains motionless for some time, then he advances very slowly and gently, first putting forward one leg and then the other.
“At last, when well within reach, he darts his tongue and the fly disappears. 
“England is the chameleon and I am that fly.”
That was soon after he realised that he had been cheated by the British trio (F. R Thompson, Charles Rudd and Rochfort Maguire) into signing the Rudd Concession.
He may have been an uneducated African, described as barbaric by those who brought Western civilisation to us, but there is no doubt that King Lobengula was a brilliant political analyst, even better than many people with PhDs in Political Theory!
Lobengula may not have known about America, France or Belgium, but the chameleon tactic is what makes them the world’s sharks that swallow small fish.
Last month the European Union Council on Tourism and Trade awarded Zimbabwe as the World Best Tourist Destination for 2014; saying that Zimbabwe had “unequivocally demonstrated that it is a safe, open and perfectly managed powerhouse”.  
What has changed now from a country that received some of the worst ratings not so long ago, with some as late as May this year?
In November 2010, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) rated Zimbabwe at the bottom (out of 169 countries) as the worst place to live in.
And on October 14 2011 the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance rated Zimbabwe as one of the worst governed countries in Africa (51 out of 53) ahead of Somalia and Chad.
In 2011, too, the British-based Economist Intelligence Unit rated the city of Harare as the fourth worst city (out of the 140 cities that it had rated) in the world after scoring a 38 percent livability rating.
Commenting about that rating, Andre Vltchek (who is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist), said: “is there any reason why this country (Zimbabwe) is suffering from sanctions and humiliation, from vicious propaganda and demonisation, other than because it has decided to re-distribute its land; or, because it made an attempt to stop Rwanda from performing yet another coup in DR Congo on behalf of Western companies and governments; or because it co-operates with China in the mining of diamonds; or because it is firmly rejecting Western imperialism?” In March this year, the Fraser Institute (Canada) ranked Zimbabwe among the five worst jurisdictions for mining investments.
Again in May this year, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Washington rated Zimbabwe as one of the worst places for workers.
Even our President Robert Mugabe, was, in August 2011, rated as one of the world’s worst dictators alongside Muammar Gaddafi (he was alive then); Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others (Tim Ferguson of the Forbes Media).
That was despite the fact that less than two years later two-thirds of Zimbabweans would resoundingly give him another five-year term to be their president despite his age.
I become wary of the Europeans when they suddenly become nice to ZANU PF, to Zimbabwe, and to President Mugabe despite keeping him as the only person in Zimbabwe (and his wife) on their sanctions list.
So, what’s on chameleon’s leaf this time?
More than 120 years after King Lobengula made the analogy of the chameleon and the British’s treachery, we can still refer to his analysis with some degree of precision.
Muammar Gaddafi walked that treacherous path.
Lured to a sacrificial alter like a lamb, in 2009 he was all smiles when the British government suddenly released Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of killing 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
They said he was too ill suffering from a terminal disease and it was only humane to release him from a Scottish prison to return to his home country to die.
On September 22 2009, the Guardian Newspaper wrote: “Since the dying Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds and returned home last month, barely a day has gone by without some new revelation about cosy and lucrative links between London and Tripoli: the NHS has been training Libyan nurses and the SAS their counter-terrorism boys; UK arms sales to Libya are booming…”
The chameleon was lying motionless, advancing towards its catch slowly, one leg after another…
Gaddafi had supported the IRA, was accused of sponsoring many terrorist organisations including Al Qaeda.
He had been a thorn in the Western’s flesh.
He had to go.
And he did.
Lord Palmerston (1784-1865) who once served as the British Foreign Secretary and twice as Premier once said of England: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies.
“Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
And the Americans, too, say that “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”
It is about strategising and re-strategising.
It is good that after 15 years of antagonism and vilification, Zimbabwe now gets the awards and ratings that she deserves.
It is good to re-engage and amend bridges.
But we should know that when the chameleon wants to catch a fly, it lies motionless until it finds the right time to strike.