Born to a carpenter on February 21, 1924, in the then Rhodesia,
Robert Mugabe was brought up and trained to be a teacher at
Roman Catholic Mission School.
He later won a scholarship at Fort Hare University in South Africa,
where he took the first of his seven academic degrees before
teaching in Ghana.
At Ghana, late Mugabe was influenced by the pan-Africanist ideas of
Ghana’s post-independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah.
This led to him to marry Sally, his first wife from Ghana. He
returned to Rhodesia in 1960 where he worked with an African
nationalist, Joshua Nkomo.
They later drifted apart as Mugabe became the founding member of
the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu).
In 1964, after making a speech in which he called Rhodesian Prime
Minister Ian Smith and his government “cowboys”, Mugabe was
arrested and detained without trial for a decade.
As part of the pain of struggle, he lost his son while still in prison
and was not even allowed to take part in the funeral.
Radical leader
Known for his radicalism, Mugabe was chosen as president of Zanu
even though he was in prison in 1973 and upon his release from
prison, he went to Mozambique and directed guerrilla raids into
Rhodesia.
His organisation formed an alliance with Nkomo’s Zimbabwe
African People’s Union (Zapu) and while negotiation for Rhodesia
independence was ongoing, Mugabe was perceived as the most
militant of the black leaders and the most uncompromising in his
demands.
Soon, the Lancaster House agreement of 1979 set up a constitution
for the new Republic of Zimbabwe, as Rhodesia was to be called,
and set February 1980 for the first elections to the new government.
He ran separately against Nkomo and Mugabe had unexpected
victory. Zanu secured a comfortable majority even though the polls
were marred by accusations of vote-rigging and intimidation from
both sides”
Upon his victory, he vowed that there won’t be victimisation and
nationalisation of private property.
He initially promised a programme of reconciliation. Later that
year, he outlined his economic policy, which mixed private
enterprise with public investment.
Meanwhile, he reportedly championed a one-party system which led
to him trying to stifle political opposition.
Controversies
In the mid-80s, there was a massacre of thousands of ethnic
Ndebeles seen as Nkomo’s supporters in his home region of
Matabeleland and Mugabe was linked to the killings committed by
the Zimbabwean army’s North Korean-trained 5th Brigade.
Being the power of Zimbabwe, he was never tried.
Instead, the opposition, Nkomo agreed for his Zapu to be merged
with – or taken over by – Zanu to become the virtually unchallenged
ZANU-PF .
From Prime Minister to President
Late Mugabe would later become Zimbabwe president in 1987 and
was elected for a third term in 1996.
After his first wife died of cancer, he married Grace Marufu. He
gave birth to three children.
In 1992, he introduced the Land Acquisition Act, permitting the
confiscation of land without appeal.
Most of the affected persons were the white farmers, who still
owned the bulk of the country’s best land.
This led to criticism from the public who alleged that the president
was giving out farms to his cronies, rather than the intended rural
poor.
In early 2000, Mugabe again won the presidential election with 56.2
per cent of the vote compared with Mr Tsvangirai’s 41.9 per cent.
Following this, the US, UK and the EU failed to recognise the election
result. They said Mugabe victory was marred with violence and
allegations of fraud.
The Commonwealth also suspended Zimbabwe from participating in
its meetings until it improved its record as a democracy.
Relentless Mugabe
Mugabe in 2005 led Operation Restore Order, a crackdown on the
black market which reportedly led to arrest of about 30,000 street
vendors and whole shanty towns demolished leaving an estimated
700,000 Zimbabweans homeless.
He lost the first round of the presidential elections in March 2008
but won the run-off in June after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out.
Mugabe in February 2009 later appointed Tsvangirai as prime
minister.
Back in the saddle
Again in 2013, Mugabe won as president with 61 per cent of the
votes.
As expected, there was again allegations of rigging.
At 89, he was still fighting tirelessly to remain president with
increasing health challenges.
In 2015, there were speculations that his wife, Grace, was poised to
take control in the event of his death in office but Mugabe would not
allow these speculations to come true when he declared interest in
2018 again by which time he would be 94.
In February 2016, the power of Zimbabwe, Mugabe announced that
he would be in power “until God says ‘come'”.
Removal
Tired of his autocracy, the Zimbabwe National Army on November
15, 2017, placed Mugabe under house arrest and, four days later,
was replaced by his former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa .
Mugabe would not resign until November 21 of 2018 when a motion
to impeach him was being debated in the Zimbabwean parliament.
The speaker House of Assembly announced that Robert Mugabe had
finally resigned.
The Power of Zimbabwe was never tried. Rather he got granted a
house, servants, vehicles and full diplomatic status.
He died on September 6, 2019.
EmoticonEmoticon