Robert Mugabe

Robert Gabriel Mugabe is undeniably one of Africa's favorite despots, sharing ranks with Muammar Gadaffi and Yoweri Museveni. Born to a poor Shona family in 1924, Robert was an African nationalist and a revolutionary having played a significant role in fighting against imperialism and colonialism in his country which led to Zimbabwe's independence.

Mugabe fought in the Rhodesian Bush war which was a battle against Ian Smiths predominantly white government. Activities in the bush war led to his arrest and imprisonment from 1964 to the year 1974. After his release from prison, Mugabe retreated to a neighboring country where he intensified his anti imperialist rhetoric and formed the Zimbabwe African National Union(ZANU). Zimbabwe later gained independence through an agreement signed at the Lancaster House in UK. Due to his efforts in fighting for liberation, he was naturally the front runner to assume leadership in Zimbabwe. He was first Prime Minister under the ceremonial president-ship of Rev. Canaan Banana from 1980 to 1987. In 1987, he became president, a position which he held for the next 32 years till 2017 when he was deposed by a de-facto military coup.

During the formative years of his presidency, he was a model president, focusing on expanding healthcare and education. It is due to his efforts that Zimbabwe has high adult literacy levels, at 88%, in comparison to Kenya's which is 10 points lower.

His downward trend started when his relations with the opposition leader, Joshua Nkomo and his party ZAPU deteriorated. In order to maintain control of his government, the Zimbabwean National Army began a crackdown on dissidents in Matebeleland North, which was a perceived stronghold of the opposition. A North Korean trained infantry of the army descended upon the region, thousands of Ndebele people were detained by government forces and an estimated 20,000 people were killed in an act that is commonly termed as a genocide.

In his earlier years, he also emphasized on the distribution of land fairly, on a willing buyer willing seller policy, but frustrated by the slow rate of redistribution, he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white owned farms. Food production was severely impacted leading to famine, drastic economic decline and sanctions which led to hyperinflation in Zimbabwe at the beginning of the 21st century.

Opposition to Mugabe's reign in his country grew even though he still won elections in 2002,2008 and 2018, all of which were dominated by violence and electoral fraud and ethnic differences between his Shona community and the Ndebele.

Mugabe's case is that of someone who refused to let go while he was still at the top, his stay in power for 32 years and his presiding over a blood thirsty government to a large extent washes away the gains he made as a black liberator and pan African. History will judge him harshly and ruthlessly for the misdeeds he did against the black people in his country.

"We suffered a lot under this man and I'm happy hes gone. God was late in taking Mugabe, but he has done well in finally taking his life. I cant say we are free now that hes gone,because ZANU-PF is still in power and they are still behaving in the same way, I will be very happy if they could all go the same way-Isaac Maenzanise

I am sad our father has left us. I dont know what the future of this country will be like without him. He liberated this country and for me, as a woman, I was able to go to school. Today I can stand for myself as a woan because he did alot to help us get equality with men-Sithandazile Dube" (courtesy aljazeera)