Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe, the first Prime Minister and the current President of Zimbabwe, was born February 21, 1924 in Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe).  Mugabe is a black nationalist who has attempted to form the nation on a Marxist platform.  Over the years Mugabe has fallen from the hailed symbol of a new Africa, through his fight against white colonization, to the epitome of a scoundrel, through a violent and corrupt dictatorship that has driven his country to rock bottom. 

            Mugabe was raised in the Catholic faith.  He was trained as a teacher in a Roman Catholic Mission school.  Robert Mugabe earned a total of six degrees including a Bachelor of Administration, a Bachelor of Science, a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Science, and a Master of Laws.  He has studied at the University of South Africa, the University College of Fort Hare, Kutama College, the University of Oxford, the University of Salisbury, the University of Gwelo, the University of London, and the University of Tanzania.

            Politics came into Mugabe’s life while studying at the University College of Fort Hare, where he began to learn more about nationalist politics.  He got involved in politics when he returned to Rhodesia in 1960.  By 1963, he co-founded the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which was an opposition party to the governmental group, Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU).  Shortly after, he was arrested for “subversive speech” and remained in prison until 1965. 

Mugabe became a key player in the war for independence, which was fought and won by 1979.  In 1980, he became Prime Minister, in the British-supervised parliamentary elections.  As the leader of the newly founded state of Zimbabwe, Mugabe had goals to replace the two-party rule with a “one-party Marxist regime”.  He made drastic efforts to redeem the black population, and somewhat repress the white population, of Zimbabwe.  However, he did uphold the constitutional requirement of substantial white representation in parliament.

After a serious clash between the ZANU and ZAPU parties, which resulted in thousands of deaths, an eventual agreement was reached, creating the ZANU-PF.  In 1987, Robert Mugabe achieved his goal of retaining absolute control under a one-party rule, as he became the first executive president of Zimbabwe.  However, his rule was not a pleasant one, and in the 1990 election period, violence and intimidation were used to secure his reelection.  Towards the late 90’s, political strife had begun to develop more strongly.  The economy was going bad, and Mugabe announced pay increases for his cabinet members and himself, provoking rioting and anger among the people of Zimbabwe.

            This political unrest gave way to a serious opposition to Mugabe, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.  At this time, the Zimbabwean people were unhappy with Mugabe’s rule, and were ready for a change in government.  Inflation was occurring at astronomical rates and human rights were being neglected and ignored by the ZANU-PF.  However, in 2002 Mugabe was reelected in elections “tainted by violence and criticized by observers.”

            Later that year Mugabe passed laws allowing farms owned by whites to be confiscated with no compensation.  Experienced white farmers were replaced with black political figures leading to a decline in agricultural productivity.  On top of this issue, a drought occurred, leading to food shortages and starvation.  The economy was at its all time worst and Mugabe’s regime was growing viler.  

“As Mugabe’s popularity further declined, his regime became increasingly brutal and repressive.  Media freedom was curtailed, the opposition was harassed and beaten, and a controversial program that caused the demolition of illegal housing structures was implemented, rendering hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans homeless.  The economy continued to decline, and in 2007 the country had the highest rate of inflation in the world, as well as one of the highest rates of unemployment.”

            As we have studied, there have been progressive changes in Mugabe’s rule since the 2008 elections.  However, these transformations are slow coming; just this year, Robert Mugabe was named the number one worst dictator in the world by PARADE magazine.  Under his rule, Zimbabwe has the world’s shortest life expectancy and worst annual inflation rate.  We have learned that he has been partnered with his opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, and it will be interesting to see how this will alter his “regime”.