To me he is another tragedy for Africa.
A man who promised much but betrayed his nation for money and power. He is a man who loved to rant against Britain and America. There seemed to be support for his rhetoric amongst the average Black man in South Africa. He introduced state theft of white farms which has triggered virtual famine in Zimbabwe. The historic roots for this lay in the creation of “Southern Rhodesia” by the British, prime farmland was stolen from the Black tribes. Obviously revenge would be appropriate, but the national financial coffers were emptied as prosperous farms became small lots of unproductive land owned by black people and the government lost most of its income. “Tit for Tat” did not help the cause for independence.
When Thabo Mbeki opened the borders of South Africa during his term of office, it is estimated ten million people poured across into South Africa. This indicates what a terrible life style exists in Zimbabwe and even many other African countries. Strong feelings of xenophobia now exist in South Africa towards most African people who are not native to South Africa due to the belief that these foreigners are taking their jobs.
In the struggle against the minority rule of white Rhodesians, there were mainly two guerrilla movements, Zanla (Shona) and Zipla (Ndebele/Matabele). The more numerous tribe were the Shona but they were never a warrior tribe like the Ndebele. While the guerrilla war was being waged against the Rhodesian military, Zapu created a conventional force separate from its guerrilla force in Zambia.
The Shona won the election (African style – intimidation and worse) under the “watchful” eye of the UN. When in power, the military was dominated by the Ndebele tribe, these “cockroaches – as termed by the Shona, were purged from the military. Universities, colleges, hospitals were all purged of the Ndebele. Even schools in Matabeleland have Shona teachers, this continues to escalate tension in the region.
The “5th Brigade” was created in the early 1980’s, this force was not part of the conventional army and only answerable to the President. There was almost civil war between the two tribes as the Ndebele revolted, the “5th Brigade” was used to violently suppress the rebellion, murdering tens of thousands of Ndebele/ (Matabele). The Ndebele tribe descended from a branch of the dominant Zulu tribe in Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa. They arrived in Zimbabwe and conquered large areas for themselves. This has resulted in hatred from the Shona towards the Ndebele tribe. Robert Mugabe is a Shona and there is a great deal of tribal conflict. He used his control of the military and the “veterans” to intimidate the Ndebele via murder, beatings etc. This is ignored by global media as Zimbabwe is a “democracy”. If the Americans are unhappy about George Bush Jnr and Donald Trump, just go live in Zimbabwe!
I saw the movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo di Caprio several years ago, later in about 2010, I was stunned to see that Robert Mugabe was doing the exact same thing in Marange’s diamond fields. Sometimes I wonder if these movies don’t give these dictators ideas?
Mugabe became increasingly unpopular and often when his motorcade rode past Zimbabweans, they used to flash rude signs at their president. Soon after this started, the offenders faced jail sentences if caught “zapping” the president.
A popular joke is “where is the capital of Zimbabwe?” Instead of the answer being Harare, it was “in the banks of Switzerland”.
The urban areas were becoming more and more dissatisfied, opposition parties contested the elections but despite losing the election after massive intimidation, he remained in power. There were “partnerships”, like with Morgan Tswangirai. Tswangirai actually beat Mugabe by approximately 5% with about 47 – 48% of the vote. He later withdrew from the presidential race due to the numerous atrocities being committed against the opposition by State sponsored thugs.
He is an extremely fit man for his age, he has said many controversial things, even appalling. He opposes whites, gays, USA, and Britain, amongst other things. Go have a look on the internet, what is the worst one to you?
He is outspoken and seems to put the South African Leaders in their place. They seem to meekly submit to him.
I think the final straw for the Zimbabwean people was when Grace Mugabe was seeming to be groomed for the President’s office and then Mugabe fired his vice President, Emmerson Mngangagwa (this fellow probably headed up the 5th Brigade during the Matabeleland massacres in the 1980’s when he was the Minister of State Security(. However, the Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Force, General Constantino Chiwenga is Emmerson’s ally. This has resulted in the “coup detat” last week. Even now, the wily Mugabe still continues to struggle to remain in office, despite the fact that his party, Zanu PF has ousted him as leader.
There are many celebrations in anticipation but I am sure there are still nervous moments for those celebrating his political demise.
The more one looks at “leaders” like Mugabe and others of his ilk in Africa, the more one realises how fortunate South Africa was to have a man like Nelson Mandela. Too bad there aren’t more like him!