Mugabe: From independence and stability to coup and chaos
Independence, the Matabeleland massacres, land reform, and despotism: These words have come to encapsulate the 60-year-long political career of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who died this month aged 95. Fighting for independence, stewarding a new nation to maturity and then running it into the ground, Mugabe always drew the interest and consternation of the world’s press. Now, at long last, the figure known simply as “The Old Man” has met the fate that he eluded for so long and has been laid to rest amid both adoration and controversy.
Zimbabwe has always been an anomaly. Well into the second half of the 20th century, the country still bore the name of mining magnate Cecil Rhodes, who established a British colony there. In this environment, two groups vied to change the status quo: Joshua Nkomo’s African People’s Union (ZAPU) and the rival Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) founded by Mugabe. The Patriotic Front (PF) was formed as a political and military alliance. Infighting with Nkomo and detention at the hands of white jailers from 1964 to 1974 changed who Mugabe was. The studious and erudite young African teacher grew into a shrewd and calculating guerrilla leader.
Upon his release, Mugabe quickly became the driving force within the PF and London began to take notice of his status, negotiating independence directly with him. Zimbabweans achieved what had once seemed impossible and Mugabe shook hands with his former captors in a spirit of reconciliation years before Nelson Mandela’s memorable rise to power in South Africa.
In the following years, however, his leadership took on a new direction. Ever suspicious of Nkomo’s heritage as part of the historically turbulent Ndebele population, Mugabe made a speech in 1982 claiming: “ZAPU and its leader, Dr. Joshua Nkomo, are like a cobra in a house. The only way to deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head.” A political and ethnic witch-hunt ensued and the Gukurahundi massacres in Nkomo’s Matabeleland homeland left 20,000 civilians dead.
Zimbabwe’s relative stability allowed Mugabe to continue to court Western support while consolidating power at home. The government focused on conservative economic development with some notable successes.
However, Zimbabwe’s new masters never truly discarded their guerilla tactics. Following the Matabeleland massacres, Mugabe held onto power through increasingly unfair elections and thuggery. The prime minister quickly became president and corruption and mismanagement seeped into the ruling party.
During the 1990s, Zimbabwe’s economy deteriorated. Eager for a scapegoat, the regime put a policy of land redistribution at the center of its agenda, encouraging the violent seizure of white farms.
The increasingly frail Mugabe watched as his wife Grace maneuvered to inherit the presidency. In 2017, military leaders intervened. Their stated objective was telling of Mugabe’s iconic status within Zimbabwe despite its sorry state: They were working to defend the founding father’s legacy from those who would seek to destroy it. In death, however, this showed itself to be a wasted legacy.
Mugabe’s remains were repatriated to a struggling country suffering with power cuts of up to 18 hours per day, where doctors earn $90 a month. As the ruling party desperately tried to use Mugabe’s funeral to link the current regime to the struggle for independence, it is clear that a population whose average age is 18 will demand real solutions and opportunities as opposed to tales of armed struggle.