Comrade Bob to some … how SA leaders saw Mugabe
In his 2018 book , “How to Steal a Country”, British diplomat Robin Renwick, facilitator of the 1979 Lancaster House agreement that led to Zimbabwe’s independence and ambassador to SA from 1987-1991, describes how SA’s three democratic presidents felt about Robert Mugabe …
Nelson Mandela, as he told me on more than one occasion, could not stand Robert Mugabe, who he regarded as totally uninterested in the welfare of his people and responsible for most of their suffering. He was in the habit of referring to him derisively as “Comrade Bob”.
Asked, when he was no longer president, what should be done about Mugabe, Mandela said that he should be removed. When asked how, he replied: “If necessary, take up arms!” This earned him a rebuke from the Mbeki government, intent on pursuing “quiet diplomacy”.
Having declared that Africa was about to undergo a renaissance and having agreed with other countries on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, extolling the virtues of true democracy for the continent, Mbeki was confronted with the problem of Zimbabwe.
In 2000, infuriated by defeat in a referendum to increase the already large powers of the presidency, orchestrated by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mugabe unleashed bands of “war veterans”, in reality young thugs paid by the Central Intelligence Organisation, to drive white farmers off their land, causing a catastrophic fall in food production.
In April 2002, Mbeki believed that he had persuaded Mugabe to call off the land invasions in return for Britain renewing funding for land reform, only for Mugabe to renege on this.
In August, Mugabe and Mbeki made a joint announcement that the “war veterans” were being recalled, only for Mugabe again to renege on this supposed agreement.
In rigged elections in Zimbabwe in 2002, to general amazement, the South African observer mission, on instructions from the presidency, declared that “they should be considered legitimate”, with the rest of the world united in condemning the outcome.
Mbeki had also sent two South African judges, Sisi
Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke, to observe the elections. Their report was kept secret until the Mail & Guardian forced its publication in 2014. It stated that the elections could not be considered free and fair and documented over 100 murders, mostly committed against supporters of the opposition MDC.
Mbeki, on two subsequent occasions, including before the even more blatantly rigged 2008 elections, told me that he had persuaded Mugabe to retire. I said that if this was so, he would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but that, knowing Mugabe as I did, I did not for one moment believe that he would ever willingly stand down so long as there was a breath left in his body. Mbeki must have known this too. His whitewash of the 2008 elections was described by The Economist as “unconscionable”.
Following the 2008 election, Mbeki devoted his efforts to shoehorning the MDC into a coalition on Mugabe’s terms, which did achieve some improvement in the economy, thanks to the MDC finance minister, Tendai Biti, who abolished the country’s by now worthless currency, but neutered the opposition as a political force.
The failure of SA to stand up for human rights in Zimbabwe was denounced by the ANC veteran Tokyo Sexwale, given the extent to which those who had struggled against apartheid had depended on external support. The cost of inaction included the effects on the South African economy of 4-million refugees arriving from Zimbabwe.
Mbeki from the outset had appeared prejudiced against the MDC and its leader, the former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai. When Jacob Zuma took over from Mbeki, there were hopes that he might be tougher with Mugabe, but these were soon disappointed.
A dinner I was asked to arrange for Zuma in London, shortly before he became president, coincided with a refusal by shipworkers in Durban to unload a consignment of arms for Zimbabwe.
Zuma had his own connection to the opposition in Zimbabwe, as one of his and [Nkosazana] DlaminiZuma’s daughters was married to the son of Welshman Ncube, at the time prominent in the MDC, and we all drank a toast to the shipworkers. But once in office, as expected, the Zuma government continued to pursue a complaisant attitude towards Mugabe.
Asked when he was no longer president what should be done about Mugabe, Mandela said that he should be removed. When asked how, he replied ‘If necessary, take up arms!’