Robert Mugabe

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Robert Mugabe (2015)

Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born February 21, 1924 in Kutama , Southern Rhodesia , † September 6, 2019 in Singapore ) was a Zimbabwean politician who served as President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2017 .

In addition, until his dismissal on November 19, 2017, he was long-time chairman of the governing party ZANU-PF . He belonged to the Shona people . From 1980 to 1987 he held the office of Prime Minister . Mugabe was the world's oldest head of state at the end of his tenure.

After taking office as Prime Minister in 1980, successes have been achieved in the health and education sectors, among others. Mugabe was also one of the leaders of the frontline states . From the 1990s, however, his government's policy changed. Lack of transparency and corruption increased, while its formerly great popularity with the population and its reputation abroad declined. Several awards from the 1980s were withdrawn from Mugabe.

Mugabe openly ruled the country as a dictator from around 2000 . His rule was marked by famine and sometimes serious human rights violations , which led to the exclusion of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth . Mugabe has been denied entry to the European Union with the exception of visits to United Nations and Holy See events .

Education and early politicization

Robert Mugabe came from a poor family and grew up in the Kutama Mission, now the Zvimba District, northwest of Salisbury (now Harare ). He was Shona and belonged to the Zezuru group. Mugabe was raised Catholic in the family and in school . He attended the Jesuit- run St Francis Xavier College of the Kutama Mission for six years . His intellectual abilities enabled him to train as a primary school teacher at this facility. With this professional qualification, Mugabe worked at several schools in Southern Rhodesia in the 1940s, including the Hope Fountain Mission and the Dadaya Mission . In the course of this first phase of professional life, he completed the levels of secondary school and was now able to begin studying at UNISA. When Mugabe won a scholarship for Fort Hare in 1949 , he moved to what was then the South African Native College with Alice in the Union of South Africa . It was here in 1951 that he graduated with a BA for the first time. It was here that he began to be interested in politics and became a member of the youth organization of the South African ANC .

Upon his return to his homeland taught Mugabe at the Driefontein Mission (1952) at Umvuma where he free time on his next degree in education (Diploma of Education) worked. The following year he worked at a primary school in Salisbury South . In 1954 he was transferred to a school in Gwelo . During that year, Mugabe earned a Bachelor of Education by distance learning . In 1955, his dissatisfaction with the income situation for teachers in Southern Rhodesia prompted another change of location, which led him to Northern Rhodesia at the Chalimbana Teacher Training College near Lusaka . Mugabe used the three years of his activity at the teacher training college for a further degree, a Bachelor of Science from the University of London . In 1958 he followed a call to the newly independent Ghana , where he also trained teachers at St Mary's Training College in Takoradi and was inspired by President Kwame Nkrumah .

When Mugabe returned to Salisbury on vacation in 1960, he had inadvertently engaged in political resistance activities in his country. After the "March of the 7000" began on July 19, 1960 from Highfield Township towards Salisbury, Mugabe was asked to address many demonstrators the next day. His speech quickly gained sympathy because he advocated the unification of all sections of the population, especially the workers and the better educated, into a national movement. His experiences in Ghana were widely recognized in the movement and so Mugabe came under pressure to give up teaching there and stay in Salisbury. He decided to take this step and was elected secretary for public relations of the National Democratic Party (NDP, emerged in 1960 from the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress ) in November . In this function he managed very well to inspire the partly militant youth around this organization at mass events with plaintive women in tribal clothing, roaring percussion instruments and traditional preachers. This gave rise to a mood of awakening and the impression that everyone could participate in the emergence of a “new order”.

After the NDP was banned in December 1961, he managed to take on the same function in the successor organization Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). But as early as September 1962, their activities were also prohibited. In March 1963, Mugabe traveled to Northern Rhodesia to address a meeting of the United National Independence Party (UNIP). The result of his appearance was an arrest, but he was able to escape shortly afterwards as bail allowed him free movement. Mugabe turned to Dar es Salaam .

In the ZAPU, Joshua Nkomo's leading position continued to gain influence. As a result, a conflict between Mugabe and Nkomo came to a head, as Nkomo held for many years to the conviction that negotiations with representatives of British colonial rule would lead to a change in the African power structure with corresponding constitutional amendments and a black government in exile so much support from international organizations could get in order to take over government power in the home country. In contrast, Mugabe, Ndabaningi Sithole and others, including the Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere , did not see this vision as a realistic option. In their opinion, such governments in exile would not be successful and would find little acceptance. In the course of this escalating conflict, Nkomo wrote a letter to suspend Mugabe and Sithole from their party functions in August 1963. This escalation led to the establishment of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) on August 8, 1963 . Sithole took over the chairmanship and Mugabe became general secretary.

As a result of these political escalations, Mugabe was arrested and taken to Wha Wha Detention Camp . In August 1963, a court charged him on the basis of the Law and Order Maintenance Act (German for example: "Law for the maintenance of law and order") for "calling for political murder" and other statements considered subversive. The court sentenced him to one year in prison. After serving this sentence, Mugabe was arrested again and remained in custody until November 1974. During this time he took up further distance learning and earned both an LL.B and a B.Admin, both from the University of London.

Commitment against colonialism

When Mugabe returned to the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1960 (later name: Rhodesia, today's name: Zimbabwe ; the former Northern Rhodesia is now Zambia ), he joined the National Democratic Party (NDP), which was founded in Salisbury in 1959 by the country's black intellectuals was founded and with the political demand one man - one vote appeared. At its head stood as President-General Joshua Nkomo . After the ban in 1961, many of their positions were carried on by the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), which was also banned in the course of unrest in 1962. While numerous activists were arrested, he, Ndabaningi Sithole and others were able to flee to Dar es Salaam , where they discussed the possibility of forming a government in exile with Nkomo. Due to many objections from political actors from other African countries, this idea was dropped and an intra-Rhodesian confrontation strategy was chosen.

Robert Mugabe as General Secretary of ZANU at a meeting with the Romanian Head of State Nicolae Ceaușescu (1976)

In 1974, six leading ZANU politicians agreed that the party chairmanship should be decided again by a current vote of the members. In the subsequent ballot, Mugabe received a majority of the votes. The previous party leader Ndabaningi Sithole was also one of the losers. Shortly after Mugabe's release, he met Kenneth Kaunda and Julius Nyerere in Lusaka . This exchange of views took place in an icy mood, while he was pressured to give up his reservations about Sithole and to recognize its leadership again. When Sithole stood before a Rhodesian court in March 1975, Mugabe fled to Mozambique . After Sithole's surprising release, the FRELIMO government of Samora Machel placed him under their care as a precaution.

Mugabe was elected head of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), a militant subgroup of the ZANU in the fight against Smith's white minority government, while Ndabaningi Sithole was voted out of office. There is no unanimous opinion about his influence on the guerrilla training of refugee supporters on Mozambican territory for the purpose of paramilitary intervention in Rhodesia.

In 1976 the ZANU merged with the ZAPU to form the Patriotic Front (PF). Mugabe was considered a Marxist at the time . However, there was little evidence in his personal environment of Mugabe's reputation for being a well-read Marxist. He came across Marxism late, taught by the leader of the independence movement of Mozambique Samora Machel .

Agreement to end the colonial government

From the end of the 1970s the Rhodesian regime tried to bring moderate African leaders to power in order to end the guerrilla war. In 1979 elections were held, which were won by Bishop Abel Muzorewa , who was supported by the white government . However, this strategy did not work, the elections were not recognized internationally and the Patriotic Front did not end its struggle. New negotiations were agreed for September 1979. Mugabe, among others, led the African delegation to the armistice negotiations in London. This resulted in an agreement on a new Republic of Zimbabwe and free elections for February 1980. In return, Mugabe had to commit to the British in the “ Lancaster House Agreement ” to keep the constitution of the system unchanged for at least ten years and one Allow minimum number of whites in parliament. It also agreed on a land reform to be started in 1989 with financial help from Great Britain. However, the new government under Margaret Thatcher later partially refused to provide this aid.

Prime Minister and President

1980–1990: Unification course and successful investment programs

Mugabe as Prime Minister (1982)

Parliamentary elections for the Republic of Zimbabwe were held in February 1980. Instead of Joshua Nkomo as expected , Robert Mugabe won the election on March 4, 1980. ZANU won 57 out of 100 seats in parliament. Mugabe became prime minister . At the beginning of his term in office, Mugabe announced after a bloody liberation struggle that blacks and whites should work together in the future and develop the country together: “Let the past rest”. Mugabe also tried to improve the quality of life of the black population.

Mugabe received numerous awards for his politics in the following years (see chapter Awards), Richard von Weizsäcker judged him during a state visit in 1988, for example, as a “smart, level-headed politician who tries to find a balance”.

Economic and social policy

After he took office, Mugabe's government supported smallholders and launched several government programs, including in the health and education sectors. Mugabe's rhetoric corresponded to a mixture of Christianity and Maoist people 's liberation theory.

As a result, the economic power of smallholders increased significantly (3.6 percent growth per year). Successes were also achieved in the other programs and social indicators improved enormously. The proportion of children with malnutrition fell from 22 (1980) to 12 percent (1990). Life expectancy rose sharply from 1980 to 1990, and child mortality fell from 86 to 49 deaths per thousand. With regard to unemployment, the effect of the high population growth remained problematic, although the number of employees increased by over 20 percent from 1980 to 1991.

The average annual economic growth from 1980 to 1989 was 4.47% of GDP (3.8% under previous government 1966–1979).

Coalition policy

In addition to the uniform course, there were the first persecutions under Mugabe, however, in connection with the power struggle with the ZAPU as early as the 1980s. The original coalition government with Nkomo was disbanded in 1982 on the pretext of an alleged attempted coup by the ZAPU. Nkomo was expelled from the government. The supporters of the ZAPU were persecuted; the notorious Fifth Brigade allegedly killed around 20,000 members of the Ndebele people who had supported Nkomo (see also Gukurahundi ). The 1997 report of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe identified an estimated impact of the attacks in the Midlands and Matabeleland as around 3,750 people killed (at least 3,000), 7,000 physically assaulted and at least 680 houses destroyed. Mugabe used the decline of the coalition to consolidate his power. After his re-election in 1985, Mugabe signed a unitary treaty with Nkomo that ended the ZANU-ZAPU hostility and brought Nkomo back to Parliament as vice-president. In 1987 the post of Prime Minister was abolished and Mugabe became President of Zimbabwe. He was confirmed as president in the 1990 and 1996 elections.

The resolution of the East-West conflict that took place in the 1990s changed Mugabe's attitude.

In 1991, Robert Mugabe granted exile to the former head of Ethiopia Mengistu Haile Mariam in Zimbabwe after he was overthrown by the military because of his dictatorial governance.

Changed economic and social policy from 1991

From 1991 the government under Mugabe changed its course with a "structural adjustment program", also under pressure and with the support of the International Monetary Fund IMF and the World Bank. Politicians now relied on the private sector and market mechanisms (“ laissez-faire ”) to attract more investment from international companies. The government programs were cut significantly with an austerity program . In its 1995 report, the World Bank took a self-critical stance: “Large parts of the population, including many small farmers and small businesses, found themselves in a vulnerable position with limited opportunities to respond to the new market conditions.” The reason the report admitted was the lack of access natural, technical and financial resources as well as the reduction of public services . The number of employees fell significantly and the economy stagnated. Only the education system remained at a high level for developing countries.

Lucrative contracts were increasingly awarded to political allies. After 1990, Mugabe initiated a process through which the farmland was to be transferred to the black majority in Zimbabwe. However, the Thatcher's reduced aid for land reform was increasingly used in the agreement to buy land for the country's “elites” rather than for the landless. The new Labor government under Tony Blair , elected in 1997 , therefore ended financial aid for land reform.

In 1997 the Zimbabwean dollar fell and the currency was later abandoned.

Campaign against homosexuality

With the changed course from 1991, Mugabe opened a campaign against homosexuality , which was "unnatural" and "un-African". Homosexual men - for Mugabe "lower than pigs and dogs" - can since then be punished with 10 years in prison. Mugabe justified his approach u. a. with the intention of fighting AIDS . Mugabe's predecessor in the office of President Canaan Banana was convicted of homosexuality and fled to South Africa because he feared for his life. Mugabe also repeatedly attacked the increasing equality of homosexuals in Europe.

Congo War

From 1998 to 2003 Zimbabwe provided military support to the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Second Congo War . The cost of military intervention led to a huge increase in government spending.

As can be seen from a BBC portrait on the occasion of Mugabe's election victory in 2002, the prevailing view of Mugabe was that, apart from his socialist rhetoric, he was pursuing a policy of state capitalism that did not help the common people.

The newspaper Der Freitag ruled in 2000: “After the country was still considered a model in the eighties - among other things for a way out of the South African apartheid regime - the past few years were marked by a rapid impoverishment of large sections of the population, while a small one - black and white - elite in the country divides the benefices among themselves. "

Several former employees and acquaintances of Mugabe saw the reason for the change in Mugabe's mental disorders , in particular paranoia , which had formed as a result of the long persecution and numerous murder attempts against him.

Increasing repression and economic crisis from 2000

Risk of losing power

When Mugabe's draft constitution was rejected by the majority of the population in a referendum in 2000, the politicians of the ZANU-PF saw their power seriously threatened for the first time since independence. The government responded with attacks and repression against numerous organizations, from opposition parties to associations and unions to farm workers.

Even before the Zimbabwean parliamentary elections of June 2000, there were partnership talks between the South African ANC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF, without maintaining similar contacts with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai . That changed in 2001 when the Zimbabwean Chief Justice resigned after a bomb attack on the editorial staff of a domestic daily newspaper and two foreign journalists were expelled from the country. Two representatives of the ANC, Pallo Jordan and Tony Yengeni (1994 chairman of the Parliament's Defense Committee) met for the first time with Tsvangirai in Cape Town .

In view of the worsening political situation and escalating events in Zimbabwe, the then South African President Thabo Mbeki spoke more and more clearly about the developments in the neighboring country and tried to protect Mugabe's public image. In late 2000, Mbeki criticized the violent farm occupation of white owners by black protesters and that such practices would not be tolerated in South Africa.

In 2003 there was a general strike against the government, in 2005 slums in Harare were destroyed as "illegal settlements".

Economic crisis and land reform

When Mugabe became prime minister, about 4,000 descendants of white settlers farmed 70 percent of the arable land. The white farmers had come to Rhodesia in large numbers during colonial times and came to own large amounts of land.

In the 1960s, members of the white community supported the government under Ian Smith , which initially promoted the development of the country in a minority government primarily in the interests of the white population. When Mugabe came to power, he stated that he wanted to undo this perceived injustice by returning the land to the black majority of the population. However, due to the agreements with the British government in the 1980s ( Lancaster House Agreement , see section “Agreement on the end of colonial government”), this happened very slowly in the 1990s. According to Mugabe, the land should be returned gradually, for which he favored a concept of voluntary land sale.

At the end of the 1990s, dissatisfaction with the very unequal distribution of land led to riots.

In view of the declining popularity and the economic downturn, the ZANU-PF decided to implement land reform . The occupations of the land were often organized without compensation, in night-and-fog actions, accompanied by violence. The white settlers fled and previously killed their cattle and destroyed the tractors and the irrigation systems. The expropriations sparked protests from Western governments. As a result, Mugabe was banned from entering the European Union in 2002 .

In many cases, however, the expropriated land was not given to landless black farmers or the former farm workers as originally intended, but to people with good connections to the Mugabe government. Agricultural productivity continued to decline as a result of mismanagement and destruction; in addition, foreign bank loans were blocked.

The land reform did not stop or enlarge the economic downturn. The displaced former farm workers were hit by unemployment and the country hit by food shortages. The economic situation did not improve in the following years either, among other things because the new, black farmers lack the technological means to cultivate the newly acquired land; Thus, not only did yield fall, but unemployment also rose, as the auxiliary workers employed by white farmers up until the reform were laid off. The inflation for example, began in late 2001 to rise into the triple digits, ruled from early 2008 to early 2009 in Zimbabwe hyperinflation eventually the currency to be abandoned until needed.

In 2012, Mugabe called for companies to be owned only by blacks. Whites who are dissatisfied should leave the country.

Many of the white farmers displaced by Mugabe successfully started new farms in neighboring Zambia .

Election victories, fraud allegations and foreign policy

In 2002, Mugabe won the election against his fiercest competitor Morgan Tsvangirai from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) with 55% of the vote. However, Mugabe was accused of preventing many of the people who might have voted against him from voting. It won almost exclusively through the votes of the Mashonaland , which is considered a stronghold of Mugabe supporters.

In 2005, ZANU-PF won the election again when it won 78 of the 120 eligible seats. The MDC and an independent candidate were only able to win 42 seats. Another 30 seats were allocated directly by Mugabe, so that the ZANU-PF held a two-thirds majority in parliament (150 seats in total). The opposition, as well as the USA and the EU, again accused Mugabe of electoral fraud . There are said to have been threats against voters and massive election fraud. Foreign election observers were not admitted.

Mugabe (2008)

Morgan Tsvangirai was ill-treated by police officers on March 10, 2007 after his arrest in connection with a dissident demonstration. In the presidential elections in March 2008 , Tsvangirai and the former Mugabe-loyal Simba Makoni competed against Mugabe. According to the official election result, which was, however, burdened by falsification allegations, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round with 47.9 percent of the vote over incumbent Robert Mugabe (43.2 percent), but missed an absolute majority . Tsvangirai supporters have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, arrests and assaults according to media reports. Morgan Tsvangirai as a result gave up his candidacy for the runoff election. He had to flee to the Dutch embassy from attacks by government soldiers. As the only remaining candidate, Mugabe received 2.15 million votes (85.5%) in the runoff election, according to the election commission, and took the oath two days later. The election took place under massive influence of the voters and election fraud. The African Union (AU) observers said the elections in Zimbabwe were neither fair nor free; it does not represent the will of the people of the country.

Unity government

At the beginning of September 2008, Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed on a power-sharing arrangement through the mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki . The opposition leader became involved in government from February 2009. Under the unity government, however, the country's poor economic situation initially continued. However, the violence decreased and the economic situation has improved somewhat since 2010.

Elections 2013

The presidential and parliamentary elections on July 31, 2013 were again accompanied by serious allegations of fraud, such as falsified electoral rolls and rejected voters. Again Tsvangirai challenged Mugabe. On the following day, before the majority of the votes were counted, Mugabe declared himself the winner. On August 3, after the votes in the first round of voting were counted, Mugabe was officially declared the election winner with around 61.09% of the vote, Tsvangirai lost with around 33.94%. In the House of Commons , the ZANU-PF obtained 158 of the 210 seats and thus a two-thirds majority, which enables it to amend the constitution.

On August 22, 2013, two days after the Constitutional Court declared the presidential election legal, Mugabe was sworn in for the seventh time for a five-year term.

Personality cult

The party historians traced his family tree back to the kings of Greater Zimbabwe , sometimes also referring to him as our king (Didymus Mutasa, chief ideologist of the ZANU-PF) and thus justified his claim to the presidency for life. He was shown in pictures against the backdrop of the medieval palace complex. Insulting the President is prohibited and will be punished.

Criticism and International Isolation

Demonstration in London (2006)

In Western governments, Mugabe received a lot of criticism, primarily because of the redistribution of farmland. However, not only Western governments, but also international organizations and African personalities expressed their displeasure, such as the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu , who described Mugabe as a "caricature of an African dictator". Jean Ziegler , UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008, spoke out in favor of a UN military intervention against the Mugabe government.

Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda asked why Mugabe could not "bury the hatchet instead of still fighting the colonial spirit". Organizations such as Amnesty International reported that he had violated the human rights of the Ndebele people , the opposition MDC and white landowners. At a memorial event, the Archbishop of Bulawayo pointed out the bitterness of the population that a sign from the government was necessary so that the wounds could heal.

On December 8, 2003, Zimbabwe was excluded from the Commonwealth of Nations because Mugabe was no longer in agreement with the political positions of the association; this was preceded by a suspension of membership from 2002. In June 2005, as part of " Operation Murambatsvina ", he had bulldozers demolish settlements in which the majority had voted for the opposition. According to the UN, more than 2.4 million people were evicted "to varying degrees" at the time.

In Mugabe's opinion, the Labor Party government at the time (whose members he called gay gangsters ) had a decisive influence on the UK's critical relationship with his government. Robert Mugabe described the previous Conservative Party government as better and more mature . Mugabe received diplomatic backing from some African governments, notably from South Africa's then President Thabo Mbeki . Mugabe supported the ANC for 14 years, even at risk of death , which is a possible explanation why the government of South Africa did not act against him even after Mugabe's dictatorial change.

In December 2008, the European Union , like the US before , demanded Mugabe's resignation and banned him from entering the country. However, he visited the Vatican State , which is not part of the EU, several times : for example in April 2011 for the beatification of John Paul II , to which Italy allowed passage to the Vatican, and in March 2013 for the inauguration of Pope Francis .

In December 2010, US diplomatic correspondence published by Wikileaks revealed that Mugabe and his entourage were involved in the diamond trade. Accordingly, Mugabe, his wife, senior government officials and the country's elite made millions of dollars from the diamond trade from the mines in Chiadzwa in eastern Zimbabwe.

Wikileaks also published a document stating that Robert Mugabe had prostate cancer and had a five-year life expectancy. At that time he should have announced that he would hand over his power to Emmerson Mnangagwa . However, a government spokesman denied this. Robert Mugabe returned from a hospitalization in Singapore on April 12, 2012 , and said he was healthy.

On September 15, 2015, Mugabe inadvertently gave a 25-minute speech in parliament that he had literally given three weeks before without realizing it. The opposition party MDC-T then declared: "This clearly shows that Robert Mugabe no longer has the necessary mental fitness to be head of state."

President of the African Union 2015

For 2015 he was elected President of the African Union . As President of the African Union, Mugabe was allowed to re-enter the EU; according to the EU spokeswoman, his entry ban was "temporarily" lifted.

WHO Special Envoy 2017

On October 18, 2017, Robert Mugabe was appointed "WHO Goodwill Ambassador" by the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus . This has been sharply criticized from many quarters, including the British government and the US organization Human Rights Watch (HRW). The most basic equipment is often lacking in Zimbabwe's hospitals, while the president is flown abroad for expensive medical treatment. In the face of global protests, the WHO director general reversed the appointment just four days later.

Disempowerment through a military coup

Mugabe announced in autumn 2015 that he would run again in the 2018 presidential election. In view of his state of health - Mugabe had several hospital stays in 2017 - votes also increased within his ZANU-PF party calling for a succession plan before the election. As a possible successor in addition to Mugabe's wife Grace, the Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was traded.

In early November 2017, Mugabe surprisingly fired Mnangagwa. Zimbabwe's army chief, General Constantino Chiwenga , publicly criticized the dismissal and warned Mugabe against further purges within the ZANU-PF. On the night of November 14-15, 2017, there was a bloodless military coup . Mugabe was not declared deposed and martial law was not declared , but the army took control of key facilities in the capital Harare, including the parliament building and the state broadcaster ZBC . Mugabe was placed under house arrest. In view of the unclear political situation, the ZANU-PF publicly moved away from Mugabe on November 17, 2017. Party representatives demanded his resignation; he is too senile to lead the party and government. On November 19, 2017, the ZANU-PF Central Committee decided to remove Mugabe as party leader and elected Emmerson Mnangagwa as his successor. Mugabe's wife Grace was expelled from the party. Mugabe then ignored a deadline set by his ZANU-PF party to resign and declared in a televised speech on November 19, 2017 that he wanted to remain in office until the end of his term in office. There were mass demonstrations against the president in the capital, Harare, and the chairman of the Zimbabwe War Veterans Association said that impeachment proceedings must now be initiated against the president.

resignation

On November 21, 2017, impeachment proceedings against Mugabe were initiated in both houses of parliament , and a vote was expected in the afternoon. According to the Speaker of the House of Assembly Jacob Mudenda , Mugabe then announced his resignation. On November 24th, Mnangagwa assumed the office of President of Zimbabwe .

Mugabe was guaranteed immunity and a high level of appanage . His birthday has been declared a public holiday for the youth (Robert Mugabe National Youth Day) .

family

In Ghana he met his future first wife, Sally Francesca Hayfron , as an activist. She also worked there as a teacher. They had a son together, who died in 1966. The Ian Smith government refused to attend his son's funeral while he was in prison .

As of 1996, Robert Mugabe was married to his former secretary, Grace Mugabe , who is known for her luxurious lifestyle. On his 86th birthday, more than $ 500,000 is said to have been spent on champagne and caviar . The cost of celebrating his 93rd birthday was estimated at 1.9 million euros. The couple had three children together.

Death and posthumous appreciation

Mugabe died on September 6, 2019 after several months of hospitalization in Singapore . The cause of death was cancer .

President Mnangagwa on the same day called him "a symbol of liberation" and "a Pan-African who devoted his life to liberation and the empowerment of his people." Numerous African heads of state condoled on his death. Former President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila praised Mugabe's military intervention in his country and described him as a "pan-African leader, a hero of independence". Mugabe was declared a "national hero" before his funeral; three days of state mourning were ordered.

On September 14, a memorial service took place in the National Sports Stadium , attended by around 20,000 Zimbabweans invited state guests, including several African heads of state and government and the Chinese President Xi Jinping . The government's plan to bury him along with other fighters for independence on Heroes' Acre near Harare has been abandoned. Mugabe was buried on September 28, 2019 in his birthplace Kutama.

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Robert Mugabe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

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  2. ↑ Mugabe deposed as head of the ruling party. In: orf.at. November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Emmerson Mnangagwa: the 'crocodile' who snapped back. bbc.com of November 22, 2017 (English), accessed November 22, 2017
  4. ^ A b c d e f g h i Robert Cary, Diana Mitchell: African nationalist leaders in Rhodesia who's who . Africana book Society, Johannesburg, 1977 ISBN 0869201522 pp. 167-173
  5. ↑ a b Luvuyo Wotshela: Fort Hare. From Garrison to Bastion of Learning - 1916–2016 . UFH & KMM, Sandton, Alice, 2017, p. 106. ISBN 978-0-9922329-8-6
  6. ^ Robert Cary, Diana Mitchell: African nationalist leaders in Rhodesia who's who . 1977, pp. 20-24.
  7. ↑ Muriel Horrell: Days of Crisis in Rhodesia . Fact paper No. 16-1965. SA Institute of Race Relations , Johannesburg 1965, p. 8.
  8. ↑ Horrell: Days of Crisis , 1965, pp. 24-25.
  9. ^ How Mugabe came to power. London Review of Books, accessed June 30, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Doris Lessing : Robert Mugabe and the tragedy of Zimbabwe - When they are ready to love us, we will hate them. In: Le Monde diplomatique .
  11. ↑ a b c d Jean Ziegler: Crash of a hero - Die Weltwoche edition 27/08
  12. ↑ Bartholomäus Grill : Chief Comrade Bob. Robert Mugabe leads Zimbabwe into lawlessness. The President will never resign voluntarily. The time 18/2000
  13. ↑ Christian Meyer: Robert Mugabe - from the revolutionary's high flight to the fall of man of the autocrat , Friday, April 28, 2000
  14. ↑ a b Zimbabwe Achieving Shared Growth (from p. 7). (PDF; 3.6 MB) World Bank (1995), accessed June 30, 2010 .
  15. ↑ a b Zimbabwe Achieving Shared Growth (p. 9). (PDF; 3.6 MB) World Bank (1995), accessed June 30, 2010 .
  16. ↑ World Bank Report (PDF; 2.9 MB) 1991, pp. 9-10.
  17. ↑ Andrea Jeska, Zimbabwe, March 8, 2011: Welt Online, March 8, 2011 Mugabe has his butchers deploy
  18. ↑ Report on the 1980s disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands (PDF; 809 kB), Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, March 1997, pp. 87-88.
  19. ^ The New York Times : Ex-Ethiopia Chief Reaches Zimbabwe. Report on www.nytimes.com from May 23, 1991 (English)
  20. ^ Zimbabwe Achieving Shared Growth (p. 8). (PDF; 3.6 MB) World Bank (1995), accessed June 30, 2010 .
  21. ^ A b Joseph Winter: Mugabe's Descent into Dictatorship , BBC News, March 13, 2002
  22. ^ Zimbabwe: The Spark ... Claire Short's letter of November 1997 from Baffour Ankomah, March 31, 2003
  23. ↑ a b Zimbabwe has little reason to celebrate , Neues Deutschland, April 17, 2010
  24. ↑ WSJ.de: State Finances: Zimbabwe only has $ 217 in the treasury. In: welt.de. January 31, 2013, accessed December 2, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Prohibition. dbna, accessed August 4, 2013 .
  26. ↑ Canaan Banana. In: telegraph.co.uk. November 12, 2003, accessed December 2, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Spiegel Online , Robert Mugabe: “Should Europe keep its homosexual nonsense!”, April 18, 2014
  28. ↑ Already forgotten? Friday May 19, 2000
  29. ↑ See e.g. B. Crash of a hero by Jean Ziegler : In: Die Weltwoche , issue 27/08, and Constantin Magnis: My friend Mugabe is a monster - Interview with Wilf Mbanga , Cicero Online, September 2008.
  30. ↑ Le Monde diplomatique: Mugabe's iron hand , September 16, 2005
  31. ↑ SAIRR: Race Relations Survey 1994/95 . Johannesburg 1995, p. 432
  32. ↑ a b SAIRR: South Africa Survey 2001/2002 . Johannesburg 2001, pp. 88-89.
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Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia and Zimbabwe
Southern Rhodesia (1923–1965)
Flag of Southern Rhodesia

Charles Coghlan • Howard Unwin Moffat • George Mitchell • Godfrey Huggins • Garfield Todd • Edgar Whitehead • Winston Field • Ian Smith

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963)
Flag of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Godfrey Huggins • Roy Welensky

Rhodesia (1965–1979)
Flag of Rhodesia

Ian Smith

Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (1979)
Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia

Abel Muzorewa

Republic of Zimbabwe (since 1980)
Flag of Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai

personal data
SURNAME Mugabe, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mugabe, Robert Gabriel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Zimbabwean politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Kutama , Southern Rhodesia
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 2019
Place of death Singapore