Robert Gabriel Mugabe | |
---|---|
President of Zimbabwe | |
Assumed office 31 December 1987 | |
Vice President | Simon Muzenda Joshua Nkomo Joseph Msika Joyce Mujuru |
Preceded by | Canaan Banana |
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe | |
In office 18 April 1980 – 31 December 1987 | |
President | Canaan Banana |
Preceded by | Abel Muzorewa (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) |
Succeeded by | Post abolished |
Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement | |
In office 06 September 1986 – 07 September 1989 | |
Preceded by | Zail Singh |
Succeeded by | Janez Drnovšek |
Personal details | |
Born | Kutama, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia | 21 February 1924
Political party | ZANU-PF |
Spouse(s) | Sally Hayfron (deceased) Grace Marufu |
Alma mater | University of Fort Hare University of London University of South Africa |
Signature | |
Robert Mugabe, KCB (born on February 21, 1924) is the President of Zimbabwe. He has served as the head of government in Zimbabwe since 1980, as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as the first executive President since 1987.[1] He rose to prominence in the 1960s as a Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in guerrilla warfare against white-minority rule in Rhodesia in the Bush War (1964–1979).
Emerging from the war, he was hailed by Africans as a hero.[2][3] After a costly intervention in the Second Congo War and mass expropriation of white-owned farmland, Western opinion turned sharply against Mugabe, and various forms of economic sanctions and reductions in aid were imposed. Zimbabwe's economy spiraled downward, leading to food and oil shortages, hyperinflation, and massive emigration. During this recent period his policies have been denounced in the West and at home as racist against Zimbabwe's white minority.[4][5][6] Mugabe has described his critics as "born again colonialists,"[7][8] and both he and his supporters claim that Zimbabwe's problems are the legacy of imperialism,[9] aggravated by Western economic meddling. On 3 April 2008, it was announced in the world press that the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change was claiming to have won control of the parliament. This was confirmed when the results were released, but is currently being disputed.[10]
Early life
Mugabe was born in Matibiri village near Kutama Mission in the Zvimba District northeast of Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia. He had two older brothers, with one of them, Michael, was very popular in the village. Both his older brothers died, leaving Robert and his younger brother, Donato.[11] His father, Gabriel Mugabe Matibiri, a carpenter,[12] abandoned the Mugabe family in 1934 after Michael died, in search of work in Bulawayo.[13] Mugabe was raised as a Roman Catholic, studying in Marist Brothers and Jesuit schools, including the exclusive Kutama College, headed by an Irish priest, Father Jerome O'Hea, who took him under his wing. He was bookish and very close to his mother in his youth.[12]. He qualified as a teacher, but left to study at Fort Hare in South Africa graduating in 1951 while meeting contemporaries such as Julius Nyerere, Herbert Chitepo, Robert Sobukwe and Kenneth Kaunda. He then studied at Driefontein in 1952, Salisbury (1953), Gwelo (1954), and Tanzania (1955–1957).
Originally graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1951, Mugabe subsequently earned six further degrees through distance learning including a Bachelor of Administration and Bachelor of Education from the University of South Africa and a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Science and Master of Laws, all from the University of London External Programme.[14] The two Law degrees were taken whilst he was in prison, whilst the Master of Science degree was taken during his premiership of Zimbabwe.[15]
After graduating, Mugabe lectured at Chalimbana Teacher Training College, in Zambia from 1955–1958, thereafter he taught at Apowa Secondary School at Takoradi, in the Western Region of Ghana (1958 – 1960) where he met Sally Hayfron, who later became his first wife. During his stay in Ghana, he was influenced and inspired by Ghana's then-Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah. In addition, Mugabe and some of his Zimbabwe African National Union party cadres received instruction at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute, then at Winneba in southern Ghana.[16][17]
Early political career
Mugabe returned to Southern Rhodesia and joined the National Democratic Party in 1960.[18] The administration of Prime Minister Ian Smith immediately banned the NDP when it later became Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU). Mugabe left ZAPU in 1963 to join the rival Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) which had been formed in 1963 by the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, Edgar Tekere, Edson Zvobgo, Enos Nkala and lawyer Herbert Chitepo. ZANU was influenced by the Africanist ideas of the Pan Africanist Congress in South Africa[19] and influenced by Maoism while ZAPU was an ally of the African National Congress and was a supporter of a more orthodox pro-Soviet line on national liberation. Similar divisions can also be seen in the liberation movement in Angola between the MPLA and UNITA.It would have been easy for the party to split along tribal lines between the Ndebele and Mugabe's own Shona tribe, but cross-tribal representation was maintained by his partners. ZANU leader Sithole nominated Robert Mugabe as his Secretary General.
In 1964 he was arrested for “subversive speech” and spent the next 10 years in prison. During that period he earned three degrees, including a law degree from London and a bachelor of administration from the University of South Africa by correspondence courses. Smith did not allow Mugabe out of prison to attend the funeral of Mugabe's four-year-old son.[12] In 1974, while still in prison, Mugabe was elected -- with the powerful influence of Edgar Tekere -- to take over the reigns of ZANU after a no-confidence vote was passed on Ndabaningi Sithole (Mugabe himself abstained from voting). His time in prison burnished his reputation and helped his cause.[12]
Mugabe unilaterally assumed control of ZANU from Mozambique. Later that year, after squabbling with Ndabaningi Sithole, Mugabe formed a militant ZANU faction, leaving Sithole to lead the moderate Zanu (Ndonga) party, which renounced violent struggle.[citation needed] Many opposition leaders mysteriously died during this time, including one who died in a car crash but was allegedly riddled with bullet holes.[12] An opposing newspaper's printing press was bombed and its journalists tortured.[12]
Lancaster House Agreement
Persuasion from B.J. Vorster, himself under pressure from Henry Kissinger, forced Smith to accept in principle that white minority rule could not continue indefinitely. On 3 March 1978 Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and other moderate leaders signed an agreement at Governor's Lodge in Salisbury, which paved the way for an interim power-sharing government, in preparation for elections. The elections were won by the United African National Council under Bishop Abel Muzorewa, but international recognition did not follow and sanctions were not lifted. The two 'Patriotic Front' groups under Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo refused to participate and continued the war.
The incoming government did accept an invitation to talks at Lancaster House in September 1979. A ceasefire was negotiated for the talks, which were attended by Smith, Mugabe, Nkomo, Edson Zvobgo and others. Eventually the parties to the talks agreed on a new constitution for a new Republic of Zimbabwe with elections in February 1980. Mugabe had to concede to accepting 20 seats reserved for whites in the new Parliament and to the inability of the new government to alter the constitution for ten years. His return to Zimbabwe in December 1979 was greeted with enormous supportive crowds.
Prime Minister and President
He shoved out a rival politican to become President of Zimbabwe in 1980.
Personal life
His first wife, the former Sally Hayfron, died in 1992 from a chronic kidney ailment[20]. Their only son, Nhamodzenyika, born 27 September 1963, died on December 26, 1966 from cerebral malaria, while Mugabe was in prison. Sally Mugabe was a trained teacher who asserted her position as an independent political activist and campaigner[21] who was seen as Mugabe's closest friend and adviser, and some critics suggest that Mugabe began to misrule Zimbabwe after her death.[12]
Mugabe married his former secretary, Grace Marufu, 40 years his junior and with whom he already had two children,[22] on August 17, 1996. Mugabe and Marufu were married in a Roman Catholic wedding Mass at Kutama College, a Catholic mission school he previously attended. Nelson Mandela was among the guests. A spokesman for Catholic Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, who presided over the ceremony, said the diocese saw "no impediment" to the nuptials.[citation needed] His wife, Grace, is known sarcastically as "Gucci Grace" or "The First Shopper" in reference to her numerous, lavish European shopping sprees[23][24].
The Mugabes have three children: Bona, Robert Peter Jr. (although Robert Mugabe's middle name is Gabriel) and Bellarmine Chatunga. As First Lady, Grace has been the subject of much criticism for her lifestyle. When she was included in the 2002 EU travel sanctions on her husband, one EU parliamentarian was quoted as saying that the ban "will stop Grace Mugabe going on her shopping trips in the face of catastrophic poverty blighting the people of Zimbabwe."[25] The Daily Telegraph called her "notorious at home for her profligacy" in a 2003 coverage of a trip to Paris.[26] The Mugabes' children are not included in the EU travel sanctions.[citation needed]
Awards and honours
In 1994 Mugabe was bestowed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II. This entitles him to use the postnominal letters KCB, but not to use the title "Sir." UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee called for the removal of this honour in 2003, but no action was taken.[27]
He also holds several honorary degrees and doctorates from various international universities, though in June 2007, he became the first international figure ever to be stripped of an honorary degree by a British university, when the University of Edinburgh withdrew the degree awarded to him in 1984.[28][29]
Further reading
- Chan, Stephen. Robert Mugabe: A life of power and violence, 2003. IB Taurus, London. ISBN 9781860648731.
- East, R. and Thomas, Richard J. Profiles of People in Power: The World ́s Government Leaders, 2003 ISBN 185743126X.
- Holland, Heidi. Dinner with Mugabe, 2008. Penguin, South Africa. ISBN 9780143025573.
- Meredith, Martin : Mugabe: Power and Plunder in Zimbabwe, 2003. Oxford [rev. updated ed.] ISBN 1586482130 (American ed.: Our votes, our guns
- Nolan, Cathal J. Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary, 1997 ISBN 0313291950
- The Times (SA) Online. 'The angry little boy who showed them all'. Published: 01 Mar 2008.
- Who's Who : African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia by Robert Cary and Diana Mitchell, 1977,1980,1994 Reprinted by Mardon Printers (PTY) Ltd, Harare.
- Mwakikagile, Godfrey. Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, 2006, Chapter Eight: "The Rhodesian Crisis: Tanzania's Role." New Africa Press, South Africa. ISBN 9780980253412.
References
- ^ Chan, Stephen (2003). Robert Mugabe: A Life of Power and Violence. p. 123.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
KK1
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Biles, Peter (2007-08-25). "Mugabe's hold on Africans". BBC News.
- ^ "UK anger over Zimbabwe violence". BBC News. 2000-04-01.
- ^ McGreal, Peter (2007-04-02). "Corrupt, greedy and violent: Mugabe attacked by Catholic bishops after years of silence". The Guardian.
- ^ Bentley, Daniel (2007-09-17). "Sentamu urges Mugabe Action". The Independent.
- ^ "Mugabe: US must disarm". BBC News. 2007-02-25.
- ^ Egbuna, Obi (2003-07-31). "Zimbabwe: Who else but Mugabe?". The Black Commentator (51).
- ^ "Colonial history tugs at EU-Africa ties". People's Daily. 2007-12-05.
- ^ "Robert Mugabe's reign set to end in Zimbabwe, but World fears a bloodbath", The Mirror
- ^ Staff reporter (2007-05-21). "Mugabe mourns reclusive brother". newzimbabwe.com. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g Staff (2007-03-29). "Robert Mugabe: The man behind the fist". The Economist.
- ^ Nyarota, Geoffrey (2006). Against the Grain. p. 100.
- ^ "President bio contents". Zimbabwean government website. Government of Zimbabwe. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
- ^ Christine Kenyon Jones, The People's University: 150 years of the University of London and its External students (University of London External System , 2008) pages 148-149 ISBN 0955768918
- ^ "I am still a disciple of Nkrumah - Mugabe". General News of Monday, 2 July 2007. Ghana Home Page. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
- ^ Lectured at Chalimbana Teacher Training College, Zambia (1955–1958)
- ^ Olson, James Stuart. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. p. 764.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Glaude Jr., Eddie (2002). Is It Nation Time?: Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism. p. 105.
- ^ The New Yrok Times, "Obituaries: Sally Mugabe, Zimbabwe President's Wife, 60", January 28, 1992
- ^ FO's fight over Mugabe's wife | Politics | The Guardian
- ^ "Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe By Andrew Meldrum"
- ^ Brook, Sally, The Sun, UK, March 4, 2004
- ^ [http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143958026&date=10/9/2006 Ng’ang’a, Nixon, The Standard, Kenya, September 10, 2006
- ^ Mugabe's wife on EU sanctions list, BBC, 22 July 2002
- ^ Truffle dinners for £190 at the Mugabes' glittering hideaway, Telegraph, 2 February 2003
- ^ Daily Mail The battle to ban Mugabe's men retrieved July 7 2007
- ^ The Times Mugabe stripped of degree by Edinburgh retrieved July 4 2007
- ^ The Observer Edinburgh University revokes Mugabe degree Paul Kelbie, July 15, 2007
External links
- "Mugging Mugabe" (a commentary in defence of Mugabe)
- "The truth about Mugabe" (an anti-Mugabe commentary)
- "Zimbabwe election – a defeat for imperialism"
- "Zimbabwe's silent selective starvation"
- "Robert Mugabe's War to Crush Press Freedom in Zimbabwe"
- Reporters Without Borders profile on Mugabe
- Freedom House report on Zimbabwe
- IFEX - Media Coverage Favours Mugabe
- "Robert Mugabe at UMass" from the WGBH series, Ten O'clock News
- Indict Zimbabwe's demagogue before the International Criminal Court
- "Zimbabwe and the Politics of Torture"
- Human Rights Watch on Zimbabwe
- “Comrade Mugabe is our leader”,War Vets million man march for Mugabe,"Zimbabwe Metro"