Robert Mugabe

Background

Ethnicity: Mugabe's parents belonged to the Zezuru clan, one of the smallest branches of the Shona tribe.

Robert Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924, in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia (now Kutama, Zimbabwe). He was the third of six children born to Gabriel Matibiri and Bona Matibiri. His father was a carpenter and his mother was a Christian catechist for the village children. Mugabe's elder brothers died when he was very young, and, in 1934, his father deserted the family.

Education

Robert Mugabe studied at Achimota School. In 1941 he was offered a place on a teacher training course at Kutama College. Having attained a teaching diploma, Mugabe left Kutama in 1945. In 1949 he won a scholarship to study at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa's Eastern Cape. In 1952, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English literature.

Later he gained a Bachelor of Education degree by correspondence from the University of South Africa. He continued his education by working on a second degree by correspondence, this time a Bachelor of Administration from the University of London International Programmes through distance and learning.

Career

Robert Mugabe started his career as a teacher at various schools around Southern Rhodesia, among them the Dadaya Mission school in Shabani and the Driefontein Roman Catholic Mission School near Umvuma. In 1955, Mugabe was appointed a teacher at Chalimbana Teacher Training College in Lusaka. He held this post until 1958 and then became a teacher at St Mary's Teacher Training College.

In 1960, Robert joined the National Democratic Party and became its publicity secretary. In 1961, Mugabe formed the group Zimbabwe African People's Union and became a publicity secretary.

In 1963, Robert Mugabe left the Zimbabwe African People's Union and formed the Zimbabwe African National Union. On August 26, 1964, the Zimbabwe African People's Union and the Zimbabwe African National Union were banned after a long spell of political unrest. It was during this time that Mugabe was arrested and imprisoned indeterminately. In 1974, while still in confinement, he was elected to take over Zimbabwe African National Union. The same year, he was released from prison along with other separatist leaders. In 1975, Mugabe officially became Leader and First Secretary of the Zimbabwe African National Union. He held this post until 2017. On March 4, 1980, the Zimbabwe African National Union won 57 out of 80 Common Roll Seats, and Mugabe was elected to lead the first government as Prime Minister, a post that he held until 1987.

In 1987, Robert Mugabe was appointed President of Zimbabwe. Mugabe also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 1997 to 1998. He lost the presidential elections to Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008, however, he refused to let go of his office and demanded a recount of the votes. In order to gain more votes, he went as far as violently attacking or killing members of the opposition party. Mugabe displayed his interest to challenge Tsvangirai once again in the elections in July 2013. He said that he would like to rule Zimbabwe till he hit a century. Zimbabwe's election commission declared Mugabe as the winner of the presidential elections in August 2013 after he won 61 percent of the votes. In 2015, he became Chairperson of the African Union and held this post until 2016.

Nevertheless, people's discontent continued to grow, and, on November 15, 2017, the Zimbabwe National Army in an apparent coup d'état placed Robert Mugabe under house arrest. Thereafter, on November 19, he was removed as the leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union. An impeachment proceeding was started against him. Following the start of impeachment proceedings, Mugabe resigned as President on November 21, 2017. Mugabe died on September 6, 2019, at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore where he was under observation for several months for an undisclosed illness.

Achievements

• Robert Mugabe was a Zimbabwean politician and activist who was known as the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and the second President of Zimbabwe. He was the founder of the socialist-nationalist movement known as the Zimbabwe African National Union which resolved to drive the British out of their homeland. Mugabe managed to unite the Zimbabwe African People's Union with the Zimbabwe African National Union. However, hs electoral campaigns were said to be dominated by electoral fraud and violence. He has been widely described as a "dictator" and a "tyrant."
  
  Robert Mugabe received the Order of Good Hope, the Order of José Martí, the Order of Jamaica, and the Order of the Republic of Serbia. In 1994, Mugabe received an honorary knighthood from the British state, but this was stripped from him at the advice of the United Kingdom government in 2008. The film "The Interpreter" featured a deleterious portrayal of a fictional African ruler, which in many ways fits Mugabe's character in real life. His government later described the film as a CIA campaign against Robert Mugabe.

Religion

Robert Mugabe was trained by the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic religious order, and was a devout Catholic.

Politics

In 1949, Mugabe joined the African National Congress Youth League and attended African nationalist meetings. He said that at that time he was impressed by the actions of Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement. Later when he moved to Ghana he was fascinated by Marxism. In 1960, Mugabe returned to his hometown and encountered a drastically changed Southern Rhodesia. Tens of thousands of Black families had been displaced by the new colonial government and the government denied Black majority rule, resulting in violent protests. Mugabe was persuaded to address the gathering. He told his seething audience about the egalitarian new Ghanaian society and its rise from colonialism and found that he had generated public interest. He was elected publicity secretary of the National Democratic Party. He organized a semi-militant youth league that attracted Rhodesian teenagers with political discussions and the cultural dancing and music that would give them pride in their heritage. His efforts soon paid off. Although the party itself was banned by the government on December 9, 1961, it left behind enough supporters to regroup immediately into the Zimbabwe African People's Union. It had functioned for nine months before it was banned the following September.

In 1963, Robert Mugabe formed the Zimbabwe African National Union, but soon he was arrested. In 1964, while in prison, Mugabe relied on secret communications to launch guerrilla operations toward freeing Southern Rhodesia from British rule. In 1974 he was released from prison and fled back to the border of Southern Rhodesia. He accumulated a troop of Rhodesian rebel trainees. The struggle continued through the 1970s and in 1979 after Ian Smith had tried in vain to reach an agreement with Mugabe, the British agreed to monitor the changeover to the Black majority. After Mugabe became Prime Minister a war broke out between Zimbabwe African People's Union and Zimbabwe African National Union. In 1987, when a group of missionaries was tragically murdered by Mugabe supporters, Mugabe and the leader of Zimbabwe African People's Union agreed to merge their unions into the ZANU-Patriotic Front and focus on the nation's economic recovery. Later Mugabe became President of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe initially emphasized racial reconciliation. He was keen to build a good relationship with white Zimbabweans. He appointed two white ministers to his government and met with white leaders in agriculture, industry, mining, and commerce. However, many white Zimbabweans complained that they were victims of racial discrimination. They were concerned about living under the Mugabe government and they also feared that their children would not be able to find work. In 1980, there was a growing exodus to South Africa. When a bomb struck Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front headquarters in December 1981, Mugabe blamed South African-backed white militants. Racial mistrust and suspicion continued to grow. In 2000, war veterans, demanding immediate land reforms, threatened to occupy some of the country's white-owned farms. Mugabe showed sympathy for their cause and did nothing to stop them. After Mugabe was reelected in 2002, he passed a law that allowed him to pursue an aggressive program of confiscating white-owned farms. As a result, more than half of the country's white farmers were forced to relinquish their property.

Robert Mugabe focused on bettering the country's economy. Despite his efforts, imported spare parts for the mining and manufacturing industries became very scarce, and levies on tobacco and alcohol had to be instituted to offset the soaring unemployment rate. In 1989, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank helped to create a five-year adjustment program that restructured the government, relaxed price controls, and gave farmers the right to set their own prices. However, there still existed shortages of staples like brake fluid and cooking oil. Moreover, a new policy of charging for education and medical care overshadowed most of the adjustment program's benefits and darkened the national mood. By 1994, however, the structural adjustment had produced some improvements, with slight growth beginning in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. Mugabe passed a revision in 2000, wherein the amendment stated that Britain would have to pay compensations for seizing land from the blacks, and if the British failed to do so, Mugabe would, in turn, seize theirs. This amendment put further strain on Zimbabwe's foreign relations. Economic reforms have not brought significant improvements. Famine, the AIDS epidemic, foreign debt, and widespread unemployment plagued the country. However, Mugabe was determined to retain his office and did so by any means necessary, including alleged violence and corruption.

Views

Quotations: "Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it. These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept, will seek to remove."

"We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood. So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe."

"When they criticize the government when it tries to prevent violence and punish perpetrators of that violence we take the position that they can go hang."

"I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine. I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British."

Personality

As a child, Mugabe preferred reading, rather than playing sports or socializing with other children. That is why he was taunted by many of the other children, who regarded him as a coward and a mother's boy. However, Robert Mugabe was a person with single-minded ambition. Those who knew him said that he was very eloquent and was able to make fine speeches. Blessing-Miles Tendi stated that Mugabe had a natural wittiness but often hid this behind an outwardly pensive and austere manner and his penchant for ceremony and tradition.

Mugabe spoke English fluently and also was a fan of the English game of cricket. He said that cricket civilized people and created good gentlemen. Mugabe took great care of his appearance, typically wearing a three-piece suit. Besides, he insisted that members of his cabinet dressed in a similar Anglophile fashion.

Physical Characteristics: Mugabe's hallmark was his wide-rimmed glasses, and he was also known for his tiny moustache.

Quotes from others about the person

• Patricia Bekele: "Internal discipline is what he's mastered. What to do with anger, for instance: he is able to control it and not show it. He can sit face to face with his opponents and detractors, smiling and talking and listening, even if he's boiling inside. That's where he keeps his anger – inside."
  
  Lord Carrington: "Mugabe wasn't human at all. You couldn't warm to him as a person. You could admire his skills and intellect and so on, but he was an awfully slippery sort of person – reptilian, as I say."
  
  Denis Norman: "He is a very disciplined man. He treated people with respect. He wasn't lavish in his lifestyle but he did have clear standards. He dressed well, invariably in a dark suit with a silk tie and matching handkerchief, but without ostentation. He wore a good watch but nothing flashy. You could tell that money and acquisitiveness were not part of his motivation. There was another motive that drove him."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Cricket

Connections

Robert Mugabe married Sally Hayfron in 1961. The marriage produced a son, Michael Nhamodzenyika Mugabe, who died on December 26, 1966 from cerebral malaria. According to Heidi Holland, Sally Hayfron was Mugabe's confidante and an only real friend.

Sally died of kidney disease in 1992. At the time of her death, Mugabe was already in a parallel relationship with his former secretary, Grace Marufu, who was married to someone else and was 41 years younger than Mugabe. Robert Mugabe married Grace Marufu on August 17, 1996. The marriage produced three children.

Father:

Gabriel Mugabe Matibiri

Mother:

Bona Mugabe

Brother:

Michael Mugabe

(1919 – 1934)

Brother:

Raphael Mugabe

(1922 – 1934)

Brother:

Donald Mugabe

Sister:

Sabina Mugabe

Sabina Mugabe (October 14, 1934 – July 29, 2010) was a Zimbabwean politician. She served as the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Member of Parliament from 1985 to 1990.

late wife:

Sally Mugabe

Sally Mugabe (June 6, 1931 – January 27, 1992) was the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1987 until her death in 1992.

Son:

Michael Nhamodzenyika Mugabe

(September 27, 1963 – December 26, 1966)

Wife:

Grace Mugabe

Grace Mugabe (born July 23, 1965) is an entrepreneur and politician who served as the head of the ZANU-PF Women's League.

Daughter:

Bona Mugabe

Bona Mugabe (born April 18, 1990) is a Zimbabwean businesswoman.

Son:

Chatunga Bellarmine Mugabe

(born 1997)

Son:

Robert Peter Mugabe Jr.

References

• Robert Mugabe: A Life of Power and Violence A book by Stephen Chan.
  2002
• Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe A book by Peter Godwin.
  2011
• Mugabe and the Politics of Security in Zimbabwe Abiodun Alao presents a comprehensive study of defense institutions, domestic security policy, and external use of military force during Mugabe's decades of rule.
  2012
• Degrees in Violence: Robert Mugabe and the Struggle for Power in Zimbabwe In this new paperback edition, David Blair examines the events leading up to and during the 2002 elections. The months filled with violence, media clampdowns and political maneuverings brought almost inevitable results.
  2002