Los Angeles Times - 07.09.2019

was frequently photo- graphed snoozing during Af- rican summit meetings — clinging to power, though barely able to stay awake. His tenure came to be de-

tody. He retired in 2017
rather than face the humili-
ation of impeachment. He
died at 95.
When Mugabe took over
as Zimbabwean president in
1980, there were wild celebra-
tions for the hero of the liber-
ation war against Britain.
After a catastrophic econo-
mic collapse sparked by the
seizure of white-owned
farms, international sanc-
tions and a series of fraudu-
lent elections, Mugabe was
still in there. But other than
in the few Mugabe
strongholds, it was difficult
to find a Zimbabwean with a
good word to say for him.
Educated and polished,
fond of Savile Row suits and
with a string of degrees, the
rural cattle-herding boy
turned English gentleman
also impressed Western
leaders and journalists
when he came to power. If a
little cold, he was seen as the
brightest hope of the African
liberation movement and a
vast improvement on his
predecessor, the white su-
premacist Ian Smith.
After the first quarter-
century of Mugabe’s tyran-
ny, many Zimbabweans
looked back on Smith’s era
with nostalgia, while racists,
white farmers, black union
officials and priests found
themselves on the same
side, opposing him.
Millions fled into exile, as
much to escape the econo-
mic hopelessness as the re-
gime’s repression.
In his final years Mugabe

fined by a question: How did this intelligent, promising leader turn out to be such an embittered, ruthless leader? There were many pop- psychology theories: Was it the family background with a father who deserted him, refusing to even pay school fees, and his strict, remote and pious Roman Catholic mother? Or was it the death of his first wife, Sally, seen by many as a gentle moderat- ing influence? Some sug- gested it was jealousy of the region’s bright star, Nelson Mandela, the globally adored South African leader who, like Mugabe, embraced violence in the liberation struggle but who came to be a peacemaker. But others like Martin Meredith, author of “Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe,” argue Mugabe was always a tyrant, from the beginning of the liberation struggle. In Mozam- bique, where he and other liberation fighters fled into exile, he was ruthless with ri- vals and dissenters alike. The defining quality of his leadership was his re- sponse to political threat. He struck hard, using violence and fear to crush op- ponents. People in the ruling ZANU-PF party who op- posed his drive for one-party rule in the 1990s had mysteri- ous car “accidents.” As liberation movements mushroomed across Africa during the Cold War, when America and the Soviet Union divided up the conti- nent and fought proxy wars on foreign soil, South Afri- ca’s African National Con- gress drew its Marxist inspi- ration from Moscow. But Mugabe turned to China and North Korea, which trained his notorious Fifth Brigade. The list of abuses is not short. The motive, almost invariably, involved consoli- dating power or crushing

dissent. There was Gukurahundi — Shona for “the early rain that washes away the chaff before the spring rains” — a 1980s rampage by the Fifth Brigade that left thousands dead in Matabeleland, in southern Zimbabwe. In 2000, rural farm workers and white farmers were attacked and had their land confiscated after Britain went back on a promise to compensate white farmers so that land could be trans- ferred to blacks. There was another side to it, analysts argued: Mugabe perceived white farmers as the enemy, because they had sided with the opposition, and was de- termined to crush them. There was Operation Murambatsvina (“clean out the filth”) in 2005: About 700,000 shack dwellers in opposition strongholds were forced from their homes by the army. Their houses were razed, and they were or- dered into the countryside. Thousands suffering from HIV/AIDS died in rural areas or the outskirts of towns with no access to doc- tors or treatment. Others never recovered financially. In 2007, facing election defeat, Mugabe unleashed another campaign, setting up military base camps across the country, kidnap- ping and beating and killing opposition supporters. Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born Feb. 21, 1924, in a rural village in what was then Southern Rhodesia. He was a loner and a bookworm who shunned other children. He was educated at a Catholic mission, and the priest, Fa- ther Jerome O’Hea, was con- vinced he was leadership material. His mother, Bona, had high expectations. Mugabe traveled to Ghana and met teacher Sally Hayfron in 1960, marry- ing her in 1961. The descrip- tions of his domestic life by

Sally’s niece Patricia Bekele contained in Heidi Holland’s book “Dinner With Mugabe” suggest a blissful time. In the early 1980s he would come home to Zimbabwe’s State House calling for Sally. He’d sit in the garden with her, reading Graham Greene and occasionally kissing her. They spent their early years of marriage apart. In 1964, he was jailed for 10 years as a liberation leader. His first son was named Nhamodzenyika, which means “suffering country,” and died in 1966 in Ghana with Sally while Mugabe was in prison. He was not al- lowed to go to the funeral. In 1975, Mugabe fled into exile in Mozambique, where he led ZANU-PF in its bush war against Smith’s white- minority government. Mugabe was at the center of talks in Britain that ended the bush war and set the scene for Zimbabwe’s elections in 1980. Under the deal, Mugabe promised reconcili- ation with Rhodesian whites, offering them 20% of seats in parliament for the first 10 years. He believed he had a binding verbal promise that Britain would help pay the cost of compensa- tion to white farmers, who were to be removed on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis, a deal the British re- pudiated in 1997. Dumiso Dabengwa, a senior ZANU-PF official who left the party in 2008 and died in 2019, said earlier that the West ignored the violence and beatings Mugabe unleashed in the first elections — particularly in Mata- beleland, where people were loyal to the rival liberation movement, ZAPU. The violence went unre- ported in the Western media — like the Matabeleland massacres that followed. Ac- cording to witnesses, vil- lagers were locked in huts and burned alive. Men were

seized, tortured and killed. Estimates of the dead range from 2,000 to 20,000. Mugabe made a peace deal in 1988 with the ZAPU leader, Joshua Nkomo, but in reality ZANU simply gob- bled up ZAPU. In 1992, Sally died of kid- ney disease, and in 1996 Mu- gabe married his secretary: Grace Marufu, 30 years his junior, disliked in Zimbabwe for her taste in Italian shoes and lavish shopping sprees abroad. Mugabe held no fewer than seven degrees, but he was a Marxist ideologue, with little comprehension of the impact of land reform and cash grants to war veterans. Under pressure from the World Bank and Interna- tional Monetary Fund, he in- troduced painful economic reforms in the 1990s, causing job losses and inflaming dissent. Coupled with years of severe drought, Mugabe faced unemployment, pov- erty and serious opposition. Veterans, who had been promised land in return for their independence war ef- fort, grew restless and de- manding. In 1997, he agreed to pay 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars to each of the 45, unemployed war veterans (enough to buy a house or business) and a monthly pension of 2,000 Zimba- bwean dollars. The dollar crashed overnight and the economy was crippled. Feeling betrayed by Brit- ain after the repudiation of the deal to pay compensa- tion to white farmers, he in- vited war veterans to take farms. Thousands of white farms were seized by war veterans without compen- sation, white farm families were terrorized and some 300,000 black farm workers were left jobless. Many were beaten, raped or killed. Later, the farms were tak- en from veterans by ruling- party stalwarts, including generals, judges, intelli- gence chiefs and members of Mugabe’s family. The tobacco industry, one of the main earners of foreign exchange, shrank quickly as farms were seized and production plummeted. In 2013, Mugabe won re- election in a ballot tainted by widespread allegations of voter fraud. His frequent trips abroad for medical care stirred controversy. By 2017, he had become so unpopular that the military staged a coup and took Mu- gabe and his wife — who had her eyes on succeeding her frail husband — into cus- tody. Within days, impeachment proceedings began and Mugabe, realizing he now had little room to ma- neuver, resigned. He was granted immunity and, again at government ex- pense, was provided a five- bedroom house and a staff that included cooks, secre- taries and armed guards, though he spent much of his final years hospitalized. Mugabe is survived by his wife, Grace, and three children, Bona, Robert and Bel- larmine Chatunga.

Special correspondent Krista Mahr in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

ROBERT MUGABE, 1924 - 2019

Zimbabwe president turned world pariah

Alexander JoeAFP/Getty Images GRIP ON POWER Robert Mugabe, center, clung to power even after an economic catastrophe sparked by the seizure of white- owned farms, international sanctions and a series of fraudulent elections. He agreed to step down in 2017.

[Mugabe,from A1]

A4 WST LATIMES.COM

Home Delivery and Membership Program For questions about delivery, billing and vacation holds, or for information about our Membership program, please contact us at (213) 283-2274 or membershipservices@ latimes.com. You can also manage your account at myaccount.latimes.com. Letters to the Editor Want to write a letter to be published in the paper and online? E-mail [email protected]. For submission guidelines, see latimes.com/letters. Readers’ Representative If you believe we have made an error, or you have questions about our journalistic standards and practices, our readers’ representative can be reached at readers.representative @latimes.com, (877) 554- or online at latimes.com/readersrep. Advertising For print and online advertising information, go to

latimes.com/mediakit or call (213) 237-6176. Reprint Requests For the rights to use articles, photos, graphics and page reproductions, e-mail [email protected] or call (213) 237-4565. Times In Education To get the digital Los Angeles Times at no cost (along with our newspaper–based teaching materials), contact us at latimes.com/tie, or email [email protected] The Newsroom Know something important we should cover? Send a secure tip at latimes.com/tips. To send a press release go to the newsroom directory at latimes.com/staff. Media Relations For outside media requests and inquiries, e-mail [email protected]. L.A. Times Store Search archives, merchandise and front pages at latimes.com/store.

How to contact us

(800) LA TIMES

Founded Dec. 4, 1881 Vol. CXXXVIII No. 278 LOS ANGELES TIMES (ISSN 0458-3035) is published by the Los Angeles Times, 2300 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo, CA 90245. Periodicals postage is paid at Los Angeles, CA, and additional cities. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the above address. Home Delivery Subscription Rates (all rates include applicable CA sales taxes and apply to most areas) Print + unlimited digital rates: Seven-day $17/week, $884 annually. Thursday–Sunday $16/week, $ annually. Thursday & Sunday $6.99/week, $363.48 annually. Saturday & Sunday $6.99/week, $363.48 annually. Sunday $6.99/week, $363.48 annually. Monday–Saturday $16/week, $ annually (also includes Sundays, except 2/17, 4/21, 9/1, and 10/27). Monday–Friday $16/week, $

annually. Print-only rates: Seven-day $1,144 annually. Thursday–Sunday $884 annually. Thursday & Sunday $364 annually. Saturday & Sunday $364 annually. Sunday $364 annually. Monday–Saturday $936 annually (also includes Sundays, except 2/17, 4/21, 9/1, and 10/27). Monday–Friday $ annually. Pricing for all subscriptions includes the Thanksgiving 11/28 issue. All subscriptions may include up to five Premium issues per year. For each Premium issue, your account balance will be charged an additional fee up to $4.49, in the billing period when the section publishes. This will result in shortening the length of your billing period.

Printed with soy-based ink on recycled newsprint from wood byproducts.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Passionate tributes and unapologetic condemnations rocketed across Africa on Friday after the Zimbabwean government confirmed that 95- year-old strongman Robert Mugabe had died, a testa- ment to the complex foot- print of one of Africa’s long- est-serving leaders. Mugabe, who governed Zimbabwe from its independence from Britain in 1980 until 2017, was affection- ately known as “Uncle Bob” by supporters who saw him as a hero and one of the con- tinent’s great freedom fighters who liberated millions from British rule. But to others he was a tyrant and oppressor who lost his democratic credentials as he clung to power while overseeing unchecked hu-

man rights abuses and en- acting disastrous policies that drove the country’s economy into the ground. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who stepped in as Zimba- bwe’s president after Muga- be was forced from office in November 2017, hailed his longtime colleague and ally as “an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedi- cated his life to the emanci- pation and empowerment of his people.” That sentiment was ech- oed by other African leaders. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Mu- gabe an “outstanding” and “gallant” leader in the Afri- can independence movement who came to South Af- rica’s aid during its own freedom struggle. Kenyan Presi- dent Uhuru Kenyatta praised Mugabe as “a man of courage who was never afraid to fight for what he believed in even when it was not popular.” But many Zimbabweans expressed a deep sense of conflict over his passing, rec- ognizing his contribution to ending white rule but unwill-

ing to gloss over the devas- tating and lasting impact that his decades in power had on millions of people. Though it has been two years since Mugabe left office, unemployment re- mains rampant and millions have been forced to find work overseas. Those who have stayed face unreliable public services and regular shortages of basics such as fuel and food. On Friday, many pointed out on social media that as his health declined, Mugabe had sought medical treatment in the well-appointed hospitals of Singapore, where he died, an indict- ment of the broken health system he left behind in his homeland. The political culture that he cultivated will be difficult to dislodge, critics argued. David Coltart, a member of Zimbabwe’s opposition alliance, acknowledged there were positive impacts of Mugabe’s presidency, such as the country’s endur- ing education system. But, he wrote on Twitter, “the negative aspects of his

legacy — violence, disre- spect for the rule of law, cor- ruption and abuse of power — live on in the new regime which overthrew him.” Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change who challenged Mnangagwa in the 2018 polls, extended his condolences to Mugabe’s family but also said on social media that his party “and the Zimbabwean people had great political differences with the late former Presi- dent during his tenure in office, and disagreed for decades.” “It is reality that the death of Mugabe brings mixed feelings to different sections of the Zimbabwe community, the nation, and the world as a whole,” said Bongani Mazwi Mkwananzi, a representative of the Zim- babwe Community South Africa, where more than a million Zimbabweans live. “Some will celebrate his death, and some will mourn.”

Mahr is a special correspondent.

Nation struggles with his legacy

Mugabe was an early

liberator, but also a

ruthless oppressor.

By Krista Mahr

$250 OFF KRAUS STAIR LIFTS

FREE ESTIMATE 800-233-

LAA7606900-

+05+)* +5#.9#;5106*'

+6+0'4#4;

č/iÝ«i`ÌÃ°VÉiÝ«Ài

iÌÕÀÀi«ÀÌiÀÃ]i`ÌÀÃ>`«Ì}À>«iÀÃ Ì>iÞÕ>ÕÀiÞv`ÃVÛiÀÞ°

Los Angeles Times - 07.09.2019

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources