HARARE – He has successfully led a black guerrilla campaign to the demise of white-rule Rhodesia, and governed the new-born Zimbabwe through thick and thin for 33 years.
Today, at an advanced age of 89, Africa’s oldest leader Robert Gabriel Mugabe says he will “keep going and fighting.” Despite persistent rumours of ill health, the long time-ruler who regularly goes to Asia for medical check-ups, maintains he is fit as a fiddle. On Saturday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced that Mugabe has won by a big margin against his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and to be re-elected as president, the octogenarian leader’s sixth term as head of state and seventh term as head of the government. The Zimbabwe African Nation Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), a party Mugabe co-founded and has been at the helm since 1977, secured 160 seats in the 210-member National Assembly – more than two-thirds majority, giving Mugabe power to direct major state policies without much resistance.
“People still believe in Zanu-PF,” Mugabe told press on the eve of the July 31 elections. “People have realized that they had lost their direction and they are back to the revolutionary direction we gave them.” Born in a village about 80 km west of Salisbury, present day Harare, Mugabe grew up basically under the watch of his mom. A teacher himself and holding the most college degrees among his peers, Mugabe was most accredited for ushering in a bright decade for black Zimbabweans in his first decade’s rule, sustaining the growth of the white-dominated farming sector, pushing for universal health-care, education, and social services, and successfully keeping his critics at bay. Mugabe also consolidated his support base in the country’s vast rural areas by determinedly pushing forward the land re-distribution programme, which he says is to correct the wrongs done by imperialists. Mugabe was once considered, even by the West, as Africa’s success story but the glow began to fade when Nelson Mandela rose to power after 27 years of incarceration.
Even Mandela once jokingly said about Mugabe: “He was the star and then the sun came out.” But the real threats to Mugabe’s rule only emerged after 1997, including weakening economic growth and galloping inflation. To complicate the situation, a former trade union leader called Morgan Tsvangirai entered the picture. He successfully organized a fledging opposition – Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) and became the most formidable challenger to Mugabe’s rule in the years to come. The rest is well-known in history as Zimbabwe’s “lost decade”. A “fast-track” land re-distribution programme, or more commonly known as compulsory land seizure, drew the frown from Western countries. They began to accuse Mugabe of human rights violations. And after the West alleged Mugabe rigged the 2002 elections, Mugabe and his senior party officials were slapped with travel bans and an overseas asset freeze.
During the 2000s, the country’s economy was in free-fall. Finally in 2009, the hyper-inflation crashed the local currency Zimbabwe dollar and wiped out everyday necessities in shops for some time. The economic turn-around came as Mugabe and Tsvangirai were forced into a coalition government following another disputed poll in 2008.
Looking ahead, Mugabe said on voting day that there are many things to keep him busy. “We will obviously want to ensure that the sectors that we had not addressed as completely as the way we have done in the land area,” the octogenarian said, singling out agriculture, mining, and the manufacturing sector. He said the manufacturing sector “nearly collapsed” because of western imposed sanctions and the economic crisis.
Mugabe has always been in “fighting” model when confronted with hostility from the West. “If you don’t like our elections or the results of our elections, well, it’s up to you. We will go ahead. If they want to be friendly, we are open. We have never ever said they are enemies. It is they who have made us enemies and not the opposite,” he added. Asked by journalists whether it is his last election, Mugabe joked “why do you want to know my secret?” .
05 Aug 2013 – Story by Nampa/Xinhua