As Lord Acton wisely said, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Every now and again the mighty are brought to their senses by those vying for their power, or by the street, or both. Fancy Robert Mugabe, at 93, trying to hold on to power after 37 long years of it in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, while people dance in the streets at the thought of finally seeing the back of him.
A beautiful country which was once the bread basket of Africa, not to mention its tobacco, has had its economy run into the ground since its ‘independence’ in 1980.
I was present at that optimistic independence ceremony in May 1980 in Harare, formerly Salisbury. It was a bright sunny day with flags flying and bands playing. In the front row on the lawn sat Ian Smith, Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe and some other local dignitaries, together with Christopher Soames, representing the British government.
According to the Lancaster House agreement, which had led to this event, the new State would have a democratic Constitution which fully respected minorities, includ-ing the influential non-black minority. A backbone of the country’s relative prosperity were the Rhodesian farmers, who employed thousands of locals. However, these dedicated native born entrepreneurs generally had white skins; there was no apartheid but it was easy to point at inequalities.
The negotiating process after Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 had taken some time; in 1978 both Nkomo and Mugabe were in Malta with the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Andy Young, and Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Owen, on a warship in the Grand Harbour, during an intellectually high-powered Commonwealth literature conference taking place at the then Verdala Hotel.
By the early 1980s the ruling party, ZANU-PF, already sought to monopolise power. Thousands of Ndebele civilians, who generally supported Nkomo, were massacred – blood-curling incidents known to this day as ‘the genocide’. Nkomo, who was actually the founding father of Zimbabwean nationalism, was marginalised by the Marxist-Leninist Mugabe and became a pathetic figure.
Thriving ‘white’ farms were taken over by the State or party activists, until the economy went haywire
Thriving ‘white’ farms were taken over by the State or party activists, until the economy went haywire, jobs became scarce and so did food. The grossly inflated currency lost all credibility. Life for those caught up there became a struggle for survival. What a fate for a country which had one of the best educated populations and infrastructures in Africa.
By 2008 Mugabe’s ZANU-PF had lost even the traditional support of its Mashona tribal base. In spite of all obstacles, it was defeated at the polls by the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai. After a weak intermediary role by the Southern African Development Community, (SADEC), the victorious party leader was made ‘Prime Minister’ for a time but Mugabe remained President more or less in full control.
Last week, the seemingly indomitable Mugabe, who thought he could always do as he pleased, also lost control of ‘his’ army, ending up under house arrest. The last straw was his dismissal of the Vice-President, Emmerson Mnangagwa (who has now replaced him as President), a ‘veteran’ strongman and onetime ally, in preference for Mugabe’s own wife Grace, some 40 years his junior, a former typist whom he had started courting when his own wife Sally was terminally ill.
Grace became arrogant, corrupt and occasionally even violent. The army loathed her. Hence, it seems, the impeachment proceedings, given that her husband would not budge. The two-thirds parliamentary majority needed for this was not to be in question because the MDC would have voted with the government. Two hours into the impeachment process began Mugabe finally and mercifully resigned.
Naturally, the future beckons. After all the high hopes raised by the Arab Spring, one has to be cautious. The people’s wish is for a democratic State which could move forward in freedom, stability and prosperity. There would have to be free and fair elections. Much depends on the forma mentis of the army.
In Ghana, after an army coup led by Jerry Rawlings, there was a return to democracy. When I had met him in his castle next to the slave dungeons in Accra he had told me he wanted to “empower his people” and sure enough he left office after calling an election.
After Mozambique saw the back of Samora Machel, another Marxist-Leninist, we have also had relative democracy and prosperity, with Renamo and Frelimo, the two opposing sides in the country’s civil war, both contesting elections.
Certainly all of Africa cannot be painted with the same brush.
My heartfelt best wishes go to Zimbabwe and its good people in a post-Mugabe era. They have suffered enough.
Prof. Henry Frendo represented the UNHCR to coordinate the repatriation of tens of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees from Mozambique, Zambia and elsewhere in 1980.