As you’ve all probably heard from various sources, there is an awful lot going down in Zimbabwe. On Sunday, it was revealed Zimbabwe’s ruling party had ousted their leader Robert Mugabe, just as he was discussing his resignation with the military. Just to fill you in on the myriad of events, here’s a 5-step run down of the recent goings on;
- 2 weeks ago, leader Mugabe sacked his deputy Mr. Mnangagwa, who then immediately fled the country.
- General Constantino Chiwenga, the army’s Chief of Staff did publically warn last Monday that the military may intervene to stop purges within the party. Following this, he was greatly criticized by allies of the Mugabes.
- Wednesday saw soldiers seize the HQ of their alternative to the BBC, their national broadcaster; ZBC.
- Since then, Mugabe was mostly under house arrest.
- Saturday came and unprecedented mass protests further eroded Mr. Mugabe’s clench on authority.
Now you’re up to speed, we take a look at who President Mugabe really is, and what he did for Zimbabwe. Mr. Mugabe has been President for 37 years; hence his overturning is a hugely historic move. Mugabe has been gravely critiqued as the state of his nation’s economy has deteriorated throughout his rule, it is largely only due to the military he has managed to stay in power. Thus, explaining why his demise follows his loss of military support. It appears Mugabe is a man who likes things done his own way, using violence and murder in 2000 when facing his first electoral defeat in a referendum. Arguably, Mugabe should not have been in office since 2008, where he came second in the first round of the election to Morgan Tsvangirai. Even though prior to the election Mugabe said “If you lose an election and are rejected by the people, it is time to leave politics.”, following the results he pronounced “only God” could remove him from office. That and the unleashing of violence to force his opponents to pull out for fear of their own safety, all to ensure his power was retained.
Mmm, alarm bells are now beginning to ring.
He was once seen as a sort of hero, a revolutionary figure fighting against white minority to try and free his people, a stark contrast to the man described above and thus the reason why many African leaders are quite reluctant to criticize him. Yet, his understanding of economics has often been questioned. Mugabe always blamed the country’s issues on a devious plot by the western world, led by the UK to oust him. Whereas, his critics blame his warped idea of how a modern economy works for the country’s economic state. While his idealistic approach of how to share the national cake, rather than make it grow bigger is in way amicable, it has not helped the progression of Zimbabwe, as they stand currently as the world’s most rapidly shrinking economy.
While Mugabe clearly feels passionately about his country and innately wants to provide better welfare for his people, his methods are clearly dangerous and lack rationality; he is not providing the best for Zimbabwe and cannot lead them towards a brighter future and henceforth his removal may be the best thing for the country.