The death of Robert Mugabe, former president of Zimbabwe, on the 6th of September 2019, closed two books on the history of both his country and Africa.
Book one concerned the independence struggle up to the early days of the liberation fighters in power. After years of struggle, Robert Mugabe won the crown as “the real revolutionary” and became the first president of Zimbabwe, the land formerly called Rhodesia.
Book two, “Failure & the acts of African Leaders,” featured the acts of African leaders and assumptions about their performance. The fall of Mugabe after 37 years in power and his mortal exit two years later explodes all the myths and wrong assumptions..
Zimbabwe was a cause celebre, and Mugabe stood as a star that held a promise of redemption and new beginnings for Africa after the euphoria of the 1960s independence turned sour.
Reggae superstar Bob Marley, who performed at the Independence Day event in 1980, prophesied about the future, warning against divide and rule.
Divide and rule marked at least 20 of the 37 years of Mugabe in power. He ended the coalition with Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African Peoples’ Union with whom he formed government initially. Then he began walking the road to dictatorship, clamping down on opponents, and scorching the earth of the Shona and Matabeleland in precise attacks against opponents.
Africa would remember Mugabe as a symbol of the promise and failure of leadership on the continent. He was a revolutionary, teacher, politician and one of the most certificated leaders of any nation on earth.
Experts described Zimbabwe as the “Crown Jewel” of Africa at Mugabe’s assumption of office as Prime Minister. The land was rich but became a basket case; poverty stalked the country with all its vital economic indices – inflation, exchange and interest rates – askew.
The teacher and bibliophile in Mugabe came to the fore as he progressed education and healthcare such that today, despite economic degradation of later years, Zimbabwe still ranks as the country with one of the highest literacy rates on the continent.
On the pro-independence journey he embraced Marxism and spoke against white rule in his homeland. The authorities jailed him for treason. He spent those 11 years in jail studying for six additional degrees.
When he came out in 1974, he fled to Mozambique from where he led his party in the Rhodesian Bush War against Ian Smith’s white government. The Lancaster House Agreement in 1979 brokered peace, and he won the subsequent election.
Emerson Mnangagwa, current president of Zimbabwe, described Mugabe as, “an icon of liberation, a Pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people,” in a speech, paying tribute to Mugabe, Adding that, “His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten.”
Mugabe will never be forgotten indeed for confirming the stereotype of the African leader and busting many myths. The first myth is the notion that poor education is the cause of bad leadership in Africa –he had seven degrees. Secondly, he argued in support of adequate time for leaders to understand the challenges and issues, device and implement strategies. Mugabe instead overstayed – rigged elections, trampled on opponents, and impoverished his people, who fled as hunger stalked the land while celebrating his increasing years with big cakes as the people sought bread in vain. His tenure made the case that longevity in the office leads to atrophy and asphyxiation of ideas.
Mugabe became a byword for Apocrypha. In the social media age, blogs, memes and tweets ascribed to him witticisms, touches of sarcasm or sundry messages. They were often humorous or laconic. They mocked the fact that he never became the African King Solomon. Whence cometh another?
Mugabe’s exit would send a valuable message if he were a lesson to the remaining dictators of similar antecedents across Africa and, more significantly if his successor and others would not tread the path of his inglorious later years in power. Adieu, freedom fighter turned freedom denier and emasculator.
