Zimbabwean leader, former guerrilla chief, and a charismatic personality, Robert Mugabe, who liberated the African Nation from white minority rule and ruled it for the next 37 years, recently died in Singapore aged 95.
Defiant throughout his life, Mugabe railed against the west and embraced Marxism to lead his country on a socialist path. He chaired the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and later led its successor party ZANU-PF to become the Prime Minister in 1980. He was ousted in a coup by his own party members in 2017. Though praised as a revolutionary national hero of the liberation struggle, he was a disputed figure often accused of being authoritarian and involved in economic mismanagement and corruption. Having dominated Zimbabwe’s politics for nearly four decades, allegedly through violence and electoral frauds, he is widely known as an African Nationalist who wanted to take his country on a socialist path and aimed for race reconciliation.
Mugabe enjoyed strong support from the people of Zimbabwe as he played a key role in the Zimbabwe war of liberation popularly known as Rhodesian Bush War. He even faced imprisonment of 10 years for making anti-government comments during nationalist protests. He was a fervent man who managed to follow his busy schedules and international travels defying his old age. His removal in 2017 saw a mixed reaction in his country where a handful of people stood by their hero whereas most of them celebrated the downfall of power-obsessed autocrat and termed it as the end of a sad painful chapter in the history of a beautiful nation.
His death followed tribute from many African leaders and even the foes paid their respects. He was mourned as a hero in his village where people said that he was a father to us. Preparations are underway at his family homestead for the arrival of his body where his last rites will be carried out.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
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https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/robert-mugabe-and-the-fate-of-democracy-in-africa