Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born 21 February 1924) is a Zimbabwean
revolutionary and politician who has been President of Zimbabwe since 1987. His current status
is a matter of dispute following a recent coup d'etat. He previously
led Zimbabwe
as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987. He chaired the Zimbabwe African National
Union (ZANU) group from 1975 to 1980, and has led its successor political
party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), since 1980. Ideologically an African
nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist-Leninist
although after the 1990s self-identified only as a socialist; his policies have
been described as Mugabeism.
Mugabe was born to a poor Shona
family in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia. Following
an education at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare, he worked as
a school teacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Ghana. Angered
that Southern Rhodesia was a British colony
governed by a white minority, Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African
nationalist protests calling for an independent black-led state. After making
anti-government comments he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between
1964 and 1974. On release he fled to Mozambique, established his
leadership of ZANU, and oversaw ZANU's role in the Rhodesian Bush War, fighting
Ian Smith's predominantly white government. He reluctantly took part in the
peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the
Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement dismantled white minority rule and
resulted in the 1980 general election, at which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory
and became Prime Minister of the newly renamed Zimbabwe. Mugabe's administration
expanded healthcare and education, and—despite his Marxist rhetoric and
professed desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to conservative
economic policies.
Mugabe's initial calls for racial
reconciliation failed to stem deteriorating race relations and growing white
flight. Relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU)
also declined, with Mugabe crushing ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland
during the Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1985; at least 10,000 people, mostly Ndebele
civilians, were killed by Mugabe's Fifth Brigade. Pursuing decolonization,
Mugabe's government emphasised the redistribution of land controlled by white
farmers to landless blacks, initially on a "willing seller-willing
buyer" basis. Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000
Mugabe encouraged the violent seizure of white-owned land. Food production was
severely impacted, generating famine, international sanctions, and drastic
economic decline. Opposition to Mugabe grew, particularly through the Movement
for Democratic Change, although he was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013
through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud, and nationalistic
appeals to his rural Shona voter base. Internationally, Mugabe sent troops to
fight in the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–89),
the Organisation of African Unity (1997–98), and the African Union (2015–16). On November 15,
2017, he was placed under house arrest as Zimbabwe's military took control in
a coup.
Having dominated Zimbabwe's
politics for nearly four decades, Mugabe has been a controversial and divisive
figure. He has been praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation
struggle who helped to free Zimbabwe
from British colonialism, imperialism, and white minority rule. Conversely, he
has been derided as a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement,
widespread corruption, anti-white racial discrimination, human rights abuses, suppression
of political critics, and crimes against humanity.
End of Presidency
On 15 November 2017, Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the Zimbabwe National Army in a coup d'état. On 19 November, he was sacked as leader of ZANU-PF, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Vice-President was appointed in his place. Following the start of impeachment proceedings against him,
Mugabe resigned as President on 21 November.
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