Fall of a hero

The unceremonious ouster of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe from power exemplifies how dictatorial tendencies, insatiable hunger for power, and stubbornness in the face of imminent rout - character traits he shares with our disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-can end political career of even an independence hero in humiliation. Like Sharif, he refused to accept reality. Likewise, he had wanted to keep political power within the family beyond his time. The comparison though leaves off here. At age 93, Mugabe was in the process of installing his wife (41 years his junior) Grace-dubbed as 'Gucci Grace' for her lavish spending on personal style-as his successor when the army intervened to stop him, placing him under house arrest to seek his resignation.
Mugabe could have chosen, a long time ago, the course adopted by Nelson Mandela, admired worldwide for the way he conducted himself after leading his people to independence. Mandela served just one term as president and retired from politics after putting his country on the path of political stability and democratic governance. But Mugabe had wanted to cling on to power even after 37-year long stay at the helm. Towards the end, he had a good legal argument though in refusing to resign under military pressure, but not after his own party, ZANU-PF, making the same demand removed him as its head replacing him with the vice president he had sacked only days earlier to clear the way for his wife. But he dug in his heels, and sent in his resignation only when proceedings for his impeachment were under way in the parliament.
Legitimately elected first as prime minister following independence in 1980 and then president Mugabe went on to sideline his opponents using high-handed tactics, and messing with the rules when they stood in his way (the last part sounds familiar, doesn't it?). Before the 2013 election, for instance, he said, "if you lose, then you must surrender to those who have won. If you win, those who have lost must also surrender to you" adding "we will comply with the rules." Yet he wouldn't surrender when the 2013 election result indicated he had lost. First the electoral commission was prevented for five long weeks from declaring the outcome. Then the commission announced that there was no clear winner. Contrary to independent observers' reports that the candidate of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, had gained a clear majority, the commission declared he had 47.9 percent of the vote and Mugabe 43.2 percent which called for a run-off ballot. The second round never happened. Tsvangirai withdrew from the polls citing increasing violence and intimidation against voters and his party workers.
His uninterrupted and uninterruptable 37-year long reign is proof enough of his love of power and intolerance for any challenge to his rule. Yet he continues to command respect, which is why despite the 'coup' against him the military treated him with deference, letting him make a defiant televised speech in which he said he would chair a top level meeting of the party that had already disowned him. Mugabe, of course, is held in high esteem for his role in the fight for liberation. He spent 11 years in jail under Ian Smith's apartheid government. But he also has done other good things for his people. After winning the first post-independence election in 1980, besides initiating a process of reconciliation with the former white minority oppressors, he introduced various public welfare schemes and a successful Education for All policy also enhancing access to healthcare.
Mugabe is almost universally reviled by Western media and governments. At the root of their anger is the 2000 land reform. He is accused of confiscating white farmers' lands without compensation. The fact of the matter is that as per a 1980 agreement, the British government was to fund redistribution of white minority owned large agricultural lands, backbone of the economy, but failed to fulfil its part of the obligation. By 1997, only 20 percent of the land could be redistributed. Hence in 2000, the Mugabe government decided to fast track land reform taking over white commercial farms for redistribution among landless farmers, though according to critics of the policy, he used it to reward cronies. Some of the accusations may be valid, but not in all cases. In any event, it can be argued that this happened consequent to a revolution, and revolutions tend to have winners and losers, in this case, the losers had to be former oppressors.
That land reform is blamed for the country's economic collapse and the resultant hyperinflation. Britain, the US and EU have had a hand in it as they imposed a slew of sanctions, including financial, travel, and technical assistance restrictions on the country, alleging electoral rigging, violation of human rights and, of course, confiscation without compensation of whites-owned commercial farms. In the years since a combination of factors such as Chinese assistance, the discovery of massive diamond fields, better engagement with regional countries, and reforms in certain vital areas have helped the country to recover from some of its economic woes.
Mugabe has gone gladdening many hearts, losing much of the luster he acquired fighting for liberation from white colonialists rule, but not all of it. He is still adulated by his people as an independence hero and, equally important, for using his country's limited resources for the uplift of the common man.
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