Zimbabwe: Robert Gabriel Mugabe

Updated February 2002

Born in 1924 at Kutama Mission Northwest of the capital Harare, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was educated as a Roman-Catholic. He qualified as a primary school teacher and received the first of his seven degrees from Fort Hare University in South Africa in 1951. During his university years, he became a convinced Marxist. He joined Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union PF-ZAPU after returning to Rhodesia in 1960. In 1964, he was arrested and detained by Rhodesian authorities for activities against white minority rule.

He spent 10 years in jail from where he consolidated his power base at the lead of the newly formed Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). Upon his release, he left Rhodesia and, from Mozambique, he commanded the guerrilla army fighting white minority rule, which finally capitulated. After months of negotiations at the 1979 Lancaster House Conference Mr. Mugabe returned to the newly independent Zimbabwe where he was hailed as a liberator. He initially built a coalition government with Mr. Nkomo, whose PF-ZAPU forces had also been involved in the guerrilla war against the Rhodesian Front government, but the alliance collapsed soon after the 1980s elections allowing Mr. Mugabe to strengthen his hold on power.

In the early 1980s, Mugabe widely credited himself with a policy of reconciliation with the country's white minority and promised health and education for the black majority. However, as he entrenched himself in power over the following decades, he faced growing opposition sparked by the perception of widespread corruption in the government[34]. He therefore became an increasingly outspoken nationalist and opponent of colonialism. He similarly embarked on a moral campaign against homosexuals and lesbians outlawing "unnatural sex acts"[1].

Discontent grew in recent years over the country's failing economy with inflation and unemployment soaring to record levels. Involvement in the Congo and domestic human rights abuses were also largely criticised. Mugabe suffered a stinging setback in the constitutional referendum held on 12-13 February 2000, which saw voters reject the new constitution. In spite of opposition protests and international criticism, Mugabe's leadership proved agile enough to retain initiative under refashioned terms of rule, at times engaging in the use of brutal power, and, when appropriate, appealing to the opportunistic use of the land issue and the related propaganda. At June 2000 parliamentary elections he therefore waged an intimidatory campaign which allowed ZANU-PF a tight majority in Parliament. He will contest the presidential elections scheduled for 9-10 March 2002.

President Mugabe's wife Sally - a native Ghanaian - died in January 1992. He married to a former private secretary in 1996, 41 years his junior[2].

Footnotes

[1] Robert Mugabe: from Peasant to President, Daily Mail and Guardian, 15 February 2000.
[2] Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwe strongman, BBC News, 15 February, 2000.