It appears that Robert Mugabe has been removed from power in an apparent military coup d'état in Zimbabwe. One of the world's longest serving dictators, Robert Mugabe has ruthlessly ruled Zimbabwe for the last 40 years. Heralded as a hero for liberating the former British Colony (named Rhodesia at the time) from white minority rule, Mugabe commanded a fiercely loyal following within his own country and garnered much respect throughout the African continent.
However, his rule has been anything but good for Zimbabwe. In fact, I'd venture to say he has totally destroyed this once prosperous southern African nation. Zimbabwe once boasted one of the most structurally developed economies and effective state systems in Africa with a well run education and health care system. Having some of the most fertile land on the continent, It was often called the breadbasket of Africa - producing surpluses in several crops which it exported to the rest of the continent and beyond. All that started to change after Mugabe assumed power following the liberation war for independence; Zimbabwe has been on a tragic downward spiral ever since.
In the 1980s, Robert Mugabe orchestrated the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians whom he considered to be political dissidents. He has presided over an era of gross political corruption, instability, and economic mismanagement which has brought Zimbabwe to its knees. For a man who fought so hard against white oppression, he has turned around and employed some of the worst tactics of the former oppressors - going even further in many scenarios. He has pursued an openly racist agenda to leverage political clout with Zimbabwe's black majority (somewhat similar to how Trump exploits the sensitivities of America's white majority for political gain).
In the year 2000, the Mugabe government imposed a controversial land reform program to seize white-owned farms and redistribute them to black Zimbabweans. Many white farmers were killed and many more displaced in the process of the seizures. The farms were mostly handed over to supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party - many of whom had no experience farming (Zimbabwe has been isolated by the international community since the seizures). The result of this redistribution has been a sharp downturn in agricultural output, deepening economic recession, famine and starvation throughout the population. The Zimbabwean dollar has essentially crashed under crippling hyperinflation; there is no cash in the banks and the government coffers are empty. On top of this, the country is dealing with an HIV epidemic which has lead to one of the lowest average life expediencies in sub-Saharan Africa and seen a million children orphaned by AIDS.
There is a tendency among black people to be sympathetic towards Mugabe, or at least muted in their response to his atrocities due to the role he played in liberating Zimbabwe from white minority rule. His government has been shielded by many in the African Union, especially by South Africa, Zimbabwe's staunchest ally, from some of the harshest international criticism. I for one don't ascribe to this. Robert Mugabe has been a disaster for Zimbabwe in every conceivable way. I don't believe in tribal politics, and I'll never sympathize with a corrupt criminal despot just because of race.
I am somewhat guarded in my optimism about what will happen following this coup, given that the forces behind it are from the very same ZANU-PF party as Mugabe. However, anything that diminishes or removes Mugabe's tight grip on power in Zimbabwe is a step in the right direction. This may very well be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the long suffering Zimbabwean people to breath free and get on the road to enjoying the true potential of their country.
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