*Photo: Robert Mugabe*
In his journey through the circle of birth on 21 February, 1924, to living for up to close to a century, and to dying on 6 September, 2019, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe passed here. And his sojourn was quite eventful. On this sixth anniversary of his passing away, this column honours his memory today by bringing together a selection of his thoughts enunciated at public forums.
Very many witty quotes have been attributed to the late President, especially on social media. It is not certain how authentic the attributions are. However, it is widely acknowledged that, in his days, Mugabe was the world’s most educated President who earned not less than seven university degrees, with two at the Masters level. He had a B.A. in History and English, B.Ed., BSc. in Economics, LLB, LLM, and B.A. in Administration, among other qualifications.
It is therefore not surprising that he had an attention-grabbing style of speaking. And it is not certain whether a replacement has yet been found for him with respect to his witty, sometimes irreverent, rhetoric on the international scene. At the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on 26 September, 2013, the then-89-year-old Mugabe said: “We cannot accept situations whereby the UN Security Council is increasingly encroaching on issues that traditionally fall within the General Assembly’s purview and competence, including in the area of norm setting.”
Mugabe continued: “Indeed, recent events have revealed that its [Security Council] formal decisions have provided camouflage to neo-imperialist forces of aggression seeking to militarily intervene in smaller countries in order to effect regime change and acquire complete control of their wealth. This was so in Libya where in the name of protecting civilians, NATO forces were deployed with an undeclared mission to eliminate Muammar Gaddafi and his family. A similar campaign had been undertaken in Iraq by the Bush and Blair forces in the false name of eradicating weapons of mass destruction which Saddam Hussein never possessed.”
Mugabe also noted: “For Africa, the reform of the United Nations Security Council is especially long overdue. The anachronistic and unrepresentative character of the Security Council must be redressed. For how long should Africa continue to be denied the right to play a pivotal role in the United Nations Security Council as it decides measures on conflicts within its own borders?”
Mugabe further declared: “Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime change. Thus, the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European Union violate fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter on state sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. Moreover, these illegal sanctions continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering on all Zimbabweans. In the eyes of our people, the sanctions constitute a form of hostility and violence against them for the simple crime of undertaking the land reform programme by which land was put in the hands of the then majority landless Zimbabweans.”
In addition, the Zimbabwean President asserted: “Our small and peaceful country is threatened daily by covetous and bigoted big powers whose hunger for domination and control of other nations and their resources knows no bounds. Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country. If these sanctions were intended to effect regime change, well, the results of the recent national elections have clearly shown you what they can do.”
He further declared: “We are preached to daily by the west on the virtues of democracy and freedom which they do not totally espouse. Zimbabwe took up arms precisely to achieve our freedom and democracy. Yet we have been punished by United States through the odious Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act enacted in 2001 to effect regime change in the country.”
Concluding the speech, Mugabe said: “It appears that when the USA and its allies speak of democracy and freedom they are doing so only in relative terms. Zimbabwe however refuses to accept that these western detractors have the right to define democracy and freedom for us. We paid the ultimate price for it and we are determined never to relinquish our sovereignty and remain masters of our destiny. As we have repeatedly asserted, Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!!”
Furthermore, on 21 September, 2017 at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Mugabe targeted President Donald Trump as follows: “Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened, by what appeared to be the return of the biblical Giant Gold Goliath. Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries? And may I say to the United States President, Mr. Trump, please blow your trumpet — blow your trumpet in a musical way towards the values of unity, peace, cooperation, togetherness, dialogue, which we have always stood for and which are well-writ in our very sacred document, the Charter of the United Nations.”
Mugabe also had tough words for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In a 9 August, 2004 News24 item titled “Zim slams ‘imperialist’ NGOs,” Mugabe declared: “We know their tactics, these imperialists … as they deploy hordes of their compatriots under the cover of innumerable non-governmental organisations to destabilise our country and to try and effect the so-called regime ‘change.’”
Relating this view with the detrimental activities of local NGOs in South Africa, such as the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), the Acting Mayor of Cape Town, Kenny Kunene, was reported by TimesLIVE, on 25 May, 2023, to have angrily said: “I understand why Robert Mugabe banned all NGOs in Zimbabwe, and only allowed NGOs led by Zimbabweans that seek to help Zimbabweans to exist.” He also remarked cynically that NGOs should stop masquerading as political parties, and that rather, “If they want to govern, they must go and contest elections like we did. NGOs must not get involved in the work of government. It is none of their business.”
Mugabe was most unsparing of homosexuals. In fact, he was reported by International Business Times UK, on 24 July, 2013, to have said: “[We] have this American president, [Barrack] Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality … We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no. They are worse than dogs and pigs. I keep pigs and the male pig knows the female one.”
He was also reported, by UPI.com, on 25 November, 2011, to have said: “It becomes worse and satanic when you get a Prime Minister like Cameron saying countries that want British aid should accept homosexuality.” To make it clear, Mugabe told the 70th UN General Assembly on 28 September, 2015 regarding Africans: “We are not gays!”
It is amazing that in spite of his blatant opposition to Western hegemony and culture, and despite the spirited efforts of these hegemons to topple his government, they could not readily get enough capable renegade Zimbabweans to incite to do the dirty job. In fact, Aljazeera, on 6 September, 2019, reported Mugabe to have said: “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me – not the MDC [Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change], not the British. Only God will remove me!”
Meanwhile, Mugabe had overstayed his welcome in power. He didn’t seem to be sufficiently guided by the admonitory Yoruba proverb which warns: “Tí a bá pé l’órí imí, esinkéesin níí bá’ni níbè. (‘If you stay too long on passing faeces, all sorts of weird flies would meet you there.’) Moreover, Mugabe did not seem to set much store by former United States President Barrack Obama’s admonition to African leaders to respect term limits.
Specifically, in his 28 July, 2015 speech to African leaders at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Obama said: “I have to also say that Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their terms end. … I am in my second term. … I love my work. But under our Constitution, I cannot run again. … So, there’s a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law. And no one person is above the law. Not even the President. When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife … And this is often just a first step down a perilous path.”
Obama further said: “And sometimes you’ll hear leaders say, well, I’m the only person who can hold this nation together. If that’s true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation. … And just as the African Union has condemned coups and illegitimate transfers of power, the AU’s authority and strong voice can also help the people of Africa ensure that their leaders abide by term limits and their constitutions. Nobody should be president for life. And your country is better off if you have new blood and new ideas.”
In spite of these nuggets of wisdom, Mugabe clung to power in Zimbabwe, and some of his aides, to whom he had become a presidential pawn due to age-related infirmities, urged him on. In fact, the Zimbabwean newspaper NewsDay of 18 February, 2017 reported his wife, Grace Mugabe, to have said: “You hear people accusing me of still wanting to continue as the First Lady of this nation, saying that is why I don’t want to tell the President to retire. I am not the only one who voted for him. Only a fool will say that. We will field a candidate of a corpse on the ballot if God takes Mugabe and people will vote for him just to show how much the President is loved.”
However, Mugabe’s faculties were declining, his steps were becoming increasingly unsteady and his capacity to continue to provide effective leadership waned dramatically. In the end, Mugabe was worsted by age, and on 21 November, 2017, at 93 and having ruled for 37 years, he was forced to resign as President to preempt impeachment.
Robert Mugabe is an African hero. But our heroes are not saints, and nobody else’s are. So, let’s not throw the baby away with the bath water, but aggregate the noble visions and thoughts of our myriad of remarkable African leaders. From that aggregation, let’s build a workable template for a new African destiny.