Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Saturday 7 September 2019
Mugabe dies; liberated Zimbabwe, then held it for 37 years

By FARAI MUTSAKA acknowledged the pain
CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA over “decades of political
Associated Press disputes” surrounding his
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) governance.
— Former Zimbabwean “Memories really go to the
leader Robert Mugabe, an deficits of governance,
ex-guerrilla chief who took goes to the issue of human
power after independence rights situation in the coun-
from white minority rule in try, goes to the collapse of
1980 and presided over a systems,” he said.
country whose early prom- He also said Mugabe’s
ise was eroded by eco- death on foreign soil is a
nomic turmoil and allega- “sad indictment” of the
tions of human rights viola- country’s economic situa-
tions, has died in Singapore tion.
at the age of 95. On the streets of Harare,
Mugabe enjoyed strong the capital, people gath-
support among the popu- ered in small groups Friday
lation and even the West and discussed Mugabe.
soon after taking over as “I will not shed a tear, not
Prime Minister and Zimba- for that cruel man,” said
bwe’s first post-colonial Tariro Makena, a street ven-
leader. But he was reviled dor. “All these problems, he
in later years as the econ- In this Tuesday, March 18, 2008 file photo, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses party started them and people
omy collapsed and human supporters at a rally in Gweru, about 250 km. now want us to pretend it
rights violations increased. Associated Press never happened.”
His often violent takeover and moved toward de- ence in Japan. However, face.” Others said they missed
of farms from whites who mocracy. his longevity and frequently Mugabe was re-elected him. “Things are worse now.
owned huge tracts of land A target of international dashed rumors of ill health in 2013 in another ballot Life was not that good but
made him a hated figure in sanctions over the years, delighted supporters and marred by alleged irregu- it was never this bad. These
the West and a hero in Af- Mugabe nevertheless en- infuriated opponents who larities, though he dismissed people who removed him
rica. joyed acceptance among had sardonically predicted his critics as sore losers. from power have no clue
His successor President Em- peers in Africa who chose he would live forever. Amid the political turmoil, whatsoever,” said Silas Ma-
merson Mnangagwa an- not to judge him in the “Do you want me to punch the economy of Zimba- rongo, holding an axe and
nounced Mugabe’s death same way as Britain, the you to the floor to realize I bwe, traditionally rich in ag- joining men and women
in a tweet Friday, mourning United States and other am still there?” Mugabe riculture and minerals, de- cutting a tree for firewood
him as an “icon of libera- Western detractors. told an interviewer from teriorated. Factories were in suburban Harare. They
tion.” “They are the ones who say state television who asked closing, unemployment needed the wood to beat
Singapore’s Foreign Minis- they gave Christianity to Af- him in early 2016 about re- was rising and the country severe electricity shortages
try later said he died Friday rica,” Mugabe said of the tirement plans. abandoned its currency for that underline the worsen-
at the Gleneagles Hospital West during a visit to South After the fighting between the U.S. dollar in 2009 be- ing economic situation.
there, saying it was work- Africa in 2016. “We say: black guerrillas and the cause of hyperinflation. Mugabe was born on Feb.
ing with Zimbabwe on ar- ‘We came, we saw and we white rulers of Rhodesia, as The economic problems 21, 1924, in Zvimba, 60 ki-
rangements for Mugabe’s were conquered.’” Zimbabwe was then known, are often traced to the vio- lometers (40 miles) west of
body to be flown home. Even as old age took its toll ended, Mugabe reached lent seizures of thousands of the capital of Harare. As a
Mugabe had received and opposition to his rule in- out to whites. The self-de- white-owned farms that be- child, he tended his grand-
medical treatment at the creased, he refused to step clared Marxist stressed the gan around 2000. Land re- father’s cattle and goats,
hospital in recent years. down until the pressure be- need for education and form was supposed to take fished for bream in muddy
Mugabe’s popularity be- came unbearable in 2017 built new schools. Tourism much of the country’s most water holes, played foot-
gan to rise again after as his former allies in the rul- and mining flourished, and fertile land — owned by ball and “boxed a lot,” as
Mnangagwa failed to de- ing party accused him of Zimbabwe was a regional about 4,500 white descen- he recalled later.
liver on promises of eco- grooming his wife, Grace, breadbasket. dants of mainly British and Mugabe lacked the easy
nomic recovery and ap- to take over — ahead of However, a brutal military South African colonial-era charisma of Nelson Man-
peared to take an even long-serving loyalists such campaign waged against settlers — and redistribute dela, the anti-apartheid
harsher and more repres- as Mnangagwa, who was an uprising in western Ma- it to poor blacks. Instead, leader and contemporary
sive stance against critics. fired in November 2017 be- tabeleland province that Mugabe gave prime farms who became South Afri-
Many began to publicly fore returning to take over ended in 1987 augured a to ruling party leaders, par- ca’s first black president in
say they missed Mugabe. with the help of the military. bitter turn in Zimbabwe’s ty loyalists, security chiefs, 1994 after reconciling with
Forced to resign amid pres- Spry in his impeccably fortunes. As the years went relatives and cronies. its former white rulers. But
sure from the military, his tailored suits, Mugabe by, Mugabe was widely Zimbabwe’s main opposi- he drew admirers in some
party and the public in No- maintained a schedule of accused of hanging onto tion leader, Nelson Chami- quarters for taking a hard
vember 2017, Mugabe was events and international power through violence sa, said he is “mourning line with the West, and he
defiant throughout his long travel during his rule that and vote fraud, notably in with the rest of Africa” over could be disarming despite
life, railing against the West defied his advancing age, a 2008 election that led to the death of Mugabe in the his sometimes harsh de-
for what he called its neo- though signs of weariness a troubled coalition gov- African tradition of Ubuntu, meanor.
colonialist attitude and urg- mounted. He walked with ernment after regional me- or humanity toward others, “The gift of politicians is
ing Africans to take con- a limp, fell after stepping diators intervened. calling him one of Zimba- never to stop speaking until
trol of their resources — a off a plane in Zimbabwe, “I have many degrees in bwe’s founding fathers and the people say, ‘Ah, we are
populist message that was read the wrong speech at violence,” Mugabe once a freedom fighter. tired,’” he said at a 2015
often a hit, even as many the opening of parliament, boasted on a campaign However, Chamisa, who news conference. “You
nations on the continent and appeared to be doz- trail, raising his fist. “You see leads the Movement for are now tired. I say thank
shed the strongman model ing during a news confer- this fist, it can smash your Democratic Change, also you.”q