Robert Mugabe: Hero, Victim or Villain?

By Blessing Vava

“The good men do is oft interred with their bones” were the words of Mark Antony from his emotional speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral. In translation, Mark Antony is saying that good deeds often go unheralded, or even when noticed, they fade away in people’s memories so that they die with them. It’s a means of observing that good people are many, but that the memory of what they have done for the world often vanishes, but those who have committed evil deeds tend to be remembered for them.

Such is an example to describe Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, who died last week in Singapore at the age of 95. His legacy has drawn a lot of debate with contrasting narratives at any given time throughout his life and controversial 37 years in power. Often in life, there are rarely things that will capture people’s imaginations for very long and one has to be reminded of them over time in to order remember.

While many of us were not yet born during the World Wars, we know of names like Hitler and Stalin because of the evil things they did during these wars. Their actions were sufficiently impactful to traumatize a generation and have consequences for those that followed. This is how many Zimbabweans are remembering their former president who disenfranchised a whole citizenry because of his selfishness and grip on power. However, as the debate on Mugabe’s legacy rages on, his story and his legacy are not different from that of Okonkwo, a character in Chinua Achebe’s 1958 epic novel, ‘Things Fall Apart.’

An analysis of Okonkwo’s character strikes some similarities with Mugabe, from their upbringing until their demise. Those who read Achebe’s classic would know of a strained father and son relationship in which Okonkwo grew up hating his father and consciously adopted opposite ideals. As for Mugabe, his father abandoned the family when he was 10, leaving him to deal with a mercurial and emotionally scarred mother, according to Heidi Holland in her book: Dinner with Mugabe (2008). Mugabe had a strong resentment towards his father whom at one point he mockingly described him as a ‘polygamous’ man who abandoned them and went to Bulawayo where he got a ‘beautiful’ woman.  This explains so much about these two’s adult characters.

Consequently, Okonkwo was a man considered as a hero but ended up a villain who destroyed his village due to his ego and a bigger than life character. His temper and violent behavior made him mistreat his wives and others around him. Mugabe mistreated the whole citizenry and ruthlessly dealt with his opponents and even those close to him, for example,  Joyce Mujuru,  Edgar Tekere and Emmerson Mnangagwa, just to mention but a few. On the other hand, Okonkwo was single-minded in his image of manliness and abhorred pacifism. Whereas, Mugabe’s penchant for violence is well documented such that at one point he boasted of having degrees in violence.

Okonkwo fought in defence of his people and at the same time, Mugabe’s role during the liberation struggle cannot be rubbished as he led Zimbabwe to independence from white minority rule. During the former’s time, missionaries were more villainous than he was (Okonkwo), kidnapping the leaders without provocation and threatening to kill them, Mugabe walked the same road.

Okonkwo was a victim to his ignorance of other cultures and practices. However, his way of life was the only thing he knew and the new ideas and religion that attacked him from all angles were more than any one person could take.  Mugabe’s Christian fundamentalism, moralism , and his homophobic stance are a classic example fitting this narrative. Okonkwo, like Mugabe’s end, was tragic and in the end, the two can neither be classified as heroes, victims or villains entirely. To sum up, Mugabe’s legacy is a conflicted one that will be told in different narratives.

Blessing Vava writes from Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

The Diary of a Student Leader: Reflections on Mugabe’s Legacy

By Blessing Vava

An unfateful October night

It was a hot October night in 2009 and my fellow student leaders and I were taking public transport home after celebrating the birthday of a colleague's son. In our minds, the trip was to cap what had been a joyful day. None of us knew that events would take an unexpected turn and we would end up in a cold jail cell.

After we had boarded a commuter bus at Market Square, one of the busiest terminals in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, en-route to our lower-class suburb of Glen View, we joined our fellow passengers in a conversation about the various social, political and economic issues of the day. In a Zimbabwe where the space for human rights was limited, people often shied away from engaging in public discussions of politics and the government's failures. The conversation was quite emotional and animated. Passengers passionately and openly expressed their disgruntlement with the continued deterioration of the economy and the subsequent ruthless clampdown on any form of dissent.

Robert Mugabe, still the president at the time was refusing to concede to an inclusive government arrangement following his loss in the 2008 presidential election to Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who later died of cancer in 2018. One of my colleagues loudly spoke of how Mugabe was the reason for Zimbabwe's political crisis as he continued to undermine the parties to the conclusive government.

Some of our fellow passengers shouted that the mere mention of Mugabe could get everyone in the bus in trouble. Proving those words, the driver suddenly made a U-turn and drove straight to the Harare Central Police Station.

Upon our arrival at the station, infamous for being the hub of arbitrary detentions, four armed police officers who had been briefed about what had transpired wasted no time in handcuffing us and declaring that we had committed ‘treason.’  For good two hours, we went through interrogations and severe beatings before we were finally detained in the filthy cells.

Some of my colleagues were bleeding, but they were denied medical attention. What followed was 2 nights in police custody until our release.

A revolution betrayed

This was one of the many incidents that I encountered as a student activist under the terrifying years of Mugabe's rule. Insulting or undermining the office of the president was one of the most common charges used to persecute Zimbabweans for exercising the freedom of speech guaranteed in the constitution.

I was one of the hundreds of student activists arrested, beaten, detained or barred from attending classes during Mugabe’s reign. After the formation of the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change in 1999, in which the student movement was very instrumental, Mugabe's heavy-handedness towards student activists in tertiary colleges worsened. The student movement became part of the newly formed MDC party after their grievances on the privatisation of education and generally deteriorating macro-economic conditions had been ignored by the ruling party ZANU PF. Student leaders and activists became prime targets of Mugabe’s politics of repression. For the record, students were killed, some banned from studying in Zimbabwe for life while others faced severe suspensions. All this was part of Mugabe’s strategies to silence a critical mass- the students.   

We felt betrayed by Mugabe and his generation for their selfishness and greed which had denied the youth the fruits of Zimbabwe's liberation. Economic collapse, unemployment, corruption and abuse of power motivated me to challenge his reign, though, it was a dangerous path to follow with disappearances, assaults and arrests reported on a daily basis.  

Yes, Mugabe is dead: Mugabeism remains alive

After Mugabe's death was announced Friday, I reflected on his legacy. This was a man who in his first years in power championed a radical policy of education for all and to his credit, a majority of Zimbabweans from poor backgrounds benefited. The dream of education for all by the year 2000 transmogrified into a melodramatic nightmare when Mugabe privatized and commodified studies resulting in the denial of access to advanced schooling for thousands of students from poor backgrounds.

As Mugabe's legacy continues to be debated, it would be prudent for us to ask whether he was alone in the massive abuse of human rights that characterized his leadership and the destruction of Zimbabwe's economy. The answer is no. Mugabe was not alone, he represented a system of governance that I call Mugabeism. His ouster in 2017 and the events that followed, in particular, the 1^st of August 2018 post-election shooting, the 14^th to 16^th of January shooting and rape allegations of women among many other rights abuses have exposed the power behind his 37 years of terror. Zimbabwe's record of human rights abuse continues and is worsening under leaders who attempt to disassociate themselves from Mugabe, yet the more they run, the shadow keeps following at the same pace.

In the end, Robert Mugabe died on claims of being a bitter man by those close to him because he felt betrayed by his trusted lieutenants. In as much as Mugabe felt betrayed, it seems his successors are continuing his legacy of human rights violation and repression. Despite that the man has gone, he has bequeathed us the politics of  Mugabeism. For the Zimbabwean pro-democracy movement, it remains: The Struggle Continues”!

This is an updated version of a commissioned article which first appeared on dw.com

Blessing Vuvuzela Vava is a blogger from Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

Only political action will remove ZANU PF from power

By Blessing Vava

The leaked audio featuring a conversation between Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and an army commander named as one Murombo has exposed the power struggles in the “New Dispensation” administration. In the audio, Auxillia Mnangagwa claims that the army is trying to 'get Mnangagwa ' through’ her, clearly asserting that all is not well in the cockpit and that the army is out to remove Mnangagwa. These revelations thus vindicate my postulations in my previous blog article, where I warned that Zimbabwe was on the brink of another military takeover based on Mnangagwa’s dismal failure to handle and manage the transition, and failing to cure the coup. I posited that the ghost of November 2017 continues to hunt us, and this is a call to the progressive forces to layout and undertake a political programme of action to remove ZANU PF from power.

 It is now crystal clear that the system that replaced Mugabe is not new at all, despite trying to decorate it with funky terms like the “2nd Republic, New Dispensation etc.” It is as old as it was during Mugabe, with the only new thing being the voodoo scarf which he awfully dons even in the hot Savanna temperatures and has also become Mnangagwa’s symbol of failure. As a leader who took over from Mugabe, Mnangagwa has so far done badly, because after securing political power, he failed to utilize it to transform society, and most importantly the economy. To think that this is a man who for decades wanted to be president is utterly shocking as it has emerged that he only wanted to wear a scarf, have those endless foreign trips and debauchery. The Mnangagwa administration sold a dummy to the people of Zimbabwe, it failed on its promises to transform and reform the systems of governance, improve the economy for the upliftment of the livelihoods of Zimbabweans. To his credit, what Mnangagwa only did was to remove an unpopular, hated and feared dictator and that change of power were greeted with much hope and satisfaction. However, let me hasten to say that the coup was not in any way revolutionary in character and form, though the masses supported it, the revolutionary element was probably only limited to the rhetoric of the military conspirators, that it was indeed a ‘’peoples revolution.’’

Consequently, it is correct to argue that the coup was undue influence in the politics of Zimbabwe, in that it abrogated the country’s supreme law, the constitution and thus compromised the spirit of constitutionalism in Zimbabwe. It was an illegal act that should have never happened and set a wrong precedent for our country. Dumisani Muleya, in his article, Coup: Of usurpers and judges in the Zimbabwe Independent of the 20th of July 2018 posited that whenever there is a military coup anywhere in the world, the executive, legislature and judiciary — are usually shaken to their foundations or collapse. This is largely true, particularly when we take a closer look at the judiciary. On top of it all, since assuming power, the actions of the coup government have equally shown a complete disregard of the constitution based on the many illegalities that we can count since the time of them assuming power. On the judiciary, a case in point being the shocking High court ruling of 24 November 2017 which ruled that the military takeover leading to ex-President Robert Mugabe's resignation was legal, and therefore not a coup d’état. At the same time, another court ruled that Mugabe's sacking of his former deputy, current President Emmerson Mnangagwa was illegal and this points to fears over judicial independence. Above all, Zimbabwe is now being governed by decrees, with the amending of some principal legislation being done by Ministers thereby usurping the role of parliament as what happened on S1 142 of 2019 a clear violation of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act. 

However, it can also be argued that the coup was necessary for exposing where the real power lies. Zimbabweans are now dealing with the real power behind Mugabe’s façade, the real enemy and elephant in the room (the military) is now right before us in full glare. There is no longer hiding, Mugabe was just its figurehead. This then calls for revised strategies especially for the progressive social and political forces on how to confront this beast which is now in full glare. The regime’s propensity for the use of force in response to peaceful protests shows that they are in panic So, their only option is fear and violence. However, they have now been exposed that in the long run if they are continually exposed the resort to brute force will expire. To date, the coup regime has surpassed Mugabe in his 37 years in power with a high number of activists being charged with treason. The threats on the deployment of the military to quell civil unrest by the minister of defence Oppah Muchinguri shows that brute force is the only language they understand. It is in this light that I argue that brutal power will have to be brought to the table of reform, force is overwhelming but it eventually wields to the people.

In light of the prevailing situation, Zimbabwe's progressive social and political forces need to quickly re-engage, re-mobilise, re-organise and re-group to build an alternative country through sustained political action. Relying on the crippling economy or some Sarajevo moment will simply not work. The citizens require decisive leadership, there is no Sarajevo moment waiting to happen unless there is sustained radical political action on the ground. ZANU PF will not budge unless pressure has been mounted, otherwise, a rush into another GNU will only be suicidal and will mark the end of opposition politics in Zimbabwe.  

Subsequently, the progressive forces must work on a massive mobilisation programme of action, that will result in the seizure of political power from ZANU PF. Capturing the state is as it were the premise upon which Zimbabwe can be protected from corruption, covetousness, mediocrity, directionless and add up to disregard of the economic interests of the people by the current government. Anybody who accepts and considers that ZANU PF will lead society into economic emancipation is living in Cloud cuckoo land.

Blessing Vuvuzela Vava is a blogger who is based in Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com