Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born February 21, 1924) is a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who has governed the Republic of Zimbabwe as its President since 1987, having previously governed as its Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he has led the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) party since 1975.
A Shona, Mugabe was born to a poor family in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia.
Following an education at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare he worked as a teacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Ghana. Angered that Southern Rhodesia was a British colony governed by a white elite, Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African nationalist protests calling for an independent state with a black-led government. After making anti-government comments he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), and oversaw ZANU activities during the Rhodesian Bush War to overthrow the white-minority Rhodesian government of Ian Smith. He reluctantly took place in the peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement dismantled white-minority rule and resulted in the 1980 general election, at which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory and became Prime Minister. Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe and despite Mugabe’s professed Marxist desire to create a socialist society, his administration adhered to conservative economic policies.
Mugabe’s initial calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem deteriorating race relations and growing white flight.
Relations between ZANU-PF and Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) also declined, with Mugabe crushing ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland during the Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1985; at least 10,000 people, mostly Ndebele civilians, were killed. Mugabe’s government emphasised the redistribution of land controlled by white farmers to landless blacks, initially on a “willing seller-willing buyer” basis.
Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000 Mugabe encouraged the violent seizure of white-owned land. The unrest severely impacted food production and brought international sanctions, heavily damaging Zimbabwe’s economy. Opposition to Mugabe grew, particularly through the Movement for Democratic Change, although he was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013 through campaigns dominated by electoral fraud and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base.
Internationally, Mugabe sent troops to fight in the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement from 1986 to 1989, the Organisation of African Unity from 1997 to 1998 and the African Union from 2015 until 2016.
As of August 2016, Mugabe is the world’s oldest and one of the longest serving heads of state. He has remained a divisive figure. He has been praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation struggle who helped to free Zimbabwe from British colonialism, imperialism, and white-minority rule.
Conversely, critics view him as a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement and widespread corruption whose regime has perpetrated anti-white racial discrimination, human rights abuses, and crimes against humanity.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924 at the Kutama Mission village in Southern Rhodesia’s Zvimba District. His father, Gabriel, was a carpenter, while his mother Bona taught Christian catechism to the village children.
They had been trained in their professions by the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic apostolic order which had established the mission. Bona and Gabriel had six children: Miteri (Michael), Raphael, Robert, Dhonandhe (Donald), Sabina, and Bridgette. They belonged to the Zezuru clan, one of the smallest branches of the Shona tribe. The Jesuits were strict disciplinarians and under their influence Mugabe developed an intense self-discipline, while also becoming a devout Catholic. Mugabe excelled at school, where he was a secretive and solitary child, preferring to read alone rather than playing sport or socialising with other children. He was taunted by many of the other children, who regarded him as a coward and a mother’s boy.
Circa 1930, Gabriel had an argument with one of the Jesuits, and as a result he and his family were expelled from the mission village by its French leader, Father Jean-Baptiste Loubiere. They settled in a village about seven miles away, although the children were permitted to remain at the mission primary school, living with relatives in Kutama during term-time and returning to their parental home at weekends. Around the same time, Robert’s older brother Raphael died, likely of diarrhoea. In early 1934, Robert’s other older brother, Michael, also died, after consuming poisoned maize.
Later that year, Gabriel left his family in search of employment at Bulawayo.
He subsequently abandoned Bona and their six children and established a relationship with another woman, with whom he had three further offspring.
Loubiere died shortly after and was replaced by the Irishman Father Jerome O’Hea, who welcomed the Mugabe family to return to Kutama. In contrast to the racism that permeated Southern Rhodesian society, under O’Hea’s leadership the Kutama Mission preached an ethos of racial equality. O’Hea nurtured the young Mugabe; shortly before his death in 1970 he described the latter as having “an exceptional mind and an exceptional heart”. As well as helping provide Mugabe with a Christian education, O’Hea taught him about the Irish War of Independence, in which Irish revolutionaries had overthrown the British imperial regime. After
completing six years of elementary education, in 1941 Mugabe was offered a place on a teacher training course at Kutama College; Mugabe’s mother could not afford the tuition fees, which were paid in part by his grandfather and in part by O’Hea from his own income. As part of this education, Mugabe began teaching at his old school, thus earning £2 per month, which he used to support his family. In 1944 Gabriel returned to Kutama with his three new children, but died shortly after, leaving Robert to take financial responsibility for both his three siblings and his three half-siblings.
Having attained a teaching diploma, Mugabe left Kutama in 1945.
Mugabe took his oath of office as a prime minister on 17 April 1980. In April 1980, Mugabe gave a speech at Salisbury’s Rufaro Stadium in which he announced that Rhodesia would be renamed “Zimbabwe” and pledged racial reconciliation. Soames aided Mugabe in bringing about an orderly transition of power; for this Mugabe remained grateful, describing Soames as “so good a friend”.
In late 1987, Zimbabwe’s parliament rushed through a number of constitutional amendments. On 30 December 1987, Zimbabwe’s Parliament declared Mugabe to be executive President, a new position that combined the roles of head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. This position gave him the power to dissolve parliament, declare martial law, and run for an unlimited number of terms.
According to his biographer Martin Meredith, this new position granted Mugabe “a virtual stranglehold on government machinery and unlimited opportunities to exercise patronage”.
With Mugabe’s powers increased, the place of parliament became less relevant and less independent.
During the constitutional changes, the twenty parliamentary seats reserved for white representatives were also abolished. In the build-up to the 1990 election, parliamentary reforms increased the number of seats to 120; of these, twenty were to be appointed by the President and ten by the Council of Chiefs. This measure made it more difficult for any opposition to Mugabe to gain a parliamentary majority. The main opposition party in that election were the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, launched by Tekere in April 1989.
ZANU-PF propaganda made threats against those considering voting ZUM in the election; one television advert for instance featured images of a car crash with the statement “This is one way to die. Another is to vote ZUM. Don’t commit suicide, vote ZANU-PF and live.” In the election, Mugabe was re-elected President with nearly 80% of the vote, while ZANU-PF gained a parliamentary majority after securing 116 of the 119 available seats. In the 1995 parliamentary election—which saw a low turnout of 31.7%—ZANU-PF gained 147 out of 150 seats. Following the election, Mugabe expanded his cabinet from 29 to 42 ministers while the government adopted a 133% pay rise for MPs.
In January 1992, Mugabe’s wife died.
In April 1995, Horizon magazine revealed that Mugabe had secretly been having an affair with his secretary Grace Marufu since 1987 and that she had borne him a son and a daughter.
With this revealed, Mugabe decided to hold a much-publicised wedding. 12,000 people were invited to the August 1996 ceremony, which took place in Kutama and was orchestrated by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe, Patrick Chakaipa. The ceremony caused controversy among the Catholic community because of the adulterous nature of Mugabe and Marufu’s relationship. To house his family, Mugabe then had a new mansion built at Borrowdale.
Growing demand for constitutional reform resulted in Mugabe’s government appointing a 400-member Constitutional Commission in April 1999. Its purpose was to draft a new constitution which could then be put to a referendum.
The National Constitutional Assembly—a pro-reform pressure group established in 1997—expressed concern that this commission was not independent of Mugabe’s government, noting that he had the power to amend or reject the draft as he saw fit. The NCA called for the draft constitution to be rejected, and in a February 2000 referendum it was, with 53% against to 44% in favour; turnout was under 25%. It was the first major electoral defeat for ZANU-PF in twenty years.
Mugabe has been the Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe since Parliament passed the University of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill in November 1990 and is also Chancellor of all state Universities including Bindura University, National University of Science and Technology, Midlands State University, Chinhoyi University of Science and Technology, Lupane State University, harare Institute of Technology, Great Zimbabwe University and Gwanda State University
Robert Mugabe net worth is estimated $10 million (net worth estimated in 2017).
