There is a Graham’s law in public policy, running parallel to that of the law of economics, which states that bad money chases out good money out of circulation. Juxtaposed that concept in the public policy, it would mean bad deeds drive out good deeds either of an individual or a nation.
Robert Mugabe, the deceased erstwhile strong man of Zimbabwe fits that bill perfectly. Towards the close of his just less than five decades of public life, he had earned the reputation of a dictator, who believed in the Macbethian concept of “foul is fair and fair is foul” when it comes to power and holding on to that eternally, crushing rebellions, liquidating political adversaries and stifling dissent.
Yet, there is another Mugabe, which the present generation would, hardly able to recall. He was the person who organized the most disadvantaged black people in his country to give them freedom from minority rule of whites and privileged. That way, he was an icon of liberation, a passionate champion of freedom and a person, who was committed to the end results irrespective of the means used to achieve that goal. He was stubborn and brute. But that traits or attributes should be seen or understood against the impossible odds that he had fought against the white rule and the hard earned freedom he had ensured to the vast majority of blacks, who now can hold their head straight.
Born on 21st February 1924 in the British colony of Rhodesia, now South Africa, he was imprisoned by the white regime without a trial for more than a decade for criticizing the government. In 1973, while he was serving the jail term, he was chosen as president ofthe Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu). He was one of the founding members of that freedom movement. Upon release from the jail, he directed guerrilla raids against Rhodesia, from the nearby Mozambique. He led the high profile and bloody independent movement from there, till the country got independence. Mugabe secured an overwhelming victory in the republic’s first election in 1980. In 1987, he became the president of Zimbabwe, a post he would retain through both electoral success and the use of violence for decades to come. While the international press dubbed him as a dictator, who could resort to every dirty trick up in his arms, to cling to power, Mugabe did not mend his ways and deeds.
Mugabe roughed up serious political opposition with deftness and the belief that only God could remove him from the post and no one else. That should not take away the credit that he earned with his hard work and as a shrewd negotiator. Back in 2000, upfront with strong political opposition for the first time, he seized white-owned farms to resettle black farmers, causing economic disruption but boosting his popularity among supporters as a man who walks the talk. He used the tribal politics and loyalty of his tribes to let loose violence to influence political outcomes. In 2008, when he lost the first round of the presidential election, his supporters carried out violence against opposition resulting in his rival pulling out of the contest.
Mugabe had his own share of setbacks also. In 2009 amid economic collapse, he had to install rival Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister. Towards the close of his political carrier-in 2017-his long time ally –army- orchestrated a bloodless revolution to dethrone him on the suspicion that he was grooming his second wife-Grace-to become is successor.
History has to be fair to Mugabe while assessing his contributions. He should not be measured in the same mould of a modern ruler. He belonged to an era in African politics, when ruling genre irrespective of their nationalities believed that head of state title is hereditary like royalty. In certain part of Africa, that mindset is still at large. The good news is that it is ebbing out. It stands to reason that Mugabe should be seen as a leader of blacks, a shrewd negotiator and a person who believed that Africa belonged to the Africans, nay the blacks. That will be a fair way of remembering an icon of liberation.
