A Brief History of Robert Mugabe

the date was the 21st of December 1979 the Lancaster House agreement had just been signed and the Rhodesian bush war also known as the Zimbabwe war liberation was officially brought to an end one of the signatories of the table was a man who was the very embodiment of the struggle against the Rhodesian government the man who had been arrested and imprisoned for his political dissidence and had risked his life in pursuit of the liberation of his people would soon become the most powerful man in the country he had spent most of his working life fighting for that man was Robert Gabriel Mugabe do some Mugabe will forever be remembered as a freedom fighter who fought against the racist regime and liberated his people from colonial oppression but to others Mugabe was a brutal dictator responsible for running his country's economy to the ground through white-girl corruption mismanagement and human rights abuses [Music] born in a small town in what was then known as the British colony of Southern Rhodesia Robert Mugabe was the fourth of six children his voracious appetite for learning and his sharp mind would win him a scholarship to study at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa it was here that a young Bugaboo would join the ANC Youth League and be introduced to his guiding political philosophy of Marxist Leninist upon graduation Mugabe would begin his career as a teacher in Northern Rhodesia before moving over to teaching Ghana where he would meet his first wife Sally hey Ron while in Ghana Maccabi would become a big believer in the revolutionary ideas of Ghana's first president dr. kwame nkrumah and his brand of African socialism putting his newfound faith into practice Mugabe would return to join the growing black nationalist movement in his home country which was led by the charismatic George Martin Como and his National Democratic Party immediately recognized in Mugabe's potential on Como appointed mu garbage a prominent position within the NDP on although both men shared the same dream of one day sees in part from the white minority governments which had controlled the country since its establishment as a colony in 1923 ideological and ethnic differences between the two men would create a lifelong rift between them continuous infighting combined with the declaration of illegality by the Rhodesian government would bring an end to the NDP and its members were splits to form two new black nationalist movements the first was the Zimbabwe African people's union or Zabu which was led by Joshua Nkomo and the second was the more radical Zimbabwe African National Union Rossano which was led by the Reverend in Durban ng satola the growing black nationalist movement led by the likes of uncle Mugabe and satola would strike fear into the hearts of the white population most of whom would rally behind the right-wing Rhodesian front of Winston Field and Ian Smith with most of the black population still unable to vote the Rhodesian front would win the December 1962 election on the back of a campaign that promised the continuation of white minority run in Southern Rhodesia and the achievement of full independence from Great Britain the new government will grow increasingly wary of Mugabe and his party members and in 1964 Mugabe and Seth Ollie would be imprisoned for sedition Mugabe's time in prison would be made even worse after he received news that his three old son had died of an illness in Ghana and he wouldn't be allowed to attend his funeral but even in prison Mugabe would continue on his life's mission he would require a master's degree in economics two law degrees and also become the leader of the sunny movement after the reverence atole was accused of cooperating with the white authorities in exchange for prison privileges while Mugabe and his colleagues were in prison the Rhodesian government led by Prime Minister Ian Smith would declare the independence of Southern Rhodesia from Great Britain and renamed the country Rhodesia Rhodesia's declaration of independence was rejected by Britain and his allies and sanctions were imposed on the Rhodesian government this declaration would ultimately set the scene for the Rhodesian bush war which would rage on for the next 15 years as the black nationalists refused to submit to the government of Ian Smith and its insistence on white minority rule upon his release from prison in 1974 Mugabe would flee to Mozambique where he would join the Zimbabwe Africa national liberation army which had been set up as the military arm of the Xena movement the Chinese bakasana forces would form an arm's-length coalition with the Soviet sponsored Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army which was the military wing of an Como's zappa movement this shaky coalition would be known as the Patriotic Front and their joint objectives will be to bring down the Rhodesian white-minority government established an independent state which was ruled by the black majority and repatriated the black population the thousands of acres of land now owned by Rhodesia's population of whites commercial farmers the Rhodesian bush war would claim the lives of over 1,000 Rhodesian fighters 10,000 Patriotic Front militias and 20,000 civilians the fighting would eventually be brought to an end with the signing of the Lancaster House agreement in which all parties agreed a ceasefire and Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence was effectively nullified this agreement would serve as the roadmap for the creation of the independent nation was in bad way which will be ruled by the black majority the agreement would nevertheless ensure that the white minority would continue to enjoy many of the economic and political privileges 20 seats will be reserved for white legislators in the country's new Parliament and the protection of the white communities farmlands and properties will be guaranteed in exchange for a commitment from the UK and US governments to provide the required financial assistance that would enable these about Wayne government's to gradually purchase land from the white community that would be redistributed to London's black Zimbabweans with the agreement signed the country was temporarily returned to British control pending the conclusion of the very first elections in which the entire population will be allowed to vote regardless of race or class and after a very rocky election season with reports of widespread voter intimidation and two assassination attempts Robert Mugabe was elected as the first Prime Minister of the newly independent Republic of Zimbabwe as as a new party won 37 more seats than Como's Zabu party Mugabe's first actions as Prime Minister would be aimed at the colonizing the minds of the black population by means of a complete rebranding of the country his government would remove all statues and references to Rhodesia Scala no Fonda Cecil Rhodes the names of several cities would also be changed the most prominent of which was the Rhodesian capital of Salisbury which would now be known as the Zimbabwean capital of Harare for the most part the early years of Mugabe's regime would see him praised in the international media and received the support of Western governments in the form of development aid pursuing a policy of reconciliation he would appoint two white ministers into his government and in a 1981 address it was recorded as saying if yesterday I fought you as an enemy today you have become a friend if yesterday you hated me today you cannot avoid the love that binds me to you British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington would even put his name forward for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in recognition of his efforts to bring about the Rhodesian peace settlement [Music] despite initially suggesting that Zimbabwe will be converted into a soviet-style socialist states with a centralized economy Mugabe was keen to prevent a full-scale white Exodus which he recognized with most likely his nation's economy in sharp contrast to his Marxist rhetoric his government's budget policies would be surprisingly conservative and Zimbabwe would remain a market economy all intents and purposes Mugabe would nevertheless invest heavily in providing free education and health care to the general population and in the first twenty years under Mugabe Zimbabwe his infant immunization rates would rise from 25 percent to 92 percent and his literacy rates would rise from 63% to 82 percent a record that very few African leaders could compete with with the help of the British government Mugabe's regime would also resettle over 50,000 black families on land aus purchase from white commercial farmers or regardless of his early successes Mugabe's reputation as a progressive visionary leader would slowly but surely begin to be tarnished despite their joint success in the fight for Zimbabwe independence ideological differences combined with Mugabe general distrust of Joshua Nkomo and isn't Abella tribesman will see Mugabe begin plotting to suppress on Como any supporters keeping his enemies close Mugabe would appoint on como into the to first bulldog role of Minister of Home Affairs I would also appoint all the key Zappa members into similarly high sounding both powerless positions within his cabinet however the cold water had been brewing between Mugabe ananka mo would eventually spring to life after a stash of weapons and ammunition were found on Zabu own farm lands accusing him Como of plotting a coup d'etat Mugabe will be quoted as saying Zabu and its leader dr. Josh Ron como are like a cobra in the house and the only way to deal effectively with the snake is to strike and destroy its head and strike he did taken to abduction Mugabe would unleash his notorious 5th brigade on non compos native Matabeleland in a violent campaign known as operation of or hoondi thousands of underbelly civilians will be accused of treason tortured and killed as no gobby attempted to destroy the supper party once and for all and converts the bad boy into a one-party state the cuckoo Rwanda campaign would see widespread suppression of all and Kober loyalists in a strong wave of violence that would strike fear into the hearts of all of Mugabe's rivals Mugabe's brutal cuckoo handi campaign would severely weakened as a Bhupati and by 1987 Maccabi would move to consolidate power even further as he successfully merged what was left of an como Zappa party to his a new party and with the Xiongnu party's increased voting power and Ysabel when Parliament Mugabe would successfully push for a constitutional amendment that would elevate him to the new role of executive president this new office would make Mugabe the head of state the head of government and the commander in chief of the armed forces the reforms would also get rid of electro term limits and grant Mugabe the ability to declare martial law this move would mark the beginning of his transformation from public servant and Democrat to Zimbabwe is all-powerful Supreme Leader the late 80s and early 90s we'll see the emergence of a new political elite Mugabe's high-flying zani loyalists would flaunt their wealth and status by purchasing large houses and flashy cars and sending the children to private schools one of the primary sources of their wealth would come from the acquisitions of lucrative commercial farmlands which contrary to the terms of the Lancaster House agreement would be expropriated from white farmers at fixed prices as opposed to the willing buyer willing seller principal which the parties originally agreed to back in 1979 in an attempt to curb the excesses of his comrades Mugabe will be forced to declare prohibition on all senior government officials which would prevent them from having more than one salary or owning more than 50 acres of agricultural land but as Mugabe and his inner circle are getting richer and more powerful the black population was getting poorer and more disillusioned by the end of the 1990s Zimbabwe's economy had declined to the point that many black Zimbabweans we're arguably worse off than they were prior to independence life expectancy was dropping real wages were much lower and unemployment was on the rise feeling cornered Mugabe would increasingly begin to blame the country's economic woes on Western interference as well as the white suburban minority which despite his government's land expropriation policies to control Zimbabwe agricultural and manufacturing industries Mugabe's rhetoric would become increasingly aggressive under one occasion he will be quoted as calling on his supporters to strike fear into the hearts of the white man who according to him was the real enemy he would also continually accuse his black detractors of being political Stooges and sellouts by the time of the crossover into the new millennium the Mugabe regime would find itself under even more pressure as a new wave of young City - Alan Zimbabweans began to call for change this was a generation of the baboons who were born after the war of liberation and while they were very grateful for more Garvey's efforts to bring about political freedom what really mattered to them was economic freedom the emergence of this generation was seen as a new party begin to lose its foothold in urban areas and Mugabe will find himself increasingly needing to seek the support of the rural population determined to stay in power and energized his base Mugabe will constantly resort to his tried and tested revolutionary rhetoric and attempts to convince the rural population that all of their problems were due to the white minorities occupation of the ancestral lands and a global conspiracy by racist foreign powers to sabotage his government zimbabwe selections of the year 2000 would be the most momentous since the country's first elections back in 1980 and although Mugabe is a new party would ultimately win the election the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Sanger I would mount a major challenges on his dominance winning a total of 57 out of 120 seats while still strategizing on how to deal with the rising threat posed by Sunrise MDC party Mugabe would be faced with another problem the war veterans of the Zimbabwe war of liberation who had found their pension funds embezzled by corrupt officials would take matters into their own hands by organizing violent attacks on white farmers and taking over their commercial farms not wanting to waste a golden opportunity to regain the support of an increasingly disgruntled and disillusioned black population Mugabe would approve of the takeovers as it would not only help provide a temporary solution to the pension problem but would also help galvanize his rural supporters to whom it would once again be able to project himself as a revolutionary hero [Music] the people in Britain all expected me to say something and to say to order the war veterans I say that not do that at all to the likes of Ian Smith the ants mists farm to date has not been designated because it lies I'll take it in an area where I've been in circumstances in which it it's not possible to designate it but if we had decided to be arbitrary who would have ceased that land and not only seized the land but seized the person as well the warbirds spotted us they chased after us they shot at us in Moorea twice we went to the police station to hopefully find ourselves in a safe position but within about 15 minutes the war vets invaded the place they they just walked into the police camp some time armed and they picked up three of us that were there were very then took us to the war vet headquarters in where they gave me a good hiding I lost sight of the others there and I was checked into a room where Dave Stevens was we were given another hiding inside the room then we were taken out to a private sedan vehicle taken outside of Madeira where they again beat us up a woman intervened on my behalf saying that she knew who I was and I shouldn't be treated like this basically it was another young guy there who also near me he said he stuck up for me so they threw me into the car and then they took Dave Stephens around the back I beat him up very badly and then I shot him I certainly believe that the responsibility of the current state of affairs lie squarely on President Mugabe himself because when the farm invasions were first undertaken as part of his plan he was publicly condoning lawlessness and anarchy he was disregarding court rulings he was instructing the police to keep off and of course when a bunch of bandits with no defined leadership within or defined responsibilities to go out in the countryside they are bound to engage in lawless activities and this is what has now come to pass it's a very shattering experience that people are getting killed some of some of the people are very close to me black and white so it is not just about a particular race this is not a race war so to conclude that this won't be civil oh I think it is exaggerating the current state of affairs by targeting white farmers by targeting the racists the rest by promoting the racist angle he is hoping that the whole nation will support him on this dangerous path unfortunately the people of Zimbabwe I don't see this as a racist issue this is a political opportunism on the part of Magatha try to raise the land issue at the next elections and yet again 20 years to resolve this issue so people have seen through the whole strategy that's why he's very disappointed right in the wave of the Zimbabwean zeitgeist Maccabi would take things one step further by issuing your Presidential Decree giving his government the legal right to seize white owned farms without compensation by this point more garbage once caught your relationship with the British government had completely broken down and acting contrary to the UK's commitments under the Lancaster House agreement British Prime Minister Tony Blair had stopped providing the suburban government with the necessary financial support that would have enabled the Mugabe regime to purchase land from the white community with the British government no longer fulfilling its side of the bargain Mugabe felt completely justified in simply seasoned land and directing the white landowners to seek compensation for mr. Blair's government when challenged by the suburban judiciary on the legality of his actions Mugabe will be quoted as saying the courts can do whatever they want but no judicial decision would stand in our way my own position is that we should not even be defending our position in the courts the country is our country and this land is our land they think because they are White's they have a divine right to our resources not here the white man is not indigenous to Africa Africa is for Africans and Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans after successfully maneuvering his way around the judicial challenge the Mugabe regime would begin indiscriminately seasoned white owned commercial farm lands without compensation but despite the many promises of a bright new dawn and prosperity for black Zimbabweans the farm seizures would wreak havoc on Zimbabwe's economy a large number of the seized farmlands will be left unoccupied while many others were distributed to peasant farmers and close associates of the Mugabe regime who would be unable to maintain the same levels of productivity due to inexperience lack of equipment and in some cases lack of interest by the year 2008 corn production had dropped from 2 million tons to approximately 450,000 tons and a food crisis would grip the nation which was once referred to as the breadbasket of Africa an estimated 75% of Zimbabwe population would find itself relying on food aid as Zimbabwe GDP dropped by nearly 50 percent the Mugabe regime now heavily in debt Jeju is reduced tax revenue and as costly involvement in the Congolese civil war would begin a rollout of an unprecedented series of quantitative easing measures that would see the Zimbabwean dollar crash in 2007 as the country recorded an inflation rate of over 7,600 percent by the very next year the inflation rate had reached a staggering 215 billion percent with a loaf of bread costing about the third of the average daily wage a Muslim Bob wins unable to pay their rent the unemployment rate would rise to over 80% on life expectancy would drop to as low as 34 for women and 36 for men a sharp drop from the 1997 figures of 63 and 54 respectively but even with the economy on its knees Mugabe would nevertheless maneuver his way to winning two re-elections firstly in 2008 and secondly in 2013 at the ripe old age of 89 and to the surprise of many an increasingly feeble and senile Robert Mugabe would again state his intention to run for election in the 2018 general election which would take place shortly after his 94th birthday but unfortunately for him Mugabe would make a major mistake in November 2017 when he sacked his vice president's MS in Managua this move was fueled speculation that Mugabe was about the name is very unpopular second wife Grace as his successor Mugabe had married Grace back in 1996 a few years after the death of his first wife Sally hey Ron in contrast to a predecessor Grace Mugabe was very unpopular with design.you establishment as well as the general public who would dub her Gucci grace thanks for a love for designer clothes and shopping sprees abroad unwilling to wait and see what would happen Managua Royalists would mobilize to place Robert Mugabe under house arrest and he will be sacked as the leader of the sunny party with Managua appointed in his place Mugabe was then given an ultimatum to either resign or face impeachment Mugabe initially refused to resign whereas the impeachment proceedings began he finally saw the writing on the wall and announced his resignation on the 20th of November 2017 after over 37 years in power Mugabi severance package will be reported as including full immunity from criminal prosecution retention of our business interest acquired during his time in office as well as a cash payment of at least 10 million dollars but within the space of two years Mugabe would pass away in a Singaporean Hospital at the grand old age of 95 leaving behind a legacy with more detractors than supporters a full-blooded Marxist revolutionary who had faced prison and risked his own life in the fight for the independence of his nation more garbage status as a revolutionary hall-of-famer is undisputable his promotion of racial reconciliation in the early years of his administration would come a whole decade before Nelson Mandela has passed the same philosophy in post apartheid South Africa however his addiction to power would ultimately prove to be Zahn doing although both Mandela Mugabe we're prisoners turned presidents the big difference between the two men is that while Mandela stood down after one term in office Mugabe would cling onto power until the bitter end today Nelson Mandela is universally respected as an untainted hero while Mugabe will unfortunately be remembered by many as an oppressor who turned one of the most promising African nations into a failing state and became the very embodiment of the thing he had spent most of his young life fighting against tyranny in the words of the great Nelson Mandela the trouble with Mugabe is that it was the star but then the Sun came up [Music] once again is KB Tyrell for new Africa if you've enjoyed this video I would like to see more content like this then please like and share this video and also consider supporting us on patreon at www.petland.com slash new Africa thanks again for your support and until next time [Music]

Channel: NewAfrica

Views: 396,343

Keywords: Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Rhodesia, Rhodesians, Zimbabwean independence, African history, Rhodesian bush war, biography of Robert Mugabe, Tony blair and robert mugabe, Lancaster house agreement, history, African documentary, African stories, ZANU PF, ZANU Party, Gukuruhundi, Ndebeles, African politics, Zimbabwe politics, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe, Ian smith, rhodesian front, Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe explained, Harare, white farmers

Id: 05rdfosYpdo

Length: 25min 36sec (1536 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020