Mugabe's legacy: thousands killed in 'rain that washes away the chaff'

[TomSea]

Mugabe's legacy: thousands killed in 'rain that washes away the chaff'
[Reuters]    By MacDonald Dzirutwe    Reuters  6 September 2019

Mugabe's legacy: thousands killed in 'rain that washes away the chaff'

FILE PHOTO: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses supporters during celebrations to mark his 90th birthday in Marondera

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Just three years after Zimbabwe's independence from Britain, Robert Mugabe sent the army's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade into Matabeleland to crush dissidents and former guerrillas loyal to liberation war rival Joshua Nkomo.

Over the next two years, human rights groups estimate as many as 20,000 people died in western Zimbabwe, most of them ethnic Ndebele. The indiscriminate purge came to be known in the Shona language as Gukurahundi: "the early rain that washes away the chaff". Zimbabwe's opposition called it genocide.

Decades on, even after seizures of white-owned farms that triggered economic collapse, and campaigns of political violence that garnered far more international attention, it remains the darkest era in the nearly four-decade rule of Mugabe, who died on Friday at 95.

Read more at: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/mugabes-legacy-thousands-killed-rain-103324611.html

Mugabe's farm seizures: racial justice or catastrophic power grab?
[Reuters]  By MacDonald Dzirutwe   Reuters   6 September 2019

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - When Robert Mugabe's armed followers stormed onto white-owned farms, the output of one of Africa's most prosperous agriculture sectors collapsed and the country was driven to the brink of starvation. No issue more clearly defines the polarising legacy of the Zimbabwean leader, who died on Friday at 95.

Mugabe always portrayed the redistribution of land as the central task of his mission to undo the racist inheritance of colonial rule, and the economic crisis that followed as a Western conspiracy. To his foes, it was a lawless grab for power and wealth that nearly destroyed the country.

When white-ruled Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980, white people, who made up just 5% of the population, owned nearly three quarters of agricultural land - an imbalance that all sides agreed had to change but without agreeing exactly how.

Read more at: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/mugabes-farm-seizures-racial-justice-100403748.html

Just for the weekend, might sticky and title this thread "Mugabe's legacy", surely, a number of articles will come out as above and it would be nice to have them all in one place.

Africa's had some bad dictators, I'd suspect Idi Amin was the worse of more recent times and Mugabe is up there.

In fact, I think a list of Africa's 10 worse dictators was posted in the history forum at one point.

King Leopold of Belgium certainly did a lot of harm in Africa. I will look for that list later.

[Fishrrman]

It was better there when it was "Rhodesia" ...

[TomSea]

I can't believe at least, the Democracy Now headline, I'm still mulling over the story:

Robert Mugabe, Ousted Zimbabwean President & Liberation Leader, Dies at 95
Story September 06, 2019

 ....   Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s economy also collapsed. At one point, unemployment topped 80%. Its currency became essentially worthless. In 2009, Mugabe accused Western nations of conspiring to ruin Zimbabwe’s economy.

More at: https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/6/zimbabwe_robert_mugabe_horace_campbell

Perhaps the article itself is a bit better.

The Atlantic:

Robert Mugabe Died Too Late

His rule began brutally and ended in pathetic squalor.
7:00 AM ET   Graeme Wood    Staff writer at The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/mugabe-died-late/597616/

2 lists of Africa's worse dictators, condensed:

answersafrica.com:

Top 10 Famous African Dictators Designated as the Worst in their Time

10. Charles Taylor - Liberia

9.  Paul Biya - Cameroon

8. Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe

7. Sanni Abacha - Nigeria

6. Sekou Toure - Guinea

5. Macias Nguema - Guinea

4. Siad Barre - Somalia

3. Omar Al-bashir - Sudan

2. Hissene Habre - Chad

1. General Idi Amin Dada of Uganda


Dishonourable Mentions – Worst Dictators of Africa:

General Gnassingbé Eyadéma – Togo

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi – Libya

Jean-Bedel Bokassa – CAR

Mobutu Sese Seko – (Zaire) Congo

Kamuzu Banda – Malawi

Mengistu Haile Mariam – Ethiopia

Siad Barre – Somalia

Hissene Habre – Chad (also on main list above, what gives?)

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

José Eduardo dos Santos

https://answersafrica.com/worst-dictators-africa.html

HowAfrica.com

10. Sani Abacha - Nigeria

8. Jean-Bedel Bakassa - Guinea

7. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo - Equatorial Guinea

6. Muamar Gaddafi - Libya

5. Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe

4. Omar al-Bashir - Sudan

3.  Charles Taylor - Liberia

2. Mobutu Sese Seko - Democratic Republic (DR) Congo

1. Idi Amin Dada - Uganda

Well, the writers of these lists must have their interests and Idi Amin is #1 on both lists,  some of the names appear on both lists, others do not.

Mobutu Sese Seko, said to come into power in a coup with the help of the USA. He's 2nd on the 2nd list (but only an honorable mention on the first list). I read up on this history, Seko came into power right before JFK was inaugurated in 1960. I'm just not too sure if this was a good thing to do.  Dulles (or the Dulles brothers) might have done these things more.

Seko:


You can see, he was definitely "our guy".

With Nixon:


With Reagan:


With Bush 41:


Just an ad in, with Queen Elizabeth:


So, there could be some editorial reasons why he is not on both lists. It's fascinating speculation just that these lists are put together.

Mengistu, Ethiopia, he's an honorable mention on the first list. I thought he was pretty bad to not make the lists.

So, some history.

[TomSea]

My Turn: Llewellyn King: Mugabe's descent into racism, brutality
Llewellyn King
Posted Sep 9, 2019 at 5:50 PM

Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe, who stood head and shoulders above other awful African heads of state, has died at age 95. He may have killed more people and caused more deaths through starvation than even that other icon of evil, Idi Amin of Uganda.

When Mugabe became the republic’s first president in 1980, he was celebrated the world over as the face of the new Africa: a leader who would usher in a time of harmony, heal the wounds of war, and who was keen to assure the white minority he had overthrown that all would be well.

Mugabe spoke of the country that he inherited from Britain and the British settlers as a kind of jeweled timepiece. He boasted of its sophisticated agriculture, its functional central bank and its vibrant stock exchange.

Read more at: https://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/20190909/my-turn-llewellyn-king-mugabes-descent-into-racism-brutality

I know little about this author, writes for the "Globalist" among other places.    However, the author was born in Rhodesia I have come to find out, maybe he has some insight.

And here is "The Grio" I understand is an MSNBC offshoot website appealing to African Americans:

OPINION: Liberation, violence and the complex legacy of Robert Mugabe
By  TheGrio -   September 8, 2019

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - DECEMBER 16: President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe speaks to delegates at the UN Climate Change Conference on December 16, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The death of 95-year-old former president Robert Mugabe has taken me down memory lane.

I remember running outside in celebration as an 18-year-old freshman at Syracuse University in 1980, waving a copy of The New York Times that carried the story of Zimbabwe’s independence.

African Liberation

Mugabe was one of the great heroes of African liberation alongside Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral and others. He was also one of the most intelligent and articulate leaders. His legacy will be a mixed one because he clung on too long to power.

Read more at: https://thegrio.com/2019/09/08/opinion-liberation-violence-and-the-complex-legacy-of-robert-mugabe/

I've found some useful articles at the Grio previously.

[TomSea]

No endorsement for Mugabe. Just posting from another African news site and in eulogizing Mugabe, they are being generous:


 Mugabe: Fearless liberation fighter, impressive moral compass – Rawlings
Date: Sep 15 , 2019 , 06:21    BY: Isaac Yeboah

Former Ghana President Jerry Rawlings says fallen former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was not only a popular and fearless liberation fighter and a teacher, but an impressive moral compass for the continent.

Rawlings who led an official Government of Ghana delegation to the funeral of Mugabe on Saturday, in tributes said, “Ghanaians, especially those familiar with Africa’s epic struggle for freedom, justice and dignity, are greatly saddened by the irreplaceable loss of one of our continent’s most inspiring liberation fighters.”

He said until Mugabe demise, he had consistently demonstrated his steadfast commitment to the shared vision of the “Africa We Want” as defined in the Agenda 2063 strategy document, and that his continuous presence and eloquent speeches in important international gatherings such as the AU Summit and the UN General Assembly invariably carried echoes of the vision of “An Integrated, Prosperous, and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the International arena.”


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

More at: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/mugabe-not-only-fearless-liberation-fighter-but-an-impressive-moral-compass-rawlings.html

[goatprairie]

I think the future of most sub-Saharan governments will be determined by foreign powers, chiefly China which has made major inroads in running many SS nations. Not good. They should never have kicked out the Europeans who created and developed what modernity there is in SS Africa.