Robert Mugabe’s body returns to divided Zimbabwe
Mugabe’s body arrived Zimbabwe’s main airport on Wednesday, amid controversy over where he would be buried and his overall legacy.
The former leader’s body arrived in the capital, Harare, for a welcome at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport which still bears his name. A military guard of honor stood to attention as the casket, draped in the national flag, was removed from the aircraft.
Read more: Activists say ‘new Zimbabwe’ resembles Robert Mugabe’s
Mugabe died in a Singapore hospital last week less than two years after he was ousted by his own military.
“The light which led to independence is no more, but his works, his ideology will continue to guide this nation,” President Emmerson Mnangagwa told those present at the airport ceremony.
Mugabe’s wife Grace was present alongside Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s long-time ally who eventually took his place. Before Mugabe was toppled, opponents claimed Grace was being positioned to take over from her husband.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
The birth of a political force
Mugabe’s political life began in the 1960s with the formation of a radical anti-colonialist movement that fought white minority rule. He joined Joshua Nkomo’s National Democratic Party and its fight against white government. He was jailed for 10 years, during which he studied tirelessly. On release, the “thinking man’s guerrilla” rose to the top of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Mugabe takes power
After a 15-year war and global sanctions, Mugabe forced Ian Smith’s government to negotiate, winning universal suffrage, new elections and independence. He was elected prime minister, initially winning approval for policies of racial reconciliation and improving health and education for the black majority. But within two years, 20,000 people were killed fighting an insurgency from once-ally Nkomo.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Land seizures
In 1987, Mugabe gained broad executive powers as president, with a reconciled Nkomo as deputy. He became an international pariah over the 90s for devastating the economy, rigging elections and seizing white farmers’ land. His land reform policy, an attempt to placate angry war veterans, wrecked the crucial agricultural sector and foreign investors fled. By 2002, he was sanctioned internationally.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Human rights abuses
In the 2000s, Mugabe became increasingly flagrant with his oppression of Zimbabweans. In 2005, he notoriously started a campaign of destroying slums and “illegal dwellings,” directly affecting at least 700,000 people. A huge number of urban and rural poor, who were opposed to Mugabe’s rule, were made homeless. The campaign was condemnded by the United Nations.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Lavish parties
As his people starved and his country was driven to ruin, Mugabe lived an extravagant life. For his 91st birthday in 2015, Mugabe threw a lavish party, costing a reported $1 million (€900,000), complete with elephant slaughters, called “obscene” by opposition figures. By 2015, his country had completely switched to the US dollar after inflation rates hit 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Military coup
On November 14, 2017, military elements seized control of a public broadcaster and announced Mugabe would be held under house arrest. In the days that followed, people swept the streets to demand the resignation of Mugabe, cheering on the military resistance. First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was backed as leader, and he replaced Mugabe a week later.
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Robert Mugabe: From hero to despot
Failing health
After his humiliating fall from power, Mugabe, who once claimed he would rule to the age of 100, quickly deteriorated. By September 2019, he was dying. After ruining his country’s once-proud medical system, he was forced to seek treatment in Singapore.
The body was subsequently taken to the Mugabes’ Harare villa, where his family had gathered to mourn.
No burial site agreed
On Thursday and Friday, the body was set to lie in state at Harare’s Rufaro Stadium for the public to pay respects. The stadium is where Mugabe took his oath of office in 1980, taking the reins of power from colonial Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith after a protracted guerilla war.
Mugabe’s body will be buried at an as-yet-unannounced site, amid friction between the ex-leader’s family and Mnangagwa’s government about the location.
While the administration has said Mugabe is to be buried at the Heroes’ Acre state monument — a place reserved for leading officials of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party — some family members say he should be buried according to Zimbabwean tradition, at his birthplace.
Read more: Zimbabwe opposition: We are not to blame for the violence
Among those expected to attend a state funeral on Saturday were Chinese President Xi Jinping, former Cuban leader Raul Castro and a dozen African presidents, including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.
A nation in mourning?
After Mugabe’s death, Mnangagwa declared him a “national hero”, with flags flying at half-mast across Harare.
But the legacy of Mugabe’s 37-year rule among ordinary Zimbabweans is disputed, with the former leader having been ousted by the military as public opposition grew over his stewardship of the country.
Mugabe was seen as a country’s liberator from white minority rule and lauded for broadening people’s access to education and land.
However, he left behind an economy wrecked by hyperinflation and entrenched corruption and was criticized for his brutal crackdowns on political opponents.
rc/se (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/robert-mugabe-s-body-returns-to-divided-zimbabwe/a-50392382?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf