‘His real obsession was not wealth but power’: Robert Mugabe planned to rule Zimbabwe until he turned 100 but time in charge may be running out
It was the seizure of white-owned farms nearly two decades later that would complete Mugabe’s transformation from darling of the West into international pariah
Zimbabwe’s veteran leader Robert Mugabe once quipped that he would rule his country until he turned 100. But, aged 93, his grip on power seems to be ebbing after tensions erupted between his loyal ZANU-PF party and the military that has helped keep him in office.
First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony Rhodesia of white minority rule, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was soon cast in the role of a despot who crushed political dissent and ruined the national economy.
The former political prisoner turned guerilla leader swept to power in 1980 elections after a violent insurgency and economic sanctions forced the Rhodesian government to the negotiating table.
In office he initially won international plaudits for his declared policy of racial reconciliation and for extending improved education and health services to the black majority. But his lustre faded quickly.
His partner in the armed struggle – the leader of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), Joshua Nkomo – was one of the early casualties of Mugabe’s crackdown on dissent.
