Voices| Robert Mugabe’s tattered legacy: An educated man who refused to learn. By Zenzo Moyo
His passing evoked different emotions for different people, with some experiencing internal contradictions on how they should remember a “heroic’ villain. This was to be expected for Mugabe was a complex and enigmatic figure. For some, his death has robbed them of a hero, a relative, a comrade, a liberator and Pan-Africanist. The latter group includes many non-Zimbabwean Africans to whom his demise leaves them one advocate poorer.
The majority of them have chosen to nuance their commentary such that Mugabe’s seemingly double legacy of being hero and villain is seen as diametrical, one evolving alongside the other. It is this very notable occurrence of him dying in a foreign hospital, where he had become a regular “medical refugee”, which epitomises the kind of leader he was, and therefore his legacy.
The outcome was the wanton killing of more than 20 000 innocent Ndebele civilians, whose only “sin” was to have a different political conviction. Up to this day, no explanation, apology or reparations have been extended to families of the victims, despite almost all Zimbabweans agreeing that Gukurahundi and the brutality accompanying it was wrong.
There is clearly something wrong with our hospitals if politicians continue to seek medical help from other countries. But again, it is self-evident why this is the case. Though by themselves elections are not a sufficient measure for democracy, in many instances they have played a moderating role in taming the power of authoritarians.A man pushes an empty cart past a portrait of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Harare. Picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/APDuring Mugabe’s rulership, there were more than ten elections, and none of them were free, fair and credible. All were replete with violence, brutality and killings.
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