Opinion: Kinship With Robert Mugabe, By Owei Lakemfa
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a normal human being. But to the West, he was an enigma. He was born in racist Southern Rhodesia and spoke up against racism and for democracy. That made him an enemy of the state for which he spent over a decade in prison.
When as Prime Minister, he rolled out welfare programmes including free healthcare and free education which made Zimbabweans within a score years, the most educated Africans, that convinced the West, Mugabe was anti-capitalist. In the 92 years of White rule in Zimbabwe, only 177 secondary schools were built, but within twenty years of Mugabe’s leadership, the number rose to 1,548. Also, child immunisation rose from 25 to 92 per cent.
Additionally, despite holding regular and open elections, he was demonised as a tyrant who ruined his country economically and turned it from a food basket to a basket case needing food aid. Tragically, many Africans bought this Western propaganda. In truth, the West including the international financial institutions deliberately tried to strangle Zimbabwe imposing wide range sanctions, blocking letters of credit and doing all in their power to ruin the country.
The food crises in Zimbabwe began within ten years of independence when drought started sweeping South and East Africa after devastating Ethiopia from the early 1970s. The drought in those parts of Africa properly started in 1991 and there were food shortages. This was seven years before the compulsory land acquisition programme began in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabawe, like Kenya before it, has solved the Land Question, that is what Namibia and South Africa have failed to solve. The message of South African leaders like late Winnie Mandela and crusading Julius Malema is that the option to resolving the issue of land, is the Mugabe Way.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mugabe: Thousands of Zimbabweans thronged Rufaro Soccer Stadium for funeral paradeThousands of Zimbabweans thronged Rufaro Soccer Stadium in Harare on Friday for the continuation of the body viewing of the late former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, who died in Singapore at the age of 95.
Read more »
Mugabe: Buhari sends Osinbajo to Zimbabwe - Daily Post NigeriaVice President, Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, will be representing President Muhammadu Buhari at the State Funeral for former President, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, o
Read more »
Mugabe and the lessons left behind – Daily TrustAs background to this piece, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924, in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), in 1963. He founded ZANU, a resistance movement against British colonial rule. Mugabe became prime minister of the new Republic of Zimbabwe after British rule ended in 1980, and he assumed the role of president …
Read more »
10 African leaders due at Mugabe funeral as row over burial continuesTen African leaders are expected to attend the funeral of former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, a government spokesman said on Thursday...
Read more »
10 African leaders due at Mugabe funeral as row over burial continues – Daily TrustTen African leaders are expected to attend the funeral of former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, a government spokesman said on Thursday, as a row continued over where the former strongman should be buried.
Read more »