However, unlike Mandela, Mugabe was not democratic. When he was finally elected president, his authoritarian disposition became magnified with power.
Since Robert Mugabe died, critics and friends of the former President of Zimbabwe have been torn between reconciling the man, who fought for Africa’s freedom and the despot that held on to power since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 to 2017.
That was how self-assured Mugabe was even when it was clear that many Zimbabweans and Africans, as a whole, regarded him as a tyrant. Mugabe met his first wife, Sally, in Ghana and would return with her to Zimbabwe in 1960. On his return, he became an active voice of opposition. He joined the Zimbabwe African National Union.
At independence and shortly afterwards, Mugabe was hoisted high as a liberator and foremost freedom fighter. Like Mandela, he had gone to prison and could still lead his people to freedom. He was loved. But all of these were in the cards for Mugabe, he was the master player. This went on until he thought it was time to take back Zimbabwe's land from its predominantly white owners. It was at this point that he fell apart with the Brits, who had knighted him. In 1994, the Queen of England bestowed Mugabe with an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He was later stripped of this honour in 2008.
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