Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe
Mugabe in 1979
2nd President of Zimbabwe
In office 31 December 1987 – 21 November 2017
Prime Minister	Morgan Tsvangirai (2009–2013)
First Vice-president	Simon Muzenda Joice Mujuru Emmerson Mnangagwa
Second Vice-president	Joshua Nkomo Joseph Msika John Nkomo Phelekezela Mphoko
Preceded by	Canaan Banana
Succeeded by	Emmerson Mnangagwa
1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
In office 18 April 1980 – 31 December 1987
President	Canaan Banana
Deputy	Simon Muzenda
Preceded by	Abel Muzorewa (Zimbabwe Rhodesia)
Succeeded by	Morgan Tsvangirai (2009)
Leader and First Secretary of ZANU–PF ZANU (1975–1987)
In office 18 March 1975 – 19 November 2017
Chairman	Joseph Msika John Nkomo Oppah Muchinguri Simon Khaya Moyo
Second Secretary	Joseph Msika John Nkomo Joice Mujuru Emmerson Mnangagwa
Preceded by	Herbert Chitepo
Succeeded by	Emmerson Mnangagwa
13th Chairperson of the African Union
In office 30 January 2015 – 30 January 2016
Leader	Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Preceded by	Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Succeeded by	Idriss Déby
10th Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office 6 September 1986 – 7 September 1989
Preceded by	Zail Singh
Succeeded by	Janez Drnovšek
Personal details
Born	Robert Gabriel Mugabe (1924-02-21)21 February 1924 Kutama, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
Died	6 September 2019(2019-09-06) (aged 95) Singapore
Resting place	Kutama, Zimbabwe
Political party	ANCYL (1949–1952) NDP (1960–1961) ZAPU (1961–1963) ZANU (1963–1987) ZANU–PF (1987–2017)
Spouses	Sally Hayfron ​ ​ (m. 1961; died 1992)​ Grace Marufu ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	4, including Bona and Robert Jr
Alma mater	University of Fort Hare University of South Africa University of London International Programmes
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Robert Gabriel Mugabe (/mʊˈɡɑːbi/;^[1] Shona: [muɡaɓe]; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, and as a socialist after the 1990s.^{[clarification needed]}

Mugabe was born to a poor Shona family in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia. Educated at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, he then worked as a schoolteacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Ghana. Angered by white minority rule of his homeland within the British Empire, Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African nationalists calling for an independent state controlled by the black majority. After making anti-government comments, he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release, he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of ZANU, and oversaw its role in the Rhodesian Bush War, fighting Ian Smith's predominantly white government. He reluctantly participated in peace talks in the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement, putting an end to the war. In the 1980 general election, Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory, becoming Prime Minister when the country, now renamed Zimbabwe, gained internationally recognised independence later that year. Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his professed desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to mainstream economic policies.

Mugabe's calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white emigration, while relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) also deteriorated. In the Gukurahundi of 1982–1987, Mugabe's Fifth Brigade crushed ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland in a campaign that killed at least 20,000 people, mostly Ndebele civilians. Internationally, he sent troops into the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–1989), the Organisation of African Unity (1997–1998), and the African Union (2015–2016). Pursuing decolonisation, Mugabe emphasised the redistribution of land controlled by white farmers to landless blacks, initially on a "willing seller–willing buyer" basis. Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000 he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms. Food production was severely impacted, leading to famine, economic decline, and foreign sanctions. Opposition to Mugabe grew, but he was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013 through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud, and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base. In 2017, members of his party ousted him in a coup, replacing him with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Having dominated Zimbabwe's politics for nearly four decades, Mugabe was a controversial figure. He was praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation struggle who helped free Zimbabwe from British colonialism, imperialism, and white minority rule. Critics accused Mugabe of being a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement and widespread corruption and human rights abuses, including anti-white racism, crimes against humanity and genocide.