Mugabe

the long version

Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a former teacher and guerilla leader, swept to power in Zimbabwe on a tide of euphoria in 1980 with the promise of peace, prosperity and racial harmony. He proceeded to preside over the economic ruination of the country, which he himself once described as the 'Jewel of Africa'. In his desperate attempts to create and perpetuate a one-party state, he thwarted the democratic process, used torture against his own people and deliberately obstructed aid organisations when they offered assistance to the persecuted and starving. Andrew Norman provides the necessary background to the tragedy, from Cecil Rhodes to UDI, and examines Mugabe's life prior to 1980 and his years in power.