Zimbabwe, a country now with a plagued with violence and political turmoil, has seen its leader President Robert Mugabe changed from being Africa’s liberation hero in the 80’s and 90’s to an enemy of democracy and those who once praised him. A country that was once the breadbasket of Africa is now a country that suffers from 15,000% inflation and one-third of the nation’s children are malnourished.
From hero to villain
Before Zimbabwe fully gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980, an agreement was made between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
The Lancaster Agreement pledged over £630 Million to the Mugabe led Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government, for the reconstruction and development of Zimbabwe post-civil war and post-colonial control.
Only one phase of the development was paid by the British, £47 million of the aid was specifically targeted for land reform, and approximately £100 million was for budgetary support.
A problem then aroused when the majority of black Zimbabweans had to sustain themselves on non-arable lands because white farm owners were not selling their land, as was arranged in the Lancaster Agreement. This majority were also veterans of the Zimbabwe’s civil war.
These war veterans began to squat on the farm lands held by white owners who were not occupying the land.
Parliament in response to the war veterans problem passed a bill on September 14th 2005 that nationalized all farm lands and deprived landowners of the right to challenge in court the government's decision to expropriate their land. This move by the then ZANU-PF dominant parliament was where Mugabe lost his popularity in the Western world.
“The man that was once the media’s darling [Mugabe] … [when] he said hold up wait a minute there can’t be chaos war veterans we have to organize this, it has to be administered, we have to charter this, he became a demon overnight,” were the words of David Daniels of Friends of Zimbabwe.
Daniels and other Mugabe supporters ask when did the change happen, when did Africa’s liberation hero become a “dictator and autocrat”.
Zimbabwe has had two general elections this year, one on March 30 and the other on June 27. The election held in March had a lot of controversy surrounding it, and reports out of Zimbabwe declared the leader of the major opposition party Morgan Tsvangairi as the winner, but this proved to be wrong. The results of the election, under the Zimbabwe constitution, did not suffice to declare a winner, which led to the June 27th runoff election.
Since the March 30 election violence has plagued parts of the country, violence that Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Nations claim is exaggerated by the media.
In his speech to the United Nations, Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku said that reports on violence in Zimbabwe are exaggerated, and the fighting is coming in from both sides.
Mugabe upsets the International community
Mugabe’s government claimed that many western media outlets have published propaganda about Mugabe and the situation in Zimbabwe, which is the reason behind the ban of these outlets. Also banned are non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
On June 5th a memorandum from Zimbabwe's social welfare minister, Nicholas Goche, was sent to all aid groups doing fieldwork in Zimbabwe. The memorandum said all aid and development groups are ordered to "suspend all field operations until further notice." This ban came because the government suspected that some NGOs violating their agreements.
In a public statement Jasmine Whitbread of Save the Children Organization said “Millions of people in Zimbabwe rely on the life-saving assistance of Save the Children and other aid organizations. Without this lifeline, levels of malnutrition and disease will increase, and children could die as a result.”
With Mugabe sworn in for a next term after winning the June 27th elections, Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement in Brooklyn said that the results of this election means the person who’s organization has fought on bringing back heritage and culture to the Zimbabwean people will remain in power.
Both Wareham and Daniels said that they believe the issue behind why Zimbabwe is in the state it is in and why there is so much media attention, is because of the precedent Mugabe’s land reform plan sets in the region.
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