Robert Mugabe’s legacy surely will be carved in stone.
He became the first head of government in 1980 of a newly renamed country that at that time was the model of prosperity in Africa. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe and Mugabe became the country’s first prime minister.
He later became its president. What happened then over the course of the next three-plus decades is shameful in the extreme.
Zimbabwe devolved from prosperity to abject poverty and deprivation. Mugabe wanted to govern the country until he died. He didn’t quite make it. He was forced out in 2017.
Mugabe died this week at the age of 95. The world should not mourn this guy’s passing. It should instead declare that Earth is a better place without him.
He took office as a revolutionary, promising even greater prosperity for his constituents. He delivered nothing but misery and mayhem. Zimbabwe plunged into a state of utter despair under Mugabe’s iron-fisted, ham-handed, brutal rule.
How does one dare call that a successful transition?
I cannot.
He saw himself as Africa’s model of reform, known around the world as a statesman. Then in 1990, something remarkable happened. A real statesman was released from prison in South Africa. Nelson Mandela took control of his country and emerged as one of the world’s pre-eminent champions of political reform. He eclipsed Mugabe almost immediately.
Mugabe’s tyrannical rule has virtually ruined his country.
So long, Mr. Dictator.