For the preceding 20 years, this conservative man was only seen in public with either a stiff suit and tie or safari suit.
He professes to be a staunch Catholic, and worshippers at Harare's Catholic Cathedral were occasionally swamped by security guards when he turned up for Sunday Mass. However, Mr Mugabe's beliefs did not prevent him from having two children by Grace, then his secretary, while his popular Ghanaian first wife, Sally, was dying from cancer.
But it was his second wife Grace, 40 years his junior, who ultimately proved his downfall. Although Mr Mugabe outlived many predictions of his demise, the increasing strain of recent years took its toll and his once-impeccable presentation has begun to look rather worn at times. In , a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks suggested that he was suffering from prostate cancer. Grace once said that he woke up at for his daily exercises, including yoga. He did not drink alcohol or coffee and was largely vegetarian.
Mr Mugabe was 73 when she gave birth to their third child, Chatunga. If nothing else, Mr Mugabe has always been an extremely proud man. He often said he would only step down when his "revolution" was complete. He was referring to the redistribution of white-owned land but he also wanted to hand-pick his successor, who would of course have had to come from the ranks of Zanu-PF. Didymus Mutasa, once one of Mr Mugabe's closest associates but who has since fallen out with him, once told the BBC that in Zimbabwean culture, kings were only replaced when they die "and Mugabe is our king".
But even his closest allies were not ready for Zimbabwe to be turned into a monarchy, with power retained by a single family. The polarising Grace Mugabe. Africa Today podcasts. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Mnangagwa: The 'crocodile' who snapped back. Comments 0. Top Stories. Expert at Rittenhouse trial zeroes in on just a few minutes 2 hours ago. Program to kill Grand Canyon bison nets 4 animals, criticism 42 minutes ago. He adopted Marxist and Maoist views and received arms and training from Asia and Eastern Europe, but he still maintained good relations with Western donors.
In the British-brokered Lancaster House Agreement brought the major parties together to agree to majority rule while protecting the rights and property of the white minority. Over five years, 20, Ndebele civilians were killed as part of a campaign of alleged political genocide. During the s Mugabe was reelected twice, became a widower and remarried. In Mugabe organized a referendum on a new Zimbabwean constitution that would expand the powers of the presidency and allow the government to seize white-owned land.
Even while implementing the accord, Mugabe kept up the pressure, subjecting MDC parliamentarians to arrest, imprisonment and torture. In , he resigned after lawmakers began impeachment proceedings against him.
His successor was Emmerson Mnangagwa, a longtime ally. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Robert Kennedy was the U. In , General Idi Amin overthrew the elected government of Milton Obote and declared himself president of Uganda, launching a ruthless eight-year regime in which an estimated , civilians were massacred.
Protests were kept quiet. In the face of authoritarian rule and disasters like drought, the population suffered mightily. When Mugabe lost an election in , he demanded a recount, from which his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew, and followed that by shutting down international aid within the nation. And, all along, Mugabe — having once fought so hard for power — held onto it. Write to Lily Rothman at lily.
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