“But Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem”
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Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who led Zimbabwe from 1980 until 2017. He served as the country's first Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as its second President from 1987 to 2017. He also led the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and then its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologica…
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politics · Leader of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017 · politician · also Robert Mugabe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Mugabe
Born 21 February 1924 · Died 6 September 2019 · Q10707
97 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 10 entries
“socialism has to be much more Christian than capitalism”
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“s request for a meeting. He formed ZANU into a political party, known as Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). Predictions were made that ZANU–PF would win the election on the basis of the country”
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The Independent Uganda: Housing Finance Bank appoints Robert Kusiima Mugabe as chief operations officer
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ZimEye: Mnangagwa Totally Ignores Robert Mugabe Legacy Ahead Of National Heroes Day And Defence Forces Day Celebrations
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Arizona Daily Sun: Zimbabwe's Grace Mugabe May Face Arrest Over Alleged 'Fake' PhD
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Public attention spiked: 5,058 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.1× the usual 1,617, with 5 article edits. Editors noted: unpiped links using script
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The Guardian: From Boreham Wood FC’s bus to the world of Mugabe, Yeltsin, Bush and Trump
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Newsday: Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's son faces attempted murder charges in South African court
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The Epstein files revealed that the financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein provided financial management services to Mugabe
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2019· 14 entries
AFP Fact Check rated the claim “Robert Mugabe placed in Adidas body bag” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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AFP Fact Check rated the claim “Mugabe has computerised coffin” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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AFP Fact Check rated the claim “Robert Mugabe asked CNN's Christiane Amanpour if she asked Queen Elizabeth sme question” False.
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Time: Robert Mugabe's Legacy of Broken Souls
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Time: Robert Mugabe Ruled Zimbabwe for Decades. Here's How He First Came to Power
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Died 2019-09-06.
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“Of the twelve million hectares that the farmers have, we said we needed about half of that for a start. Even then you will say, of course, "Take all of it!" (laughs) Even deep down as we stand by our revolutionary principles, we still recognize that there should be some little measure of charity. No? Well, I will take your message back home.”
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“I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.”
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“The white man is not indigenous to Africa. Africa is for Africans. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.”
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“Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy!”
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“We are still exchanging blows with the British government. They are using gay gangsters. Each time I pass through London, the gangster regime of Blair 'expresses its dismay.”
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“Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it. These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept will seek to remove.”
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“We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood…. So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.”
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“What we hate is not the colour of their skins but the evil that emanates from them.”
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2018· 1 entry
At the age of 94, and was accepted as the ZANU–PF candidate
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2017· 2 entries
Members of his party ousted him in a coup, replacing him with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa
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And Grace Mugabe called on him to name a successor
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2015· 2 entries
Awarded Confucius Peace Prize (2015).
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Career landmark: Chairperson of the African Union (2015–2016).
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2013· 1 entry
South African President Thabo Mbeki said that Blair had also pressured South Africa to join in a "regime change scheme, even to the point of using military force" in Zimbabwe
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2011· 2 entries
“Opis: podczas debaty w Parlamencie Europejskim, 7 kwietnia 2011.”
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The scholar Blessing-Miles Tendi stated that "Mugabe is often presented in the international media as the epitome of the popular leader gone awry: the independence struggle hero who seemed initially a progressive egalita
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2009· 2 entries
The SADC demanded that Western states lift their targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his government
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Gregory Stanton, then President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and Helen Fein, then executive director of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, published a letter stating that there was suffici
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2008· 1 entry
With the US government introducing further sanctions this same year
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2007· 3 entries
That he and Blair had discussed the invasion of Zimbabwe
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The World Health Organization declared the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe to be 34 for women and 36 for men, down from 63 and 54 respectively in 1997
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With Mugabe in attendance
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2005· 2 entries
And a number of Zimbabwean NGOs did so in 2006
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Mugabe instituted Operation Murambatsvina ("Operation Drive Out the Rubbish"), a project of forced slum clearance; a UN report estimated that 700,000 were left homeless
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2004· 1 entry
The EU imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe
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2003· 2 entries
“Michael White, Andrew Meldrum, "Commonwealth leaders delay decision on defiant Mugabe", The Guardian, 6 December 2003, p. 2.”
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“Richard Dowden, "Mugabe: Commonwealth is 'Animal Farm'", Independent on Sunday, 7 December 2003.”
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2002· 2 entries
2008, and 2013 through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud, and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base
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The Commonwealth expelled Zimbabwe from among its ranks; Mugabe blamed this on anti-black racism, a view echoed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki
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2000· 2 entries
Mugabe acknowledged that the mass killings had happened, stating that it was "an act of madness
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“Whites are real enemy, warns Mugabe", Irish Times, 15 December 2000, p. 11.”
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1997· 4 entries
Career landmark: chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (1997–1998).
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Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister of the UK after 18 years of Conservative rule
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Grace Mugabe gave birth to the couple's third child, Chatunga Bellarmine
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There were growing demands for pensions from those who had fought for the guerrilla armies in the revolutionary war, and in August 1997 Mugabe put together a pension package that would cost the country Z$4
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1996· 3 entries
Awarded U Thant Peace Award (1996).
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Awarded Order of Jamaica (1996).
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Mugabe was appointed chair of the defense arm of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
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1995· 1 entry
Earned Gold Olympic Order (1995).
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1994· 4 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (1994).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath presented by Elizabeth II (1994).
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The UK government—which had supplied £44 million for land redistribution—halted its payments
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Mugabe received an honorary knighthood from the British state; this was stripped at the advice of the UK government in 2008
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1992· 1 entry
Mugabe and Marufu were married in a large Catholic ceremony in August 1996
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1991· 1 entry
ZANU–PF removed references to "Marxism-Leninism" and "scientific socialism" in its material; Mugabe maintained that "socialism remains our sworn ideology"
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1990· 1 entry
Officially "postponed" these plans as both Mozambique and many Eastern Bloc states transitioned from one-party states to multi-party republics
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1989· 1 entry
Awarded Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding (1989).
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1988· 1 entry
Bore Mugabe a daughter, Bona, and in 1990 a son, Robert Mugabe Jr
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1987· 2 entries
Career landmark: President of Zimbabwe (1987–2017).
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Mugabe began an extra-marital affair with his secretary, Grace Marufu; she was 41 years his junior and at the time was married to Stanley Goreraza
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1986· 2 entries
Career landmark: Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–1989).
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Mugabe became chair of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a position that he retained until 1989
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1985· 2 entries
Awarded Order of José Martí (1985).
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An Amnesty International report on the Gukurahundi was dismissed by Mugabe as "a heap of lies"
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1984· 3 entries
Stated that "the one-party state is more in keeping with African tradition
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The Gukurahundi spread to Matabeleland South, an area then in its third year of drought
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Mugabe drew up a "leadership code" which prohibited any senior figures from obtaining more than one salary or owning over 50-acres of agricultural land
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1980· 8 entries
Career landmark: Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (1980–1987).
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Mugabe's hallmark was his wide-rimmed glasses, and he was also known for his tiny moustache
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17,000 whites—approximately a tenth of the white Zimbabwean population—emigrated
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ZANU–PF used Nigerian funds to set up the Mass Media Trust, through which they bought out a South African company that owned most of Zimbabwe's newspapers
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Zimbabwe had just 177 secondary schools, by 2000 this number had risen to 1,548
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According to Meredith, Mugabe presented himself as "articulate, thoughtful, and conciliatory" after his 1980 election victory.
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On taking power in 1980, Mugabe's hallmark was his wide-rimmed glasses, and he was also known for his tiny moustache.
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Career landmark: Defence Minister of Zimbabwe (1980–1985).
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1979· 1 entry
There were suggestions made that Mugabe may have had some involvement in it; these rumours were never substantiated
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1978· 1 entry
“Let us hammer [the white man] to defeat. Let us blow up his citadel. Let us give him no time to rest. Let us chase him in every corner. Let us rid our home of this settler vermin”
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1977· 1 entry
Imprisoned his former second-in-command, Wilfred Mhanda, for suspected disloyalty
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1972· 1 entry
The African nationalists launched a guerrilla war against Smith's government
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1970· 1 entry
Described the latter as having "an exceptional mind and an exceptional heart"
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1962· 2 entries
Later noting that "he struck me as not so much a doctrinaire Marxist but an old-fashioned African nationalist", while Tekere claimed that for Mugabe, Marxism-Leninism was "just rhetoric" with "no genuine vision or belief
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“African threat to ban Sir Roy Welensky", The Times, 10 April 1962, p. 10”
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1958· 1 entry
Mugabe moved to Ghana to work at St Mary's Teacher Training College in Takoradi
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1953· 1 entry
Relocated to the Highfield Government School in Salisbury's Harari township and in 1954 to the Mambo Township Government School in Gwelo
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1952· 2 entries
By which time—he later related— he was "completely hostile to the [colonialist] system"
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Left the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English literature
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1951· 1 entry
Studied at University of Fort Hare, Bachelor of Arts (1951).
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1949· 1 entry
Won a scholarship to study at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa's Eastern Cape
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1944· 1 entry
Gabriel returned to Kutama with his three new children, but died shortly after, leaving Robert to take financial responsibility for both his three siblings and three half-siblings
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1941· 1 entry
Mugabe was offered a place on a teacher training course at Kutama College
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1924· 1 entry
Born 1924-02-21.
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