Zimbabwe needs democracy

Africa and the world await the final word on the Army’s takeover in Zimbabwe as Robert Mugabe’s 37-year despotic rule appears to have come to an end. Starting out as an idealistic Marxist-Leninist who came to power as a liberator and pan-African nationalist, Mr Mugabe grew to like his office so much that he became one of the world’s biggest tyrants in so-called democracies. His mismanagement of a once buoyant economy was to become notorious for hyperinflation running to 7,000 per cent, with a packet of chips costing $1,000 Zimbabwean dollars and suitcases of currency needed to pay a day’s rent in Harare’s posh hotels. How the 93-year-old managed events in a controversial reign marked by isolationism ordered by the West after he took over white Zimbabwean farmers’ lands is a lesson in history of how to run a country into the ground, denuding its rich agriculture and shattering its economy.

A crafty politician who got rid of fellow revolutionary Joshua Nkomo while ordering the slaughter of around 20,000 people of the Ndebele tribe, Mr Mugabe became increasingly authoritarian. Observers were stumped for years about how he managed the Zimbabwe Army’s generals who were complicit in his managing to turn into a modern-day despot as he grew old. It will be most interesting to see if he can linger on as President in the interim period and help second wife Grace cling to power at the expense of vice-president and ex-spy chief Emmerson Mnangawaga, who returned after fleeing to South Africa last week. A return to true democracy with free and fair elections may present the best opportunity to rebuild a once-prosperous nation looted by Mr Mugabe, his wife and his cronies.