How little people know about Mugabe. All I read on the subject is an unconditional, venomous hatred for the man.

Growing up in Zimbabwe gave me a different perspective, one not conveyed by BBC reporters reporting under the cover of darkness, whispering absurdly and wearing bullet proof vests.

It is true, in the last 10 years, he has gone quite mad - but to claim he is a dictator is nonsense, that is just what we want to believe. If anything he is constantly trying to defend his position, acting with weakness, in fear of the ambitious, back stabbing & corrupt ministers below him. I would say he is much closer to a cynical, arse-covering British politition than a Sadam.

I realise that part of the hatred comes from his views on homosexuality. Well of course, these are ridiculous, but are quite normal in southern Africa, and quite in keeping with his catholic faith.

Finally, I am not in anyway defending the Mugabe, he has lost all credibility to me and the demise of the nation is largely the fault of his ZANU-PF government. Decades of progress and promise, have been undone. I am simply wondering aloud how he has come to be portrayed the single 'tyranical' cause of Zimbabwe's misfortune.

I suppose the reason is that we only have appetite for a small dose of reporting from each worldwide tragedy. It is much more memorable and convenient to have a single bully to cast our hatred upon than it is to really understand the less dramatic, more tragic truth, which is not so dissimilar form the way our politics works.

@georgep: Do you really believe that Mugabe is hated primarily due to his stance on homosexuality? What about all the people who've starved to death in Zimbabwe due to his policies? Surely the way he's ruined the country's economy and ruined so many lives is more serious than his bigotry? If he does take up sanctuary here, he should immediately be locked up and put on trial. It's not going to happen though; he'll stay on as leader in Zim until he drops dead.

@Chris: No, I don't think he is hated primarily for views on homosexuality, I was just trying to address this as it does come up quite often. My real point was that our media has built up a big, easily packagable hate figure, to which all our rage is directed. I am pointing out the trivialisation of the issue - in truth, it is not all about one bad man.

Its not the fault of normal people for having this perception, they are just reacting to what they read in the news. The only reason I know different is I have an alternative perspective.

To be clear, I don't deny that corruption has caused the collapse of the economy and led to thousands starving.

The white man is not indigenous to Africa. Africa is for Africans. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.
Robert Mugabe.

The black man is not indigenous to
Europe. Europe is for the European.
England is for the English?

Nhari
11 November 2010 at 12:53
Britain needs to fuck off,Mugabe is a real hero, a zimbabwean who have every right to live anywhere in zim even if he retires.

what the fuck does Britain knows about politics,come to zim we will fry your asses and he's not joking..

Murder in Zim. A new force emerged from these troubles called the 5 Brigade. They were nicknamed
‘Gukurahundi,’ a Shona expression meaning ‘the first rain that washes away the chaff of the last
harvest before the spring rains.’ The term used to have pleasant connotations, but in the 1980s
it assumed an entirely more disturbing meaning, as the notorious North-Korean trained 5
Brigade murdered thousands of people in the Zimbabwean province of Matabeleland and parts
of the Midlands. The truth is that the international community underestimated how committed a
'Marxist' Mugabe actually was. He believed firmly in a one party system, which is why he invited
ZAPU to join them. When they didn’t, he tried to remove them and their followers. This is why
Gukurahundi has come to be associated with ‘washing away’ the opposition.

Charming!
Somewhere alomg the lines Mugabe went off the rails. He may have been a freedom fighter, locked up by the Smith regime for years on end, and have to put up with nagging Odinga Odinga and compromising Sithole, but on achieving power he completely lost it, like many of the other African leaders and democracy didn't amount to a hill of coffee beans.

The difference between European colonialism in Africa and that of Chinese neo-colonialism is the Europeans needed the African to extract Africa's wealth. China wants Africa's wealth, but don't need the African. Africa is exchanging one colonial master for another, but what does this African Marxist care, he will be dead in a couple of years. It's the Africans that will pay for having so many appalling leaders, such as Sir Robert Mugabe.

It's easy to bla bla about all the things Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe and what the western media do etc.

But there is one fact that no mentally stable person can argue with...we are all humans, and are all as bad as eachother, whether we come from a rich or poor country and whether we follow a faith or not.

FACT...PERIOD.

I think the U.K. should welcome you with open arms President Mugabe ! You can join the thousands of other criminals , terrorists , preachers of hate , fugitives and scum bags that inhabit the island of Britain and we should rejoice in the fact , that , yes the U.K. is tolerant and fair .Bring your cash like the Saudis or anyone for that matter and the Government will make sure a nice pad is set aside for you in Kensington or in a plush area of London . In fact bring your slaves and the rest of your domestic workers and you can treat them like you desire without any interference ! The U.K . is proud to welcome all peoples , the destitute , down trodden and people looking for a fresh start ! So be thankful that a person like you who fits that category and has unblemished past should be able to enter the U.K. and furthermore be welcomed by members of the coalition government , What a lucky boy you are !!!

I wonder, if Mugabe had retired in 1996, before any sign of problems ahead arose, do you all believe that the outcome would be significantly different? What about the ever growing frustration of the war veterans, at their 20 year old promise for land redistribution? Would this deeply controversial issue never come to a head? And if it did; what would be the economic effect of the idealogical, pro-farmer perspective of an almost colonial British media, and consequent pressure on Western trade.

Mugabe is an old, weak, corrupt man - yes. But Tyrant, single cause of all that is wrong with Zimbabwe - not really!

Who am I to compete with the influence of the media - I only wish to give a few, more thoughtful people, a few moments consideration -> "perhaps this is, to an extent, a case of demonising by a monopolist-perspective mass media".

All is not always as trivial and bite sized as it seems (and the headline obsessed media would have you believe). The only way to become aware of this is to have an alternative perspective to that spoon fed by the news. This happens to be on issue that I know about, but it has taught me to treat with absolute caution, any inferences made by mass media on complicated issues.

.... err How many black Zimbabweans did Mugabe's Korean trained 5th Brigade slaughter ??
The man should be in The Hague waiting trial for crimes against humanity not looking forward to retirement in UK !!

Mugabe has always been a Chinese agent, so let him retire there.

@huffpuff very interesting, well thought-out points

The only way that Mugabe will leave the scene is if the Great Leveller intervenes. He'll be 85 by the time the next Presidential comes around and will stand again, and knowing Zim democracy will win again. Following the great example set by Banda in Malawi who retained the love and affection of his peoples well into his 90's and was President for life.
If Mugabe ever stepped down from office he knows full well he'd be up before the Int Court and theres no way he could negotiate a pardon. Talk of exile is out of the question.
In a way it was the white farmers that perversely kept im in power. If they had been more acceptive of 'africanisation' of land, we wouldn't have this awful situation. But because they were so entrenched refusing to cooperate towards gradual 'africanisation', disaster.

The Zimbabweans in the last ten years or so are [yet] another good example of why the US and the UK should be prosecuted for war crimes and would be in a saner world.