Mugabe's bloody descent
He could have been another Mandela, but power became his only goal.
The careers of two of Africa's most prominent politicians -- Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela -- have striking similarities. Both were born in an era when white power prevailed throughout Africa, Mandela in 1918, Mugabe in 1924. Both were products of the Christian mission school system. Both attended the same university, Fort Hare in South Africa. Both emerged as members of the small African professional elite, Mandela a lawyer, Mugabe a teacher. Both were drawn into the struggle against white minority rule, Mandela in South Africa, Mugabe in neighboring Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Both advocated violence to bring down white-run regimes. Both endured long terms of imprisonment, Mandela, 27 years, Mugabe, 11. Both suffered the anguish of losing a son while in prison, and both were refused permission to attend the funeral.
But whereas Mandela used his prison years to open a dialogue with South Africa's white rulers in order to defeat apartheid, Mugabe emerged from prison bent on revolution, determined to overthrow white society by force. Military victory, he said, would be the "ultimate joy."
Even after seven years of a civil war in which at least 30,000 people died,Mugabe, having gained power through elections, expressed disappointment that he had been denied the kind of power that military victory would have given him. For Mugabe, power was not the means to an end but the end itself.
This year, Mandela celebrates his 90th birthday, acclaimed around the world as one of the great leaders of his time, while Mugabe battles on grimly after 28 years of power, like a prizefighter whose eyes are blinded by his own blood -- and the blood of many others. The early years of Mugabe's rule seemed full of promise. Instead of the angry Marxist ogre the white minority had feared, Mugabe appeared as a model of moderation after winning the 1980 election, pledging to work for reconciliation and racial harmony. Even the recalcitrant white leader, Ian Smith, who previously had denounced him as "the apostle of Satan," found him "sober and responsible."
Western governments lined up with offers of aid. In its first year of independence, Zimbabwe was awarded $2 billion in aid, enabling Mugabe to embark on ambitious health and education programs. The white population also benefited from growing economic prosperity. Given large increases in commodity prices, white farmers -- the backbone of the economy -- became ardent supporters of Mugabe's government and his ruling ZANU-PF party.
