Zimbabwe President

Robert Gabriel Mugabe - Gushungo

Zimbabwe president was born on the 21st of February 1924. His birthday is celebrated in Zimbabwe predominantly by his supporters and ZANU PF party as the 21st February Movement.

Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe is also known as Gushungo being his totem according to Zimbabwe culture and African culture in general. He has been the president of Zimbabwe presiding over the Zimbabwe people for 22 consecutive years. He as sworn into office on the 31st of December 1987 taking over from the late Canaan Sidindo Banana who was then a ceremonial president and Mugabe an Executive Prime Minister.

The Zimbabwe president is married to wife Grace Mugabe. Grace Mugabe is Robert Mugabe's second wife after the passing of his first wife Sally Mugabe of Ghanaian origin from kidney failure on the 27th of January 1992. His residence is in the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare.

President Mugabe is an important figure in Zimbabwe politics. In fact Zimbabwe politics since 1980 for nearly 30 years has revolved around him. The future and current state of Zimbabwe has largely been an outcome of the thoughts and intentions of the man Robert Mugabe.

He is blamed by many observers and the western world particularly USA and Britain for the dramatic demise of the Zimbabwe economy which saw the dismal performance of the Zimbabwe currency.

His critics have accused him of great human rights violations beginning with the dreadful persecution of political opponents as early as 1980 to about 1987 in Matebeleland province of Zimbabwe. Bulawayo was amongst the cities in Zimbabwe badly affected by this terrible tribal upheaval in the history of Zimbabwe. This period is known in Zimbabwe as the Gukurahundi which is estimated to have stolen the lives of over 20000 people.

The Gukurahundu was state sanctioned and executed by state actors especially the military. The only known "apology" from Robert Mugabe concerning this period was that it was a "moment of madness".

Since then to his credit Zimbabwe President has made visible efforts to unite Zimbabweans across the tribal divide save for the political divide. His visibly greatest opponents have been opposition politicians especially Morgan Tsvangirai of the popular MDC party.

Human rights and governance advocates including opposition party leaders have accused Robert Gabriel Mugabe of using state machinery such as the police, state intelligence and the army to silence and even physically eliminate his perceived enemies. The history of Zimbabwe is riddled with  inconclusive and unexplained deaths and disappearances of political opponents both real and perceived.

The Government of Zimbabwe under the leadership of Robert Mugabe has tightly controlled the media with all TV and Radio stations in Zimbabwe controlled 100% by the state. Little room for plurality has been found in the print media especially newspapers of which many of them have since been shut down.

The two remaining truly independent newspapers in Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe Independent and The Zimbabwe Standard both owned by publisher Trevor Ncube and also the owner of the leading South African Weekly The Mail and Guardian Newspaper and its online version Mail and Guardian  Online.

Trevor Ncube himself has suffered at the hands of Zimbabwe police and intelligence officials including the confiscation of his passport and threat to have his Zimbabwe nationality revoked. He almost fell stateless.

A major highlight of Zimbabwe president's political career was his humiliating defeat at the national presidential polls by Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC party. The election was held in March 2009. For many the outcome of the election was a somewhat missed graceful occasion for Robert Mugabe to exist politics. CNN reports on the evening of the announcement of the first round of results quoted unconfirmed reports through unnamed sources that Robert Mugabe had conceded defeat and would step-down.

Following the reports there was total silence on the news of the results for many hours before his party came out with a different position. Speculation is rife in Harare that army generals persuaded him to stay on and resist the defeat.

For many in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe's image is too late to repair locally and abroad.

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