Little Known Facts About ‘Sir’ Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe offers a fascinating history about behind the scenes politics that Zimbabwe had with its former colonial power. Mugabe was a favorite of the British and often touted as the model for democracy after colonialism because he went along with their demands. It was only after he supported Land Reform in Zimbabwe when they started to ostracize him. A few things we note that most people do not know about Mugabe and particularly about his relationship with the British government.

Sir Robert Mugabe Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath knighted in 1994 by her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth of Britain.

•  In 1979 Sir Robert sold his country at Lancaster House agreements where to this day the transcripts have not been declassified and are not available to the Zimbabweans the people whom Mugabe says he serves. The agreements at Lancaster had far reaching effects on Zimbabwe’s economy that many citizens never understood because of the secrecy surrounding this agreement. Even though Mugabe was Prime Minister in 1980 lessons from Lancaster indicate that whites still controlled Zimbabwe.
• At Lancaster Mugabe agreed to redistribute land after 10 years yet land was the central theme of the liberation movement. This allowed many white citizens to continue to control the land a central part of the economy and they had guaranteed positions in Cabinet and Parliament.
• The Lancaster House Agreement left land in the hands of the minority whites and pacified blacks with a mirage of power merely symbolic in the form of political power but no economic power.
• Sir Robert in his policy of Reconciliation did not rock the boat and upheld the status quo for minority whites in the country. Whites were still controlling Zimbabwe but with a black face as Prime Minister and as President later.
• Sir Robert murdered more than 20,000 people in Matabeleland but Western nations turned a blind eye because these lives were of black citizens yet fought Mugabe tooth and nail over the death of 100 minority whites.
• When the farm invasions started in Mashonaland East by the Svosve people, Sir Robert sent the army and the police to stop land invasions. It was only after Mugabe lost the Constitutional Referendum that he decided to pass the Land Reform Act. At the time white farmers were also partly funding the Movement for Democratic Change a newly formed opposition party which greatly infuriated Mugabe because he felt betrayed.
• The Referendum also empowered Mugabe to use land as a political tool because the economy was failing and he sought to blame white farmers for the problems that majority black citizens were facing.
• Mugabe despite his autocratic ways remained in right standing with the commonwealth until he supported farm invasions by launching what he termed, “Third Chimurenga”.