FORMER Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will always remain a statesman who championed self-rule and true independence of Zimbabweans, independent analysts say.
The African Union (AU) has described the
estranged Mugabe as the fearless leader who will be remembered as
pan-Africanist liberation fighter and father of independent Zimbabwe. In
its statement late Tuesday, AU welcomed Mugabe’s resolve to step down,
saying the people had expressed their will for a ‘peaceful transfer of
power.’
“AU welcomes the decision by President
Robert Mugabe to step down from his position as Head of State following a
lifetime of service to the Zimbabwean nation,” AU Commission
Chairperson Moussa FakiMahamat said in the statement.
However, the AU did not characterise
Mugabe’s ouster as a coup, but rather a legitimate expression of the
will of Zimbabweans. “The AU recognises that the Zimbabweans have
expressed their will that there should be a peaceful transfer of power
in a manner that secures the democratic future of the country,” the
statement said.
Though analysts believe that President
Mugabe and his ZANU-PF made a mistake by not coming up with a leadership
succession plan, they still argue that the Africa oldest leader will
enter history book as the president who empowered his people by enabling
them to own and run the major means of production.
Former Prime Minister Judge Joseph
Warioba who worked with both Mugabe and former Vice-President Emmerson
Mnangagwa during the struggle for independence of Zimbabwe, said Mr
Mugabe holds an important place in the country’s history Judge Warioba
says he met both Mugabe and Mnangagwa at the negotiation tables in
Geneva, Switzerland and Lancaster in UK, in 1976 and 1979, respectively,
when Tanzania, as the leader of the Front Line States, was negotiating
for Zimbabwe’s independence.
He dismissed people undermining Mugabe
today, saying they ought to understand that he spent ten years in jail,
from 1964 -74, because of his struggles against the oppression.
“Mr Mugabe displayed enormous resilience
during the fight for independence because even after spending ten years
in jail, he never gave up,” Judge Warioba said.
He added: “This is the leader who united
Zimbabweans after independence, given the fact that there was enormous
discrimination based on race and color. Even the success that Zimbabwe
recorded after independence resulted from his good leadership.
” He, however, faulted Mugabe for not
stepping down to let others carry on the leadership button as Mwalimu
Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela did. University of Dar es Salaam
(UDSM) Lecturer, Dr Richard Mbunda, said much as people may celebrate
Mugabe’s quit, they should also remember that he led and endured one of
the most difficult liberation struggles in the world from colonialists.
“We will be very unfair to Mugabe if we
conclude that he did entirely nothing to Zimbabweans during his
leadership. This is the person who led a very difficult and long war
against colonialism until 1980, while majority of African nations
attained their independence in early 1960s,” said Dr Mbunda.
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