How Robert Mugabe Confronted his Enemies

Why Mugabe Survives Despite Sanctions and Mounting Opposition

Jul 11, 2009

President Robert Mugabe has shown a remarkable ability to handle opposition to his government at all levels. What are his strategies?

Throughout Zimbabwe’s postcolonial history, President Robert Mugabe has made many friends and enemies especially over his controversial land reforms. His friends comprised largely of African and Third world countries with a similar history of land excision under European rule. Many African dictators also supported Mugabe because they saw in him or through him, a reason to blame the West. Mugabe also enjoyed considerable support from communist countries especially China which benefited enormous from the chaos in Zimbabwe.

On the side of his enemies, Mugabe counted the entire western world championed by Britain and the US. These countries were very bitter at Mugabe because their economic interests were adversely affected by Mugabe’s pro-socialist reforms. They used a series of measures including sanctions, diplomatic pressure and isolation to discredit Mugabe’s regime. They also encouraged the birth of internal opposition in Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s continued survival is thanks to his ability to keep both internal and external opposition at bay.

Mugabe and Internal Opposition

The birth of Zimbabwe’s opposition party – Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) coincided with the beginning of Zimbabwe’s economic woes. It also marked the end of the ten-year period of the “willing-seller, willing-buyer” clause of the Lancaster Constitution which restrained Mugabe from arbitrarily confiscating land from farm owners.

Mugabe therefore started moving away from the Lancaster constitution. He saw the opposition as an instrument of western imperialism bent on reversing the gains of his reforms, the “chimurenga” in which nationalism had triumphed over colonialism. He became very intolerant of any form of dissent and opposition.

Through police brutality, torture, imprisonment, intimidation and election rigging, Mugabe successfully held the opposition at bay. In 2002, he made it clear to the MDC and the rest of the world that his ruling party ZANU-PF would govern Zimbabwe for the next six years even if the international community rejected the outcome of the presidential elections of that year. Mugabe only agreed (despite himself and very reluctantly) to share power with the opposition in February 2009 when his country came to the brink of collapse

Mugabe and his European Rivals

Britain stopped funding land reforms in Zimbabwe in 1997 when Mugabe listed a large number of white farms for seizure. The Zimbabwean leader still called on Britain to continue funding his reform as agreed in Lancaster. Suspicious of, and angered by British support for the opposition, Mugabe made it clear that his country was not for any “blood thirsty” adventurers. “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again, never, never, ever,” he lashed out at Britain.

On European sanctions against his government, especially travel bans, Mugabe said he was not at all pained by the so-called “targeted” sanctions barring him from visiting the UK and other European countries. He said he had never in his life dreamt of visiting what he called “dreadful and “ugly” Britain. Mugabe lashed out at all his western rivals for double standards and hypocritical preaching which he saw as an attempt to exercise control over Zimbabwe’s natural resources.

Mugabe Responds to the “Zimbabwe Democracy Bill”

The “Zimbabwe Democracy Bill” (ZDB) was America’s package of sanctions unleashed against Mugabe in 2001. The Zimbabwean leader saw this as an expression of racism. “At no point did the American Senate think of supporting our struggle here by drafting a sanctions bill against Rhodesians who had overthrown the supreme law of the land, the constitution” he said, and he branded this bill as “iniquitous.”

Mugabe’s minister of information, Jonathan Moyo, joined him in denouncing America and the ZDB. “American legislature is not international law. Under international law, America can only make American laws” he said. Moyo further pointed out that America was not the policeman of the world and should therefore leave Zimbabwe to run its own affairs.

Within Africa, Mugabe’s support base has cracked significantly. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, Nelson Mandela, former Botswana President Festus Mogae, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all spoken vociferously against Mugabe. Meanwhile, the ongoing Unity Government between Mugabe and his erstwhile rival – Morgan Tsvangarai remains a colossal opportunity for Zimbabwe which has gone through a painful nightmare.

Fowale, Tongkeh. “The Politics of Land Reforms in Zimbabwe 1980 – 2005: International Responses.” 2007.

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