Robert Mugabe Dies at 95

              

Robert Mugabe has died at the age of 95. He was, until recently, the President of Zimbabwe.              

Back in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Mugabe was the central figure behind the movement to liberate what was then known as Rhodesia from minority white rule. It was different than the apartheid of neighboring South Africa, but it nevertheless was ruled by a white minority government, and there was a civil war.              

In the end, Rhodesia ceased to exist, and gave birth to the new republic of Zimbabwe. Mugabe was elected Prime Minister. A change in governing style had him become the President in 1987, a position that he held onto until just a couple of years ago.              

For the first few years, Mugabe continued to be highly regarded as a liberator, and Zimbabwe appeared to be a shining and encouraging example for hesitant white South Africans to look to.              

However, all of that went away as Mugabe tried to hang onto power, and grew ever more dictatorial. In time, he was not only no longer seen as a liberator and a shining example, but rather as a symbol of tyranny, and what can go wrong in a country when a leader hangs onto power at all costs.              

Ultimately he would be ousted from power in a military coup in 2017, following the better part of four decades in power. By the time that he was finally removed, Zimbabwe was widely regarded as a dictatorship, with human rights abuses, blatant corruption, and with it’s economy in ruins.