Following a break of 13 years, the almost 91-year-old dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, will be permitted to travel in Europe once again. This is one of the consequences of Mugabe taking over the rotating presidency of the African Union (AU), a role that alternates between heads of state from Africa’s five macro-regions. Mugabe’s appointment was confirmed on 30 January at the AU secretariat in Addis Ababa.
The selection of Mugabe was largely unavoidable due to the fact that Zimbabwe was the designated candidate for Southern Africa, the African region next in line to lead the AU at the end of Northern Africa’s mandate, which was presided over by Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Azziz.
In spite of beginning to normalize relations with Harare in 2013, Mugabe’s name has remained on Brussels’ list of persona non grata, for whom visas for European travel are denied. Following his nomination to the head of the international body that includes all African states with the exception of Morocco, the situation has changed and the dictator will be allowed to travel as President of the African Union; the ban will have to be revoked.
In March 2002, the European Union imposed heavy sanctions against Zimbabwe to protest against the political violence and human rights violations committed by the Harare regime. The measures were introduced in response to the approval by Zimbabwe’s parliament of a law that limited press freedom and following Mugabe’s highly disputed victory in elections that were criticized by both the opposition and international observers.
The appointment of the aging Zimbabwean leader to the Presidency of the AU has been questioned by many; some commentators have been left bewildered, especially considering Mugabe’s political history. One such critic is Piers Pigou, Project director for Southern Africa for the International Crisis Group, which feels that the appointment of Mugabe, rather than representing a symbolic gesture, is a negative signal of African solidarity with leaders that have misruled and mismanaged their countries. The appointment has also been criticized by Ober Gutu, spokesperson for the Zimbabwean opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC): according to Gutu, Mugabe has binned democracy in Zimbabwe and his government has destroyed the economy.
The appointment was not unexpected, however, because Mugabe had already been identified some time ago as Southern Africa’s candidate for the temporary presidency of the AU due to him currently holding the position of President of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the most important body in the region.
Also worth noting is the fact that the role of AU President has few substantial powers compared with the longer-term position of Chairman of the AU Commission, a post currently held by the South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The presence of the African dictator, above all in the West, promises to be the source of some awkwardness. Mugabe, a devout catholic was the leader of the guerrilla force in the former Southern Rhodesia that fought against the racial segregation of the Ian Smith government. At the time his role in the armed conflict and its success in the creation of Zimbabwe, earned him hero status in the eyes of his compatriots and of many Africans.
However, once in power Mugabe’s own political failings revealed themselves: in his 35 years leading the country, first as Prime Minister and then as President, Mugabe brought Zimbabwe to its knees achieving the highest inflation rate in the world and an unprecedented monetary devaluation.
In February 2000, in spite of an unfavourable result in a constitutional referendum that Mugabe had held in an attempt to retain power for himself and his cronies, he decided to run for election the following month in a ballot that he won amidst accusations of serious irregularities. After his re-election he issued a series of social reforms, including an order for 2900 land-owning white farmers to relinquish their farms in order that they be redistributed to his supporters.
The land expropriation, however, did not have a positive effect. The government’s failure to provide assistance to the newly landed farmers led to a collapse in the agricultural production of what was once considered Africa’s bread basket. The Zimbabwean economy collapsed and the result was social ruin.
Following on from this Zimbabwe precipitated into a spiral of crises that produced hyper-inflation, which in February 2008 reached the stratospheric level of 164,900.30%. The government decided in April 2009 to stop printing Zimbabwean dollars in an attempt to stabilize the economy and adopted the South African rand and the US dollar as reference currencies. On 30 January 2013, after having paid the salaries of its officials, the government’s finances reached paralysis with only 217 dollars left in the state coffers.
The economic nosedive of the former British colony has produced a deterioration of even the most basic social services; this has affected all sectors of the economy with serious repercussions on development. The situation has been worsened by an unfortunate combination of drought, floods and lack of water that has forced the Harare city council to ration water supplies, especially during the dry winter season. Many reserves have dried up and the cultivation of basic agricultural produce has become increasingly difficult. The scarcity of water has also led to an outbreak between 2008 and 2009 of the worst cholera epidemic to hit Africa and caused the death of over 4 thousand people.
International organizations and human rights groups have been long-term critics of Mugabe’s repressive policies. The most recent report on the situation in Zimbabwe by Human Rights Watch (HRW) strongly criticized Mugabe for having continued to “violate human rights in 2014 without taking into account the guarantees established in the country’s new constitution”.
The international NGO also underlined how the Harare government has failed for the last 6 years to achieve any sort of justice for the victims of the political violence that took place during the elections of 2008.
Peter Godwin, a Rhodesian born journalist, writer and member of the Council on Foreign relations and President of the PEN American Centre has described Zimbabwe’s downward trajectory in his book The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe. Godwin talks of the repression, the greed and the unscrupulous business deals that have dominated the African country for too long, but in contrast he also describes the civil resistance and courage of the Zimbabwean people.
Following a break of 13 years, the almost 91-year-old dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, will be permitted to travel in Europe once again. This is one of the consequences of Mugabe taking over the rotating presidency of the African Union (AU), a role that alternates between heads of state from Africa’s five macro-regions. Mugabe’s appointment was confirmed on 30 January at the AU secretariat in Addis Ababa.
