Just why is Robert Mugabe Bad?

It has been in the news for the past few of days now that Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe is the subject of a military coup, meaning his time as leader of the country, may be coming to an end.

Economy

Mugabe has been the President of Zimbabwe since 1987 and led the country when he was Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987. So it’s been a long time. During those years of Mugabe rule, Zimbabweans have suffered serious economic decline, most notably following the year 2000 which brought a 95% unemployment rate with it.

The African country’s involvement in the War of the Democratic Republic of the Congo also drained money out of the country when it could have been spent helping out its own people. Then, from 2003 to 2009, hyperinflation plagued the country, reaching 231 million percent at its peak.

In terms of economics and strategy, then, Mugabe is a bad president and leader. He has failed to safeguard Zimbabwe’s protection in terms of money, failed to provide jobs for his people and therefore failed in terms of living standards, which we will look at next.

Poverty

It’s no secret Zimbabwe is a poverty-stricken country. Since Mugabe came to power in the 1980s, poverty has been on the rise. In the 1990s, 60% of Zimbabweans fell below the national poverty line and those in rural areas have been hit the hardest.

Although some of the poverty in Zimbabwe can be attributed to the climate that is increasingly warm and unpredictable (see the 2015-16 drought), there is no doubt in many economists’ minds that Mugabe’s leadership contributed to that decline. There has been a serious reduction in manufacturing, mainly because of a random electricity supply and a lack of capital.

Once again, we see that since Mugabe took control of Zimbabwe, things have only gone downhill.

Democracy (or the lack of)

Mugabe famously said that only God could remove him from office. In 2009 he was one step closer to achieving that reality by signing the Public Order and Security Act which restricted speech and ordered opponents and the people of Zimbabwe to not speak badly of Mugabe and the Zanu-PF party.

The US State Department (among others, but you know it’s bad when the US criticises you) said that Zimbabwe’s elections in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011 “were not free and fair”. Throughout these campaigns, there were a number of political kidnappings and murders.

A 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report found that at least 2,000 beatings and examples of torture had been carried out during the election campaign of that year. Moreover, it was found that at least 36 people had been killed in the state-sponsored violence, although HRW believes that the number of people attacked is a great deal more than what was being let out by local authorities at the time.