Table of Contents

1.  The story of a countryside boy  3

2.  Struggle to power.  4

2.1.  The teacher knows it all  5

2.2.  The likeable archon  5

2.3.  The making of a political leader  6

3.  Birth of a nation  7

3.1.  Struggling with authenticity  8

4.  A long way down  10

4.1.  Two-faced leadership of the opportunist  10

4.2.  Sacrificing ethics  12

5.  Mugabe´s difficult legacy  14

5.1.  A culture of passive subjugation  14

5.2.  Back into the future  15

List  of references  16

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T

he story of a countryside boy

It is early afternoon and the sun heavily presses its weight onto the brown earth of Zvimba district in Rhodesia. As if the heat absorbed even the last sources of energy, the scenery appears still like a photograph. Hardly moving, a small herd of goats has sought cover under one of the few trees that dominate the landscape. Sitting against the tree´s stem there is a little boy. His look fixed on a book, he seems to pay little attention to his surroundings.

It is the year 1934 and at first sight the situation reveals little more than the image of a cattle herding boy in Southern Africa. But in this very moment the young boy looks up and let´s his view gaze along the horizon. Deep in his eyes, there is a sense of eagerness. The boy spreads an aura of determination that is unusual for his age. Whereas the other boys are playing football in the nearby village, he has chosen solitude. Day after day he will come out here, watch over the cattle and read in books, which he seems to prefer over personal relationships.

The young boy is ten year old Robert Mugabe. Born in 1924 at the Jesuit Kutama Mission in what is today known as Zimbabwe, Mugabe grew up in a simple but protected environment. Having been deserted by his father, Mugabe and his family were soon taken under the wing of the local missionaries. The special circumstances provided Mugabe with the rather unusual access to education. Eager for knowledge and with a sense of high self-discipline young Robert learnt more and faster than the others. At Katuma Mission, Irish priest Father O´Hea became Mugabe´s mentor and father figure. As much being fascinated by his “exceptional mind” as taking advantage of young Mugabe´s influence over the other boys, Father O´Hea nurtured Mugabe to become a teacher early on. He told Robert´s mother that her boy was someone special and destined to become a leader of some sort. His mother in turn believed this message to come straight from God and was not reluctant to provide her son with the feeling to be the chosen one, destined for a great future. It is more than half a century later that Robert Mugabe is one of the most controversial figures of our times. By 2010 he has held the presidential office of Zimbabwe for more than two decades and at the age of eighty-six still shows no intention to resign, very much to the frustration of an ever growing opposition worldwide. During his time in office, the country´s economy has plunged, acts of violence and destruction have scared away large proportions

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of the population, and international governments have imposed sever sanctions on the once very promising and prospering country.

Current developments indicate that the long lasting downturn may come to a halt, raising new hope for a turnaround. And yet, the conflict is far from being solved. The presidential elections held in 2008 are known to have been manipulated to a decisive extent. Whereas the issue has been neglected for a long time, one question is now being asked with increasing frequency: Where did it all go wrong?

This paper takes an approach from leadership theory. Looking at Robert Mugabe in the role of a social as well as political leader, it is analyzed which impact his actions had on Zimbabwe as a country and its citizens as individuals. Firstly, it is to be analyzed how Mugabe came to power. Thereafter the focus will shift onto his first years in office and his establishment as a political leader. Subsequently his leadership role during the country´s economic and social collapse will be analyzed critically before the last section will provide recapitulatory remarks and outlooks into the future of Zimbabwe and its leadership.

2. Struggle to power

Robert Mugabe never wanted to be a leader. Having worked as a teacher for several years, he obtains a scholarship for the black elite university Fort-Hare in South Africa at the age of twenty-five. This university, the political hothouse where Nelson Mandela had studied ten years earlier, places Mugabe in the middle of intense political discussions. He is especially inspired by Marxist ideas and Ghandi’s freedom movement. After obtains university degrees in philosophy, pedagogy and economics, Mugabe eventually moves to Ghana to start as a teacher, not least due to political curiosity as he explains: “I went as an adventurist. I wanted to see what it would be like in an independent African state. Once there I began to develop definite ideas” (Nyarota, 2006, p.101).

It is a visit back home in 1960 that changes Mugabe´s life. In Rhodesia the armed struggle against the British colonial power under the rule of Ian Smith had emerged. Mugabe is urged to stay and despite his plans of returning to Ghana to marry his fiancé, he eventually decides to join the movement. What follows is rapid rise to power. Already in the same year, Mugabe is elected publicity secretary of the National Democratic Party. (Meredith, 2007)

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2.1. The teacher knows it all

How was it possible that Mugabe moved from being a teacher in Ghana to holding a high office in the Rhodesian independence movement in a matter of weeks? At this point a closer look at leadership theory provides a plausible answer.

According to the work of the social psychologists French and Raven (1959), there are five bases of power in social relationships, of which one is expert power. Expert power is based on the perceived competence of a person. The more knowledgeable persons appear to be, the more easily they gather followers around themselves. In social as well as professional relationships expert power puts individuals in influential positions over others. In the case of Mugabe, observers agree to a large extent. “They want him, not because he is committed to their cause but because he is educated, he sounds good, he speaks English well”, explains Jonathan Moyo, current Member of Parliament and former information minister in Zimbabwe. “Mugabe looks very different to them, even superior. And that becomes the reason for him being chosen and given high office, which he did not seek, let alone earn”, he continues (Holland, 2009, p.181). Edgar Tekere, close companion of Mugabe during the resistance movement but one of his most outspoken opponents today, explains it in the same way “A lot of people were impressed by his scholarly eloquence” (Holland, 2009, p.48). Making an impression with his background as an educated teacher, Mugabe is drawn into the resistance movement without showing particular commitment at first. Mugabe was known as a hard worker. He always dominated discussion groups and was respected for his ability to listen carefully only to then dissect every argument that opposed his own point of view. Mugabe´s inquisitiveness did not end with the beginning of his political career. On the contrary, he used his eleven years in prison, which followed a detention in 1964, to obtain three more university degrees (Meredith, 2007).

2.2. The likeable archon

But it was not only Mugabe´s ability to impress with his knowledge. Despite his controversial actions in recent years, he has always been perceived as likeable and friendly by many that met him in person. “He was such a gentleman, you know: they all said so. Wonderfully polite

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