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What does Robert Mugabe's resignation mean for Zimbabwe?


The impeachment and now subsequent resignation of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe marks a new era in the country – but how will they cope in eradicating the remnants of his brutal regime?

93-year-old Mugabe has characterised Zimbabwe, his name so associated with the country to us these days, and he divided opinion in his long rule of power. Some within the country always have seen him as a hero, others and many around the globe view him as a savage ruler who exploited the country for his own gain.

Mugabe always maintained that his government were fighting both capitalism and communism and chastised the West for what he suggested was a plot to worsen the Zimbabwean economy due to their distaste of him.

It was always the military that helped him maintain his authority within the country, and their loyalty towards him was inevitably going to fizzle out sooner or later. The trigger for this was the sudden sacking of a man who had been his recent Vice-President and long-term friend, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his decision to instate his 52-year-old wife Grace into Mnangagwa’s position, carrying on the family’s influence in politics.

The long-time dictator was put under house-arrest by the army and has since announced his resignation as President of Zimbabwe, sparking vehement celebrations in many areas of the country.

Evidently, this is a step forward for democracy in Zimbabwe, can they capitalise economically and enforce fair elections too?

Mnangagwa has promised to reconcile the country with the rest of the world – politically they became quite isolated under Mugabe, has stated that ‘acts of corruption must stop’ and also said that there would be elections in 2018 as planned.

On the face of it, this all seems very rosy. But when you delve deeper into the new man at the helm, it remains uncertain as to whether Zimbabwe can root out wrongdoing from their government.

Mnangagwa is often seen as the man who engineered the masses of civilian murders in the civil conflicts in the 1980s, it is estimated that 20,000 people were murdered under his jurisdiction.

And the divided political and social nature of the country will undoubtedly pose challenges to the new regime, only when problems start to emerge will we truly know just how democratic this government are willing to be.

Much like Kenya a month before though, this is a step in the right direction. Dictatorial regimes are being toppled, and even if the new ones don’t prove to be as fair as we would hope, this illustrates that democracy can prevail.

It has been 37 long years since Zimbabwe celebrated independence from Britain’s colonial empire officially, but it might only be now that they have properly achieved it.

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