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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