Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe's Future

This book outlines the career of an evil and utterly ruthless man who emerged from being a key figure in a guerrilla war fought against white minority rule, to engineering through intimidation and terror a victory in Zimbabwe's first all-inclusive elections over the moderate Abel Muzorewa's United African national Congress and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union.

After returning to Salisbury on January 27, 1980. after five years in exile, Mugabe was given a hero's welcome by a large crowd bearing banners with images of rocket grenades, land mines and guns, many wearing youth T shirts with the Kalashnikov rifle, which Mugabe's Marxist Zimbabwe African National Union party had wanted to use as an emblem, but which the British authorities had prohibited.
The scale of intimidation by ZANU was massive. Neither the UANC or ZAPU were allowed to campaign at all in eastern Rhodesia, leading ZAPU leader Nkomo to state that 'the word intimidation is mild, people are being terrorized, it is terror, there is fear in people's eyes."

Therefore Mugabe's landslide win and all of his subsequent electoral victories can not in any way be seen by a fair minded observer as in any way legitimate.

After victory and becoming Zimbabwe's Prime Minister, Mugabe spoke the language of soothing words to the the country's White population and the international community.

But in 1982 he resorted to terror in order to impose the one-party state he dreamed of imposing and his goal of absolute. power. Mugabe unleashed his Fifth Brigade (trained in the brutal communist dictatorship of North Korea in the art of terrorizing populations) on the Ndebele and Kalangas population groups of western Zimbabwe, which had largely supported the opposition ZAPU, in a horrific campaign of genocide known as the Gukurahundi. Entire villages were massacred, men, women and children herded into huts and burned alive, all supplies, transport and drought relief were cut off the starving villages and a deliberate famine created.

A commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference Commission of Peace and Justice contained some damning evidence of 5 Brigade atrocities. The statement accused the army of conducting a 'reign of terror' in Matabeleland including 'wanton killings, woundings, beatings, burnings and rapings".
It had brought about the 'maimings of hundreds of people who were neither dissidents nor collaborators."

Over the four year period of the Gukurahundi over ten thousand people were massacred, and thousands more beaten tortured and maimed. An entire people had been victimized. but there was no world outcry, certainly none from the international left, who set themselves up as the great guardians of human rights, and who were great supporters of Mugabe as a revolutionary hero.

Meredith writes of the corruption of the wealthy new elite close to ZANU PF, who enjoyed the best of everything while the people of Zimbabwe grew more and more destitute, of Mugabe's machine of crushing opposition and the de facto one party state in Zimbabwe for 12 years.

He also outlines how the fraudulent so-called 'land reform programme' is nothing but cover to destroy opposition and reward ZANU PF cronies.

While the opposition Movement for Democratic change enjoys overwhelming popularity, it has been prevented from operating freely as Mugabe and ZANU PF continue to operate a reign of terror against Zimbabwe's people.

Opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai rightfully described Mugabe a 'deranged despot', and politician Edgar Tekere called Mugabe 'an insane head of state."
"But there is a crude logic to Mugabe's actions' the author points out "His sole purpose has become to hold on to power. Whatever the cost, his regime has been dedicated towards that end. Violence has paid off in the past. He expected it to secure his future".
And so 6 years after this book was published Mugabe rand his ZANU PF retain a bloody and iron grip on power,
He still enjoys some support from Stalinists and anti-democrats in the world, today and his excesses are defended by such outfits of evil as the monstrous Workers World Party in North America, which supports every evil regime and terror outfit in the world today.

As usual with Mr Meredith, a well written and researched book. Had he written this earlier and I had read it earlier I would not have held on to living in Zimbabwe, hoping for a change. At the end of the day, the leopard Mugabe has not changed his spots but has demonstrated to the world, that whatever your opinion of him, he is still a master politician. A recommended read for anyone who wants to understand the man or even the convoluted machinations of African politics.

This book looks at the rule of Robert Mugabe, whose story is unfortunately like so many others in Africa. Having fought against colonialism he became Rhodesia's first, and ONLY, president.

This biography looks at his background, his political activities prior to the election which propelled him to power and his seemingly never-ending thirst for personal power, regardless of the cost to his long-suffering people. If you are interested in seeing how a country which once was the bread-basket of southern Africa became gripped in famine and despair, read this book.

For anyone interested in beginning to understand the dynamics of Zimbabwe's recent electoral crisis, this book is essential. Meredith goes into Mugabe's long history of violence,who like Mao sees violence as essential for politics. From the war waged against opposing guerilla forces because of political differences, the slaughter of 10,000 in Matabeleland, the seizure of white farms, threatening judges who ruled against the ZANU-PF government, and electoral violence, what we are seeing is nothing new, as Meredith reminds us. He also hints at the ethnic and racial tensions driving the politics and violence, something too often forgotten in today's media coverage. For example, Mugabe's ZANU-PF has its roots in the rural Shona ethnic group, while the Movement for Democratic change is much more urban and has many white supporters.

The book is also relatively short (about 244 pages) and easy to read. Meredith provides a huge amount of detail without wasting too many words (or the reader's time).

I think the book could have used a bit more of an introduction into Zimbabwe's and Africa's history more generally for the uninitiated to allow us to compare Mugabe's rule to how politics was conducted in the past in the country and the wider continent. For example, some readers might not realize the importance tribal and ethnic divides play in many African countries. However, any ignorance in this regard could be fixed by reading Meredith's other books on Africa.

Usually in biographies authors try to psychoanalyze their subject. Fortunately, Meredith does not try to do this. He provides insights using quotes and sources, not psychobabble. This is not only good academic practice, but also creates an alarming effect in the book in which Mugabe himself often seems somewhat distant, except through his public statements. That indeed appears to be how he is in real life, alienated from his nation, isolated from the people, and removed from reality.

I hope he comes out with another revised version when Mugabe finally falls from power.

[note: this book is a revised version of "Our Votes, Our Guns". It says this clearly on the front cover and back, but just to warn future readers...]

2 stars is not a judgment on the quality of this work. No, the low rating is due to the misleading title of the book. As an earlier reviewer suspected, this book simply is a "revised and updated" version of "Our Votes, Our Guns" -- which I already own! Needless to say, I would not have purchased this book had I known that. Yes there is a small footnote on the BACK OF THE BOOK, but you don't see that until the book arrives.

Furthermore, Meredith doesn't even provide and introduction telling one just what parts he has updated or revised. I'm sure this version contains valuable commentary on events since the earlier book, but there's no easy way to find the new material.

Overall I'm sure the book still is a valuable introduction to the insanity that is the Mugabe regime (that's why I gave it 2 stars rather than 1). If, however, you have read the earlier "Our Votes, Our Guns," save your money and wait for "Dinner with Mugabe" to be released.