Pursuit of power: Mugabe- Zimbabwe's liberator and, for many, its oppressor

When he came to power, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe was feted as an African liberation hero in a nation that had endured nearly a century of white colonial rule.

Nearly four decades after the country’s independence from Britain in 1980, he was regarded by many as an autocrat, willing to unleash death squads, rig elections and trash the economy in the relentless pursuit of power.

The 93-year-old resigned as president on Tuesday, ending 37 years of rule. He had clung on for a week after an army takeover and expulsion from his ZANU-PF party, but quit after parliament began an impeachment process against him.

Educated and urbane, Mugabe took power after seven years of a liberation bush war and is the only leader Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, has known since independence from Britain in 1980.

The army seized power last week after Mugabe sacked ZANU-PF’s favourite to succeed him, Vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, to smooth a path to the presidency for his wife Grace, 52, known to her critics as “Gucci Grace” for her reputed fondness for luxury shopping.

“It’s the end of a very painful and sad chapter in the history of a young nation, in which a dictator, as he became old, surrendered his court to a gang of thieves around his wife,” Chris Mutsvangwa, leader of Zimbabwe’s influential liberation war veterans, told Reuters after the army takeover.
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