Mobutu and Mugabe...Two Names We Should All Know

As I have mentioned before, this semester I am taking third year history which consists of two classes: Africa in Crisis and Themes in Zimbabwean History. Needless to say, I did not have much background knowledge in either of these subjects, but it wasn't until taking both classes that I truly realized how little I knew about African history. 

I was sitting at brunch with Jenna this morning, who is from New York and is in both of my history classes. We talked about the American education system and how we tend to learn about countries or regions that either have an influence on the States or impact us in some way. For example my last two years of high school, I learned quite a bit about the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, but barely anything about Latin America, South America, Africa, or Australia. I knew bits and pieces about the Rwandan genocide and the Somalian pirates, but as a whole, I knew very little about the African continent. 

My history professor here was absolutely appalled at my lack of pre-existing knowledge. He was quite offended and told me that the rest of the world knows all about America and our history yet we can't take the time to learn about other cultures. And unfortunately I did not have a good response to him. Obviously we cannot be expected to know everything there is to know about every country because that's unrealistic, but I do realize how limited our education is and how big of a flaw that is. Because of this I decided to share about two very important people that I have learned about this semester (and subsequently have had to write 15 page papers on). While I understand that many American probably know Mobutu Sese Seko and Robert Mugabe, I did not before taking this class, so I have decided to pay forward what I have gotten to learn. 

Mobutu Sese Seko was the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (which he renamed Zaire) from 1965 to 1997. Mobutu was aided into office by the United States and Belgium. The US wanted Mobutu in office because they wanted an ally in the Great Lakes region to both aid US interests and prevent the spread of communism (during the Cold War). 

Mobutu-- Zairian dictator from 1965-1997.

The Great Lakes region in Africa refers to the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania (Uganda is also occasionally included in this region).

Here is a quick history (super brief) of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo)/Zaire/Congo. The DRC was colonized by Belgium, who did very little to build up the country. In 1960 the DRC gained independence from Belgium. The MNC party won the elections which put Lumumba in power. However due to the lack of social structure, it was pretty chaotic right from the start of his rule. Moise Tshombe led an armed uprising in July of 1960 with the support of France, Belgium, and Britain in attempts to secure Katanga (HUGE copper producing city). Understandably, Lumumba wasn't too happy about this so he closed all Belgian embassy's and expelled all of their diplomats. The UK viewed Lumumba as a communist stooge and had to be assassinated, which he was (suspects: CIA, Belgium, & UK). There were disputes over who would rule for a few years and finally in 1965, with US support, Mobutu assumed presidency after a coup. He them renamed the country to Zaire. 

Lumumba

Mobutu quickly formed a top-down military authoritarian regime, acquired vast personal wealth by stealing from the country (and putting all the money in a Swiss bank account), and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influences. He did this all while receiving support from the US because of his anti-communist stance. Mobutu basically turned the state into a mafia, in which he got a cut from all businesses and had spies on the ground to report any suspicious behavior. Due to the lack of development, in the 1990's a parallel economy emerged (fun fact: the term "black market" is extremely derogatory so the term "parallel economy" is now used instead). When the economy started to take a major downward spin, Mobutu decided to start allowing rouge rebels in other countries to start smuggling through Zaire (for example allowing Angolan rebels to smuggle gold & diamonds through Zaire). Once Mobutu could no longer pay the army, they deserted him, and he was kicked out of power. Coincidentally this was around the time the US decided to stop supporting dictators and removed all support. 

So why should we care? Well, during the Cold War, the States had a nasty habit of supporting oppressive dictators that supported the US's view against communism. We supported and funded Mobutu's rule under which he oppressed his people, stole from the government, and due to the US support and having us as an ally, was almost untouchable. Obviously this isn't usually something the US Government likes to brag about. This is one of the reasons why there tends to be such an anti-American view in this region. We supported a dictator that did nothing but harm the region and create regional tension and half the country doesn't know about it. During the class, someone brought up the point that the US will do almost anything to protect our interests and that we don't care too much about who we impact in the process, and looking at this case, I would say they're right. 

The other important person that I knew nothing about was Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has been the dictator of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Mugabe is apart of the ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front) party. Mugabe's rule has practiced strict censorship (to the degree that journalists have been detained, had to flee the country, and editors have been threatened) and forceful nationalism. Mugabe has received mixed reviews. On one hand, some see Mugabe as a national hero who has done nothing but save the country. Other see Mugabe as an oppressive, racist dictator who has done nothing but destroy Zimbabwe. 

Recently (May 2013) Mugabe has decided to "blast" Nelson Mandela (former president of South Africa). Mugabe criticized Mandela for being too soft on whites. "Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the nonblack communities  really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)...that's being too saintly, too good, too much of a saint". Clearly Mugabe is past making friends when he continued to say, "Mrs. Thatcher, you could trust her. But of course what happened later was a different story with the Labour Party and Blair, who you could never trust...Here we call him BLiar". I suppose when you are 82, you no longer care about foreign relations. 

As my professor pointed out, it interesting to wach how Mugabe's rule has changed from 1980 to today. In the 80s, Mugabe was very tolerant of the whites, mostly as an economic tactic. Mugabe's implicit rule was that as long as whites stayed away from the government, he was fine with them. Mugabe knew that if he was too aggressive right from the start, the whites would leave Zimbabwe which would create an economic nightmare for the country. However, as the decades progressed, so did the intensity of his rule. Censorship started to get tighter and to this day, it is near impossible to find an anti-ZANU-PF article from within the country. 

The issue of land has been at the center of Zimbabwean politics for many years. During colonial times, land was taken from the blacks and given to the whites. Mugabe (starting in the 1980s but more prominently in the 2000s) has become very aggressive in his land reform policies. Mugabe has instituted many acts that allow him to take land away from white farmers and redistribute it to the blacks. While this has caused many people to criticize Mugabe, it has also turned him into a hero among Southern Africans. Many see Mugabe as one of the few leaders who forcefully (and through his actions) made it clear that no longer would black Africans be second class to the whites and that colonialism was over. 

During the past thirty years, what has gained the most criticism was Operation Murambatsvina. Operation Murambatsvina (Operation Drive Out Rubbish), was officially known as Operation Restore Order, and was a large-scale government campaign to forcibly clear low-income areas across the country. The campaign started in 2005 (so fairly recently) and is estimated to have impacted at least 700,000 people directly through loss of their homes. Basically what happened was Mugabe and his party bull-dozed and burnt down many of the housing projects claiming that they were illegal housing structures. Granted some were illegal, but also some were legal. What makes this act even more questionable was the fact that issues surrounding housing are normally handled by the municipality  not by the federal government. It is said that this was an act of reasserting power after almost losing the 2000 elections. Many of these homes were occupied by supporters of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change-- the opposition party). 

Needless to say, both Mobutu and Mugabe are extremely important names to know when examining African history and the African political sector. As difficult as this class was, I could not be more grateful that I was challenged and had to learn so many new things. It has really put into perspective how limited my understanding of this continent was and how lucky I am that I have been given the opportunity to learn even more about that continent I have called home for the past four months.  

(Note: I know in this article I have used the terms "blacks" and "whites" quite a lot. Here in South Africa those are the politically correct terminology. While we in the States may be a bit hesitant to label people as black, white or colored, it is completely acceptable and normal here. Sorry if that language was offensive to anyone for that was not the intention.)