Yes R.G was democratically elected, and commands maybe 65% approval.
This is really confusing. A 91-year old dictator enjoying close to 65% approval, despite wrecking the economy? It will be interesting to know the reasons why he still enjoys so much support from his citizens. Did he gave free land to the people (from the farmland which he confiscated from the white commercial farmers) ?
Well, glad you asked, i'll try to be short and keep my opinions out of it.
Initially, when we got independence , the brits agreed to help us buy the land from the white minority. There was a change in government there and they abandoned the effort. On the local front , war veterans (who still commanded a lot of respect and military power) were becoming more insistent on getting resources , land and government benefits. As if that is already not a powder keg we participated in the DRC war at great expense.
The war vets started taking land violently before R.G could resolve the issues and so to avoid local unrest and maintain power, a hurried land reform programme was carried out. What R G and his party (ZANU PF) managed to do, is deliver on the promises that most african liberation struggles failed, he got the people land. Our entire war was based on this premise...land for the people. So this gave him not only local legitimacy, but regional as well.
Remember him speaking out against the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq? We were watching our leader speak in defense of smaller nations against the aggression of larger more powerful ones, he inspired the currently and next generation of African leaders (hence they elected him to be AU Chairman). He also spoke out about foreign countries forming opinions without real information and influencing others to follow their lead regardless of the truth. Western leaders and western values are different, and trying to impose those on us resulted in the general population becoming distrustful of them. R.G on the other hand is more worried about impressing his people, than the rest of the world.
As the economy slipped deeper into the abyss , and the pressure of western sanctions increased, we all witnessed the effects. He did not wreck the economy. Yes he could have handled things differently, and maybe we could have a different situation, but we do not blame him for the economy, we blame the west's sanctions. Even now, we feel their grip every time we try to work with the international community.
If the west had used and pursued diplomatic solutions only without the threats of military intervention and/or the sanctions, i doubt R G would still be in power. I guess what they did not anticipate was that rather than forcing regime change, their actions and attitude towards us made us support our leaders more....much like they did in Cuba, Iran and now Russia.
And please don't refer to it as free land, it's OUR land. And many of the white farmers who applied for land actually got some, i myself (once i get a job) want to apply for some. Many of my white friends' parents have farms and enjoy a peaceful life.
It's cool to hear your perspective. One of my oldest friends is a Zimbabwean, boy does he have some stories to tell about his life growing up there.
His father was a very powerful man when he was young, he owned multiple gold and diamond mines and was close to RG and his cronies. He had servants and security guards, and a driving license when he was 11 years old. He witnessed their chef murder one of their security guards in front of the whole family when they were eating dinner, he stormed in and slit his throat in front of everyone! And he was executed the next day! He's seen one of his cousins get eaten by a crocodile! Needless to say his mother exiled him to the UK for reasons he would never, ever tell me. All I know is that he hated his father. Hell, he was actually left a diamond mine in his fathers will. He was his only son you see and wanted him to take care of his business. I will never know why he refused so much to accept it... But I have begun to understand why he wouldn't the more I learn about the country and its government. It ended up in the hands of RG, man how I tried to get him to do something about it before the government took it. "Just sell it!" I used to say.
His story has always fascinated me.
So far away from my upbringing and western lifestyle!
