A look at the life of Zimbabwe's late president Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwean former president Robert Mugabe, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after he signed the new constitution into law at State house in Harare. Picture: AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Zimbabwean former president Robert Mugabe, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after he signed the new constitution into law at State house in Harare. Picture: AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Published Sep 6, 2019

Share

Harare - Following are key milestones in

the life of Zimbabwe's former leader Robert Mugabe.

1924 - Mugabe is born on February 21 in what was then

British-ruled Southern Rhodesia.

1940s-1950s - He is educated at Catholic schools and attends

South Africa's University of Fort Hare. He teaches in Zambia and

Ghana, where he is influenced by African independence movement

leaders.

1960s - Mugabe campaigns for Zimbabwe's independence and is

imprisoned in 1964 for political agitation. While incarcerated,

he earns two law degrees from the University of London External

Programme.

1974 - Released from prison, he escapes to Mozambique were

Zimbabwe African National Union guerrilla fighters elect him to

lead their struggle against white minority rule. A number of

rivals die in suspicious circumstances, rights groups say.

1980 - Mugabe's ZANU-PF party wins independent Zimbabwe's

first election. He takes office as prime minister on April 18.

1982 - Mugabe deploys North Korean-trained troops to crush

an insurgency by former guerrillas loyal to his liberation war

rival Joshua Nkomo. Government forces are accused of involvement

in the killing of 20,000 civilians, which Mugabe denies.

1987 - He becomes president with sweeping executive powers

after changes to the constitution and signs a unity pact with

Nkomo, who becomes one of his two deputies.

1990 - ZANU-PF and Mugabe win parliamentary and presidential

elections.

1998 - An economic crisis marked by high interest rates and

inflation sparks riots.

2000 - Zimbabweans reject a new constitution in a

referendum, Mugabe's first defeat at the ballot box.

- Thousands of independence war veterans and their allies,

backed by the government, seize white-owned farms, saying the

land was illegally appropriated by white settlers.

2001 - The United States puts a financial freeze on Mugabe's

government in response to land seizures, beginning a wave of

Western sanctions. Mugabe's relationship with the West,

especially the U.S. and Britain, never recovers.

2002 - Mugabe wins a disputed presidential vote, which

observers condemn as flawed.

- Zimbabwe is suspended from the British Commonwealth over

accusations of human rights abuses and economic mismanagement.

Mugabe pulls his country from the grouping the following year.

2008 - Hyperinflation reaches 500 billion percent, the nadir

of an economic implosion that forces millions of people to leave

the country, many to neighbouring South Africa.

- Mugabe loses a presidential vote but wins the run-off

after opponent Morgan Tsvangirai withdraws citing violence

against his supporters by security forces and war veterans. A

power-sharing agreement is signed.

2010 - Media reports say Mugabe is seriously ill with

cancer, speculation that continues in following years.

2013 - Mugabe wins another disputed presidential vote.

Western observers site multiple accounts of electoral fraud.

2016 - Protesters led by a pastor stage the biggest show of

defiance against Mugabe in a decade, prompting speculation about

life after the veteran leader.

2017 - Mugabe is forced to resign in November following an

army coup and is replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man he had

fired as his deputy two weeks earlier.

2018 - Mugabe is seen in public for the first time since

leaving power. He berates his former ZANU-PF allies and backs

opposition leader Nelson Chamisa on the eve of an election.

2019 - Mugabe travels several times to Singapore to seek

medical treatment as pictures of the gaunt, gray-haired former

leader circulate on social media. 

Related Topics:

zimbabwerobert mugabe