So, how's this for an anniversary that should inspire ambivalence? Zimbabwe is celebrating its 28th year of independence.
I know that there are those who argue that things were better under Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime. I am not one of those people, if only because I refuse to grant privileged status to a white-dominated regime in sub-Saharan Africa. Smith and his supporters were ruthless racists committed to the violent control of a tiny minority of whites over the masses of blacks.
But the noxiousness of Smith's regime does not forgive Robert Mugabe his manifest sins. Mugabe was a liberation hero. But he also stands as example number one of why the transition from liberation hero to head of state is not one that is inevitable. Mugabe was a legitimate champion for his people when he was fighting in the bush. But that just makes his brutality as Zimbabwe's President all the more tragic.
Mugabe the head of state failed Mugabe the liberation hero.
