Interviewing Mugabe

(Why did Mugabe sit down with you?) Because I have a bit of a shared history with him: 30 years ago, shortly after he came out of prison and before he went to war in Rhodesia, and Mozambique was known then, he came for dinner at my house and I provided him a safehouse. He was underground at the time because he was expecting to be rearrested. (Why was he in prison at the time?) He was a nationalist leader who wanted majority rule, same as Mandela. (So set the scene for us now.) You can tell the toil of the years on him, not physically, and that’s partly because he’s very passive and still. His face is quite unmobile, he doesn’t give anything away. He was dressed like an Anglophile and he was positioned behind this very big desk and I felt very nervous. (Now Mugabe was held in high esteem when he first came to power. This is a clip of Mugabe in 1980 when he first announced his victory). Mugabe: the phase we’re entering should be regarded as a period for all of us of full sovereignty and democratic rights, and we have no intention to use the advantage of the majority to victimize the minority. (When did this reasonable politician change his tone and lose his psychological balance?) I don’t think he’s mad, he’s just diluted and put himself in a position where he doesn’t have to encounter criticism. I think he’s in denial and knows he’s made a mess of the country and he doesn’t want to face it. the first moment when he was challenged was when Apartheid South Africa decided they would destabilize him. Mugabe overreacted and there was the appalling massacre in which he killed a lot of people. That’s been a blot on his entire presidency, but during that same time he even made overtures to whites. But then inexplicably when the time came to vote, the whites voted against him, and then the British reneged on other promises and Mugabe went ballistic. I’ve always felt his quarrels with Britain smacked of a family quarrel. (That’s a good point to play another clip of Mugabe, about a year ago.) Mugabe: We are an independent state and we run things our own way in accordance with the will and interests of our people. We will not accept insubordination to British rule. HH: Mugabe is a weak guy, comes from an impoverished background in the British colonial era. Mugabe is full of bitterness and anger now and still embodies the anger of the post-Colonial era. (How many years does he think he can stay in power for? Is he a man alone at the top?) People are terrified of him. When you contradict him, his eyes blaze and gets so angry at being contradicted. As to how long he’ll be there, his mother died when he was nearly 100 and he’s 84. I don’t think he’ll lose the election and he’ll stop at nothing to stay there.