Churches Speak On Mugabe's Legacy

The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), said in a statement that though Mugabe posted some positive achievements in his early years in office, his later years were marred by corruption, cronyism and the brutalisation of opponents. The statement reads in part:

Mugabe will have been appropriately mourned if an inclusive economy free from corruption, cronyism and patronage is recovered.

Mugabe will rest in peace if his last plea to separate the gun from the politics is exalted.

Mugabe may rest in peace if the nation is truly reconciled and the victims and perpetrators of past atrocities can embrace.

One cannot ignore the dark side of Mugabe’s tenure characterised by brutalisation of political opponents inside and outside his own political party.

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One cannot forget the loss of thousands of lives in the Midlands and Matabeleland during the Gukurahundi.

As we mourn President Mugabe, Zimbabwe will not forget how his rhetoric and political gamesmanship inhibited consensus politics.

… Robert Gabriel Mugabe will be remembered for the great achievements in his earlier period and also the many challenges under his watch in the latter part of his reign.

In mourning Mugabe, on one hand, the nation stands in awe of a man who together with other liberation heroes was part of a liberation struggle for the independence of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe died on Friday in a hospital in Singapore where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment for an extended period of time.

He was born on February 21, 1924, in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia. He became Prime Minister in 1980 and became executive President in 1987.

Mugabe resigned in 2017 under pressure from the military.

He died at the age of 95.

More: Mail and Telegraph