Robert Mugabe, who has died aged 95, was Zimbabwe’s president for 37 years. He was ousted in a military coup in November 2017.
His death was announced by his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who heaped praises on him as an “icon of liberation”, saying Zimbabwe would not be where it is today, had it not been for the strongman.
“It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe,” Mnangagwa wrote.
Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state before his forced resignation in 2017, was the only leader Zimbabweans had known since independence in 1980.
During his 37-year rule, Mugabe attracted a great deal of controversy, mostly because of his colourful use of language. He had a long history of making colourful or controversial remarks during his nearly four decades.
We bring you some of his most famous quotes:
“Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it. These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept, will seek to remove.” – Speech at Salisbury, 1962
“Stay with us, please remain in this country and constitute a nation based on national unity.” – A plea to the white population of Zimbabwe at a ZANU-PF rally, 1980.
“Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy.” – ZANU-PF rally, 2002
- On staying in office
2014: “Some are saying ‘Mr Mugabe is old, so he should step down’… No! When my time comes, I will tell you.”
2008: “Only God who appointed me will remove me — not the MDC (opposition), not the British.”
- On Independence
Mugabe’s speech when Zimbabwe won independence was more conciliatory.
1980: “It could never be a correct justification that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today.”
- On seizing farms from whites
2000: “You are now our enemies because you really have behaved as enemies of Zimbabwe. We are full of anger. Our entire community is angry and that is why we now have the war veterans seizing land.”
2002: “Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy.”
- On Britain, former colonial ruler
2001: “The British were brought up as a violent people, liars, scoundrels and crooks… I am told that (former British PM Tony) Blair was a troublesome little boy at school.”
“Britain is a very cold, uninhabitable country with small houses.” – Mutare rally, 2013
1999: “We are still exchanging blows with the British government. They are using gay gangsters. Each time I pass through London, the gangster regime of Blair ‘expresses its dismay’.” – Reference to an incident in which human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell attempted a citizens’ arrest on Mugabe during a visit to London in October.
2002: “We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood … So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.” – Earth Summit, South Africa.
- On homosexuality and gay marriages
2010: “Worse than pigs and dogs… Those who do it, we will say, they are wayward. It is just madness, insanity.”
2013: “(President Barack) Obama came to Africa saying Africa must allow gay marriages… God destroyed the Earth because of these sins. Weddings are for a man and a woman.”
- On Nelson Mandela
2013: “Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)… That’s being too saintly, too good.”
- On Hitler
2003: “I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people.
“If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.”
- On Trump and other US presidents
2017: “Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened, by what appeared to be the return of the biblical giant gold Goliath. Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries?” – UN General Assembly, 2017.
2017: “May I say to the United States President, Mr Trump, please blow your trumpet. Blow your trumpet in a musical way towards the values of unity, peace, cooperation, togetherness, dialogue, which we have always stood for.”
2007: “Let Mr Bush read history correctly. Let him realise that both personally and in his representative capacity as the current president of the United States, he stands for this ‘civilisation’, which occupied, which colonised, which incarcerated, which killed. He has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His hands drip with [the] innocent blood of many nationalities.” – UN General Assembly
- On Grooming a successor
“Grooming a successor, is it an inheritance? In a democratic party, you don’t want leaders appointed that way. They have to be appointed properly by the people.” – TV interview, 2016
- On the economy On Grooming a successor
2007: “Our economy is a hundred times better, than the average African economy. Outside South Africa, what country is [as good as] Zimbabwe? … What is lacking now are goods on the shelves – that is all.”
- On his marital affair
Before his first wife died in 1992, Mugabe started a relationship with Grace, whom he married in 1996.
1998: “I wanted children and this is how I thought I could get them. I knew what I was doing and my wife knew.”
- On colonialism
1962: “Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it. These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept, will seek to remove.”
2015: “African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies, but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists.”
- On death rumors
False reports of Mugabe dying were a feature of his old age.
2012: “I have died many times. That’s where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once. I have died and resurrected and I don’t know how many times I will die and resurrect.”
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On a lighter note; here are some others about life attributed to Mugabe(often shared on social media…hilarious as they are, one would only wonder if he really wrote them himself);
Crazy ‘Mugabe’ quotes that will leave you rolling on the ground with laughter
— ‘’ Don’t fight even over girlfriends. The country is full of beautiful women. If you can’t get one, come to Mugabe for assistance’’ – Robert Mugabe
—-‘’We have said we will never collapse, no never. We may have our droughts, our poverty, but as people we shall never collapse, never ever.’’ – Robert Mugabe
—– ‘’Sometimes you look back at girls you spent money rather than send it to your mum & you realize witchcraft is real’’- Robert Mugabe
—–“Some are saying ‘Mr Mugabe is old, so he should step down’… No! When my time comes, I will tell you.” – Robert Mugabe
—- ‘’Dear ladies, if your boyfriend didn’t wish you a happy mother’s day or sing sweet mother to you, you should stop breastfeeding him’’- Robert Mugabe
—-‘’If you are ugly, you are ugly. Stop talking about inner beauty, Men do not walk around with X-rays to see inner beauty’’- Robert Mugabe
—-‘‘’Whenever things seem to start going well, in your life, the Devil comes along and gives you a girlfriend’’- Robert Mugabe
—- ‘’Dear sisters don’t be deceived by men who text you ‘I miss you’ only when it’s raining because you are not an umbrella’’- Robert Mugabe
—–‘’It’s hard to bewitch African girls these days. Every time you take a piece from her hair to a witch doctor, either a Brazilian innocent woman gets mad or a factor in China catches fire’’- Robert Mugabe
— ‘’Respect pregnant women because it is not easy walking around with evidence that you’ve had sex’’- Robert Mugabe
—- ‘’Nothing makes a woman more confused than being in a relationship with a ‘’broke’’ man who’s extremely good in bed’’ – Robert Mugabe
