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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Angel of Democracy
Preamble : Author says, a tragic series of events in the Zimbabwean President's terrifying past have profound implications for democracy in southern Africa.
A fateful moment now arrived in Zimbabwean politics, revealed in full for the
first time in Mugabe Mugabe -
Birth of a Democrat: From desperate fugitive to Rainbow leader (© Economist,
2008)1. The author, Heidi Holland, a South African author and journalist was brought up in Zimbabwe. She first met Mr Mugabe in 1975, when a friend brought him to her house for a secret dinner as he was about to commence negotiations with the Rhodesian Government. Mr Mugabe had spent the previous decade in a Rhodesian jail for a subversive speech he made in 1963. The polite and considerate fugitive telephoned the next day to inquire about her toddler. During the meeting Mr Mugabe described two events that changed his life forever. With the perspective of hindsight, it is now possible to see how easily himself and the South African dictator Nelson Mandela could have switched the contrasting roles of demon and angel in southern african politics. The two events occured in Salisbury and London three years apart. At issue was the expediency of British Foreign Policy. Relenting to pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Ian Smith reversed his decision POD 1 and allowed Mugaba to travel to Ghana to attend his son's funeral. There is no doubt that Sally Mugabe's support for her husband helped sustain him during his time as a prisoner in Salisbury. But, in 1970, while still locked up, Mugabe discovered his wife's immigration status was at risk and that the British government was planning to throw her out of the country because her visa had expired. A letter from Robert Mugabe to Prime Minister Harold Wilson was responded to in the positive. The letters showed that Mugabe was prepared to plead with the British authorities for his wife's citizenship. In his letter, Mugabe had told Wilson of the effect the death of his son had
had on his wife, explaining that: Later he asked Wilson to reconsider the decision to refuse Sally permission to stay in Britain by politely explaining that his wife had a right to British citizenship because of their marriage, 'under Christian rites', in 1961. He added that it was 'sheer force of circumstance' that meant his wife had had to use a Ghanaian passport to enter Britain, proclaiming, 'She is first and foremost a Rhodesian citizen.'
Mr Mugabe explained that,
The British Government did take moral responsibility POD 2 and the result was the 1975 agreement in the Governor's lodge at Salisbury. During his first month in office, Mr Mugabe summoned Smith to Government House and Smith was surprised to be greeted with a warm handshake and a broad smile. At that meeting, Mugabe told Smith he was acutely aware that he had inherited from his old adversaries, the whites, a jewel of a country, and he praised its superb infrastructure, its efficient modern economy, and promised to keep it that way. Smith, completely disarmed, rushed home in a state of excitement, and, over
lunch, told his wife, Janet, that perhaps he had been wrong about a black
government being incapable of running his beloved Rhodesia. As he told Graham
Boynton years later:
Author's Notes
1) The article from the Economist is the key source of this
post.
Steve Payne Editor of Today in Alternate History, a Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today. Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.
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On
26 December 1966 following a severe attack of malaria Nhamodzenyika Mugabe died
in Ghana. He was just three years old, the first and only son of Robert Gabriel
and Sally Francesca (Hayfron) Mugabe (they had lost a child in pregnancy in
1963). With her husband in prison, Sally was left to bear the emotional burden
of the loss alone - confidential papers show that she later suffered a mental
breakdown while living in London. 
My wife,
whose health has never been satisfactory since the loss of our son in 1966, is
at present suffering serious emotional upset as a result of the decision by the
Home Office. Surely then, the fact of my detention is enough suffering for her
already. As I stated in my letter to Mr Callaghan, the reason my wife decided to
work for the year (September 1969-June 1970) was to enable her to earn a little
money for herself until October when she should enter university to do a degree
in Household Science. The Home Office decision wrecks even this wholesome plan.
