Hello

i was in Rhodesia for the end of RHodesia self government (BTW to us Rhodesians (real and ersatz) it is now referred to as 'occupied' Rhodesia not zimbuggeredland or some such).  In the year prior to Mugarbage's election there was an internal election with larger turnout than the officially sanctioned election that elected Mugabe.  It was won by Bishop Abel Musorwewa and Rev Sithole, both formerly with the various liberation fronts.  The election was free of violence and intimidation despite the best efforts of Mugabe and a power sharing arrangement was agreed upon between Smiths Rhodesian Front and the Musorewa Party (name is forgotten) THIS COALITION WOULD LAST ONLY A COUPLE OF YEARS as the electoral process would eventually would have transformed to a total oneman one vote basis.

The govt got off to a very good start in that with a black government the rural populace began to provide solid help to the Rhodesian armed forces and many units of Mugabes guerillas were discovered and destroyed in a 3-5 month period....but the continuing pressure from Anddrew Young against the new gov't and heavy help from the Soviets the Patriotic Front would not even consider sitting down with the new govt.  Sanctions from South Africa, of all places, were tightened and we in the military found our units short of petro....the screw had been tightened beyond hope and new elections were called that included Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo.

These elections were exercises in violence and intimidation and of course Mugabe won as the Rhodesian forces had stood down and blue helmets and commonwealth troops were in place to allow Mugabe his victory which I am sure he would NOT have gained under fair conditions.

Interestingly enough...Mugabe turned his sights not on 250,000 white Rhodesian population after inauguration but on his rival Joshua Nkomo...who was Mtabele as Mugabe was sHONA.  In 1982 (?) Mugabe turned his north korean 5th brigade on Nkomo supporters and guerillas and killed 20-30,000 people..called the Gukurhindi..or savage war in mtabele//Again the first years of post rhodesian independence were not bad...Africa had seen worse for sure but things begaan to change severly in 1989-1990 when the economic policy of the country became increasingly socialist...

i can go on forever but the point is that Mugabe was never the true first choice of black Rhodesian but was forced upon the country.  The country maintained a an equilibrium but eventuall y fell to the Mugabe insanity and went down hill in the mid 1990s and the final destruction came with the usurption of the white owned farms starting in 1999,.....Now...there is less than nothing and the country ..once so rich..so progressive in the traditional sense ///...will suffer forever....as will South Africa as the white population flees..

Paarl of Rhodesia

"Mugabe's Marxist, dictatorial tendencies were apparent from the beginning."

Hmm, sounds like somebody we know, doesn't it?

-Dave

Just kidding.

"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason

Yet one more example of how useless Carter and his crack advisors like Zbigniew Brzezinski were in pushing for this shameful agreement which undermined the will of the Rhodesian people and the peaceful transition that was already taking place in Salisbury.

Instead Carter's stupidity subverted democratic results and undermined
a democratically elected leader in the form of Abel Muzorewa, and put
in place an already defeated and unpopular genocidal mainiac in the
form of Mugabe.

Ian Smith knew his days were numbered and as the Bush Wars were winding down and the rural population, were turning on Mugbae and his ZANU guerillas, Muzorewa had a real chance to helm a prosperous and peaceful Southern African country, and had been key in transition many years prior to 1979.

Around this time, I was a boy and I started meeting a lot of my family that had been living in Rhodesia. They would show me photographs of the country, telling stories of growing up in Rhodesia, all the while saying that their situation was only a minor set back and they would eventually head "home". Their lives looked, and sounded great, but I didn't really understand at 8 why they would all pretty much would get very meloncholy and then couldn't talk anymore about their "home". Then I met my Uncle Rory.

Rory was a big very fit man. with an incredible belly laugh, piercing blue eyes, great smile and a great bushy beard. I have always measured as the standard for a "real" beard ever since I was a kid.  Rory was a former Army Officer in the Rhodesian Army, and has since passed, but for several years after the mention of the word Zimbabwe would register rage in his eyes. Most Leftists would twist into some gibberish about racist colonialism, but not only was he upset that his home was no longer his home. I began seeing what was coming down the road in Rhodesia through the eyes of my Uncle Rory, and then it began to make sense to me why all my other family would be upset.

He would often times hear from friends who remained about Mugabe's antics, especially the treatment of some of his former black troopers, that was the first time I'd ever witnessed a man with a broken heart. Rory was a man of action. He never complained and whined about the situation like many leftists would, instead he was very active in ex-pat Rhodesian organizations, sending whatever he could back, and helping anyone relocate.

Carter opened the gate for a Marxist terrorist that loves for his friends to call him Hitler. Mugabe is cut of the same cloth as another Marxist terrorist the left slobbers over, Nelson Mandela, except they just haven't figured out a way to spin Mugabe's image as a happy fuzzy grandpa figure as they have with Mandela. Mugabe is pure unadulterated evil incarnate. Thanks Jimmy Carter, however, no matter how many houses you build for the poor it will not assuage you of the responsibility nor wash the bloodoff your hands for the misery you have created.