It's time to step down, Mr. Mugabe!

…“No more internal power struggle, brother you’re right, you’re right, we’ll have to fight for our rights, divide and rule could only tear us apart, in every man’s chest there beats a heart and I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries…Africans liberate Zimbabwe.” …Bob Marley

It seems only yesterday, as a young and idealistic member of the Southern African Support Project (SASP), we sat and watched the transition of the colonial rule of Rhodesia to the newly independent African country of Zimbabwe! Oh, it was a glorious time.

After years of lobbying, fundraising and demonstrating in the streets of Washington, DC, we finally saw the fruits of our labor come to fruition. It appeared that Rhodesia was going to be the first of the southern African countries to realize independence. Robert Mugabe was mentored by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and later became a teacher in Rhodesia. Mugabe rose to lead the Zimbawe African National Union (ZANU) and waged an armed struggle against the British-backed colonial power led by Ian Smith because of the atrocities committed against the indigenous people by the white-ruled minority.

Today, as President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is considered one of the most vile leaders on the continent, if not the world. With inflation running as high as one thousand percent and the brutality against political opposition, his administration is criminal. The atrocities occurring under Mugabe’s watch are despicable. It is difficult for me to read the news daily and learn of the continuing abuses of the Mugabe dictatorship. Some thirty years ago, I had worked with others for the liberation of Rhodesia and imagined it as being, one day, an example of the success of a post-colonial country for the whole world.

Unfortunately, I am only left with the political axiom, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

It's time to step down, Mr. Mugabe!