The evil that Robert Mugabe did

His 37-year rule smothered the aspirations and ambitions of an ebullient young nation and plunged it into an abyss of despair

“Game over. Done. Finished!” said a spokesman for the Zimbabwe War Veterans on November 18. I knew then it was the end of the 37-year-long rule of the country’s founding father-turned-strongman, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The army had placed him under house arrest earlier in the week. The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front party expelled him the next day, asking him to resign. The party and the military were largely Mugabe’s creations, but the veterans enjoy respect in Zimbabwe independent of him. Mugabe ensured to be on their right side. They in turn remained loyal to him, helping overcome the