Tips we should know about 37years of :ROBERT MUGABE AS A PRESIDENT

President,who ruled for 37 years until he was ousted by his own army in November 2017, died in a Singapore hospital a week ago aged 95.

Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe beginning in 1980, first as prime minister and then as president since 1987. One of the most controversial presidents in African world, he was re-elected to presidency multiple times. Let's take a look at the life of the former Zimbabwean leader. 

• Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924, in Kutama Village of Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. The country was a British crown colony then and  the laws were oppressive to the natives, causing limited opportunities for jobs and education.
• He was the third if six children, He helped his mother earn a livelihood for the family. His father, was a carpenter, left to work in a Jesuit mission in South Africa and never returned.
  
• Father O'Hea, the director of the local Jesuit mission school that Mugabe attached as a boy influence his life. It was a the school director who instilled in the young man his right and that of all men to be treated equally and with respect.
• He attended a teaching diploma in 1945 from Katuma's St. Francis Xavier college. He went to study at fort Hare in South Africa, from where he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelors in Arts. He earned six more degrees that included a Bachelor and a Master of Science and Bachelor and a Master of Law.
• He started lecturing at Chalimbana Teacher Training College in Northern Rhodesia until 1958, after which he taught at the Apowa Secondary school at Takoradi, Ghana.  while in Ghana, he also taught at St. Mary's Teacher Training College , where he met Sally Hayfron, his first wife.
• He assembled a militant youth League to fight for black independence in Rhodesia. The government banned his party in 1961.  The banned NDP changed into the Zimbabwe African people Union (ZAPU), whose membership stood at a staggering 450,000.
• In 1963, Mugabe and his supporters founded a resistance movement called the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in Tanzania. He was arrested by the police when he went back to Southern Rhodesia and remained in prison for 10years. While in prison, Mugabe used secret communications to launch a guerilla operation in 1964,  to free Southern Rhodesia from the British rule. In 1974, he was allowed by prime minister Ian Smith to leave prison to attend a conference in Zambia  Northern Rhodesia. Mugabe used this chance to escape to Southern Rhodesia, where he assembled guerilla trainees along the way.
• In 1980, south Rhodesia was finally liberated from British rule and became the independent Republic of Zimbabwe. Running for elections from the ZANU party, Mugabe was elected prime minister of the new Republic. 
• However, Mugabe was re-elected as the prime minister in 1985 but in 1981, fight broke out between ZANU and ZAPU. Peace was finally brokered between the parties in 1987. A week after this pact, Mugabe was appointed the president of Zimbabwe. 
• In jJanuar 1992, Mugabe's wife passed away a d in 1996 he  married his long time partner Grace Maruful. 
• His winning the 2002 presidential election was clouded by speculation that he had stuffed the ballot box. That caused the European Union to place an arm's embargo and other economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.
• Mugabe won the 2005 parliamentary elections, with his party winning 78 seats. The vote was marred  by allegations of pre-election malpractice and rigged  vote - counting. 
• Mugabe was first defeated by opposition candidate in 2008 in the first round, however Tsvangirai Morgan withdrew from the Second round because of a surge in violence on his supporters, which he alleged was ZANU sponsored. Mugabe won with an Overwhelming majority.
• He was again elected to power in 2013 with 61percent vote, but since then the dismal economy has continuously strengthened the wave of opposition. On November 15, 2017, the Zimbabwean Army took control of the country, saying it was " removing criminal around Robert Mugabe" as the president remained confined to a house arrest. At that point Mugabe refused to resign but he was forced out.
• Mugabe died on September 6, 2019, at the age of 95 in Singapore battling I'll health.