Robert Mugabe dies

“It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe,” he tweeted, using the abbreviation for comrade. “Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten.”

The statement did not provide details on the cause of death. Reuters reported he died in Singapore, where he was receiving medial care in recent years. In November, Mnangagwa said Mugabe was no longer able to walk, but did not disclose what he was being treated for.

Mugabe was ousted in 2017, when members of his own party turned against him as he sought to make his 54-year-old wife, Grace, his successor.

Mugabe married his wife, who had been his former secretary, in 1996 after the death of his first wife, Sally, four years earlier.

Until his ouster, he had been the only person to lead Zimbabwe since the East African nation’s independence in 1980.

He was born Feb. 21, 1924 in what was then Rhodesia, a British colony, run by a white-minority government. A former teacher, he began his political career as a guerrilla leader in the fight for Zimbabwe’s independence and spent a decade in jail as a political prisoner.

He emerged a hero at the end of the war but, soon after, his forces massacred those who opposed him. About 10,000 people are estimated to have died during the brutal crackdown. During his later years in rule he forcibly evicted white farmers from their properties.

The land-grab polices drove Zimbabwe’s economy into the ground. Despite the growing economic crisis, Mugabe refused calls to step down, insisting “only God” could remove him.