Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe beginning in 1980, first as prime minister and then as president since 1987. One of the most controversial presidents in the African world, he was re-elected to presidency multiple times until his forced resignation in November 2017. Let’s take a look at the life of the former Zimbabwean leader.
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Mugabe was born on Feb. 21, 1924, in the Kutama village of Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. The country was a British Crown colony then and the laws were oppressive toward the natives, causing limited opportunities for jobs and education.
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As a child and the third of six children, Mugabe helped his mother earn the livelihood for the family. His father, a carpenter, left to work on a Jesuit mission in South Africa and never returned.
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The primary influence on his life was Father O’Hea, the director of the local Jesuit mission school that Mugabe attended as a boy. It was the school director who instilled in the young man his rights and that of all men to be treated equally and with respect.
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