The documentary Mugabe: Villain or Hero? was shown recently as part of the
African Odysseys strand at BFI London South Bank.
Mugabe:
Villain or Hero? examines the current situation in Zimbabwe. If you
have heard or read about Robert Mugabe in the Western media,
you may be very surprised at what you learn from this film.
The film
documents the history of Zimbabwe from independence to the present
day. The making of the film is a story within the story.
The
director, Ghanaian Roy Agyeman, travelled to Zimbabwe on the promise
of being given access to Robert Mugabe within three months. It
turned out to be more like three years.
Over the
course of that time, Agyeman interviewed Zimbabweans and experienced
life in the country during a period of economic instability and
hyper-inflation caused by the economic sanctions imposed by the West.
At one point, people could only withdraw 5 million per day from the
bank, while a taxi journey cost twice that.
Robert
Mugabe had been elected on the basis of his promise to redistribute
Zimbabwe’s land. As with other former colonies, such as Kenya,
white settlers occupy the best, most fertile land in Zimbabwe. Black
people – the majority population – struggle to survive on a much
smaller percentage of land.
The film
also covered aspects of history of which I was not aware:
In 1979,
Mugabe was pressured into signing the Lancaster Agreement, which required him to wait 10 years before
redistributing the land. He was photographed with world leaders
including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and with celebrities
including Princess Diana. He was knighted by the Queen and was
suggested as a possible recipient of a Nobel Prize.
Having
waited 10 years, Mugabe was then prevailed upon by other African
leaders to wait another five years, until after Nelson Mandela had
been released from prison.
As part
of the agreement, Britain agreed to provide funds to finance the
redistribution of the land. But in 1997, the newly-elected New
Labour government under Tony Blair reneged on the deal, claiming that
as they were a new party, they had nothing to do with the agreement
that had been signed.
Mugabe’s
government started redistributing the land. The film states that
some atrocities were committed. The white landowners whose land was
repossessed were still each offered land amounting to100 times the
size of Wembley Stadium.
Such was
Mugabe’s distrust of Western journalists and news media that it
took three years before he finally granted an interview with Agyeman,
who had been following him around for much of the time, filming his
activities from a distance.
The
interview with Robert Mugabe was very refreshing. It was wonderful
to hear him state that the redistribution of Zimbabwean land was
“right”. At no point has he backed down from that position.
The
discussion afterwards and Q & A with the director, Roy Agyeman,
was ably led by Henry Bonsu of Colourful Radio. I interviewed Henry
in my book Black SuccessStories.
What
this film makes clear is that, as people of my generation are aware,
the situation in Zimbabwe is about land. It is a land issue.
Younger people may not realise this, though, because of the way
Mugabe has been demonised by the press.
It was
said that one winds up feeling like the lone voice, as if one were
mad, if one’s view diverges from the portrait of Mugabe painted by
the Western media, and this very much resonated with me.
As with
other issues, the facts have often been distorted and misrepresented.
As bloggers, we have a responsibility to uncover the truth and to
share it.
As the
film pointed out, much of the Western media and many Western
governments and financial interests do not want to see Zimbabwe
become prosperous. They will do anything they can to undermine
Zimbabwe and smear Mugabe’s name. This is because land
redistribution also needs to happen in other former colonies, such as
Kenya and, of course, South Africa, and foreign powers fear losing
their influence and their economic dominance.
With its
mineral wealth, Zimbabwe can potentially become one of the strongest
economies in Africa, and perhaps the world.
Mugabe:
Villain or Hero? is an excellent film which sets the record straight,
and you really need to see it. Everyone should see it.
