Zimbabwe: From Ian Douglas Smith to Robert Mugabe

Summary
"You can't imagine how many people come up to me and say, 'We didn't agree with you back then. We thought you were too rigid and inflexible. But now we see you were right. You were so right: they were not fit to govern.'"#
Ian Smith
Smith is referring to majority rule in Zimbabwe. However, he is wrong and looks at the situation in a racist fashion. The reason why major problems have occurred in Zimbabwe is not because the leader happens to be black. The current leader is a despot who is past his productive stage. The problems in Zimbabwe are a result of leadership. Smith contributed to the problem as he failed to realize that African rule was inevitable. By his delay, the new country had to deal with landless war veterans. Mugabe should have confronted the land issue much earlier.
Both leaders share a basic misconception about power. They must realize that a government cannot survive indefinitely when it advances the political and economic desires of the few at the expense of the many. This misconception of power has led to the current tragedy of the country. My thesis is that the leadership of Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe have directly led to the tragedy and misery inside of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe.
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