Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, has died at age 95. Mugabe had been receiving treatment in a Singapore hospital since April.
Mugabe held the presidency for almost four decades at 37 years, and was one of Africa’s most controversial leaders. He was deposed in 2017 having been given an ultimatum by the ruling ZANU-PF to either resign or face impeachment. This pressure largely came due to his firing of First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and fears that his much younger wife, Grace Mugabe, was being groomed to take over as president.
Coming to power as a hero for his fight against the former white masters of colonialism and African nationalism stance, he later digressed into an authoritarian. He was known for his brutalism against political rivals with many deaths attributed to his orders. At points during his rule, the economy was driven into the ground and the citizenry faced starvation.
Mugabe died on September 6 at the age of 95, at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. His body was to be returned to Zimbabwe.
Image courtesy of By Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40102783