He wanted health for all. He would let me have my way or we would reach a compromise" - Dumiso Dabengwa. He brought in people who he could influence. Several people were compromised - he held something over them" - Dumiso Dabengwa. He is not the person I knew. He changed the moment Sally died [in ], when he married a young gold-digger [Grace Mugabe]" - Wilf Mbanga. He allowed Ian Smith, the Rhodesian prime minister who had once declared that black people would not rule the country for 1, years and who reportedly personally refused to let Mr Mugabe leave prison for the funeral of his then only son, to remain both an MP and on his farm.
At this point, according to Mr Madhuku, Mr Mugabe's hold on power was relatively weak, so he realised he had to reach out to his former enemies. Former home affairs minister Mr Dabengwa said Mr Mugabe was even less self-confident earlier on in his political career. He would never take a decision on his own but would always check with them first. But slowly, he consolidated control - first over the party which led the war against white-minority rule and later the country as a whole - until the point where his was the only voice that counted.
Throughout his time as president, his closest allies were always those with whom he had endured the hardships of life during the guerrilla war of independence. When they felt their grip on power, and its trappings, were threatened, they reverted wholeheartedly to the conflict mentality. The British have decided to take us on through the MDC," he told a election rally. This meant opposition supporters were denounced as traitors - a label which could mean an immediate death sentence.
Mr Chimutengwende argued that the scale of the violence was exaggerated and in any case sought to distance it from Mr Mugabe: "It is not the leader who throws a stone, or asks his followers to throw a stone. But Mr Dabengwa, the minister in charge of the police in , said Mr Mugabe's Zanu party had been using such methods since the election. He said that fighters from Zanu's armed wing had been sent out into rural areas to ensure villagers voted the "right" way, partly through all-night indoctrination sessions, known as "pungwes".
Although he won those elections in , and formed a coalition government with Zapu, the underlying tensions burst into open violence just two years later. Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo was accused of plotting a coup and the army's North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade was sent to his home region of Matabeleland. More than 20, people were killed in Operation Gukurahundi, which means "the early rain which washes away the chaff". At the time, South African double-agent Kevin Woods was making daily reports in person to then Prime Minister Mugabe for the internal security force, the Central Intelligence Organisation.
In the end, a subdued Mr Nkomo once more agreed to share power with his enemy in order to end the violence in his home region - a forerunner of what later happened to the MDC. Before he was finally ousted, his political low point was in , when MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat him in a presidential election, although not by enough for outright victory, according to the official results. There were numerous reports Mr Mugabe was on the verge of resigning, although Mr Madhuku said he did not believe them, as the president subsequently demonstrated his determination to remain in power.
Again, a setback led to a sustained campaign of violence against his "enemies". The army and Zanu-PF militias attacked MDC supporters around the country, killing more than and forcing thousands from their homes. It became obvious that Zanu-PF would not relinquish its grip on power and Mr Tsvangirai withdrew from the second round, saying it was the only way to save lives. Zimbabwe's economy continued its freefall, reaching its nadir when people were dying from cholera in Harare because the country did not have the foreign currency to import the necessary chemicals to treat the water.
Under intense pressure, Mr Mugabe agreed to a coalition government with his long-time rival and, under MDC stewardship, the economy recovered. But Prime Minister Tsvangirai was severely tarnished by working with Mr Mugabe - the president always managed to keep real power for himself and his allies.
By the time of the election, Mr Mugabe did not need to resort to extreme violence to win easily. He had once more demonstrated his remarkable skills of political survival and he remained in power until he was forced out in Mr Mugabe justified the land invasions by saying the UK's Labour government, in power since , had reneged on a British promise to fund peaceful land reform.
While it might be expected that an avowedly Marxist liberation fighter would have more in common with the Labour Party than the Conservatives, the opposite turned out to be true. But of course what happened later was a different story with the Labour Party and Blair, who you could never trust".
Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the UK accepted that as the former colonial power, it had the moral duty to help finance the process of buying white-owned land and redistributing it to black farmers.
But after a report found the process had been tainted by cronyism, British funding was put on hold. The new Labour government took matters further and declared: "We do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. In , Mr Mugabe observed: "Mrs Thatcher, you could trust her. But of course what happened later was a different story with the Labour Party and [former Prime Minister Tony] Blair, who you could never trust.
August - Japanese prosecutors start investigating one of Japan's largest trading companies, Mitsui and Co Ltd, for corruption. Allegedly, a Mitsui employee bribed a Mongolian government official in order to secure orders for a development project in Mongolia. September - Norway begins an investigation into the country's largest construction firm, Veidekke. The World Bank has suspended its support for the dam project. Financial Times, 2 September Aftenposten, 12 September Acres, who have appealed, now risks being barred from further projects by the World Bank.
The company is now asking for reimbursement of the profits. View our Privacy Policy. Your registration is almost complete. Please go to your inbox and confirm your email address in the email we just sent to you. Home Press Mugabe stands out among the politically corrupt, while banks and energy sector top dirty business deals uncovered in , says Transparency International. Transparency International issues a review of the most corrupt in politics and business in ahead of the launch of the Global Corruption Report , the definitive new report on the state of corruption around the world "Reporting on corruption and corrupt political elites ranks alongside reporting in conflict zones as the most dangerous type of journalism, often costing journalists their lives, but the corrupt are running out of places to hide," says Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International TI , announcing the launch of the Global Corruption Report SwissInfo, 11 July June - Vladimiro Montesinos, the former spy chief of Peru, is sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.
Financial Times, 21 February March - Dassault Aviation says it is the victim of a smear campaign after the French aircraft manufacturer is accused in a corruption scandal in connection with the race for a South Korean fighter jet contract. Financial Times, 17 July August - Japanese prosecutors start investigating one of Japan's largest trading companies, Mitsui and Co Ltd, for corruption.
Financial Times, 29 August Asahi Shimbun, 10 September September - Norway begins an investigation into the country's largest construction firm, Veidekke. Ask the ruling party, ZANU-PF, and it all started when Mugabe redistributed land from a handful of white commercial farmers to the majority black population.
These sanctions, they argue, caused the economic crisis that is reaching breaking point. Sanctions have become a geopolitical football kicked between the Zimbabwean government and its Western foes. They add that foreign support to Zimbabweans continues via bilateral and multilateral organisations working with local civil society. And that the government cannot be trusted to manage external finance accountably. Ask ordinary Zimbabweans about sanctions and you get a mixed reaction.
The truth about sanctions lies between the two. In , I was at a development conference in Helsinki, where the Zimbabwe crisis took centre stage. I asked her if she could confirm what proportion of social services education and health were financed via direct budget support to the Zimbabwean government. This support went directly into the budgets of the ministries. I then asked her whether thus budget support to the government from foreign partners had continued under in the sanctions era.
That meant no. Government-to-government aid for vital services had stopped. She agreed they would collapse. The truth is that neither the government nor its former funders in the West were willing to accept responsibility for the terrible conditions. Much easier to blame the other side. Is it sanctions or bad government or both? This is not the first time that sanctions have been imposed on our country. When Ian Smith adopted the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in , Western countries imposed sanctions at the urging of the liberation movements, who argued that until majority rule was introduced Rhodesia should be pressured.
Those sanctions lasted until independence in But old rivalries soon emerged. Nkomo was excluded and reports of atrocities emerged in Matabeleland.
Then the land seizures took place. Plans to redistribute land peacefully were not working and ultimately the wartime "veterans" were sent in to dispossess, often violently, the white farmers of their land.
This meant that inexperienced blacks took over and in many cases the fertile land went to wrack and ruin, leading to acute food shortages and a dramatic downturn in Zimbabwe's economy. The result: idle land and withering crops.
The people who knew how to farm had been banned and had to sit idly by while Mugabe decided which ones of his cronies to give the best land to. Mugabe's immovable attitude was "Zimbabwe for the blacks", often leaving white Zimbabweans dead, or in mortal fear and with no citizenship rights to settle anywhere else in the world. Meanwhile, as Mugabe grew into his 70s he became paranoid, believing his opponents were trying to kill him.
One set of opponents were put on trial over a grainy tape-recording which suggested - although they fiercely denied it - that they were trying to overthrow him. Any voice of dissidence was met with violence and, in the case of an independent newspaper, shut down. Political enemies were accused of homosexuality, and thrown into jail.
Peter Tatchell, the homosexual rights campaigner, was assaulted by Mugabe's bodyguards when he tried to effect a citizen's arrest on the Zimbabwean leader. The sanctions imposed on the country at one stage barred Mugabe and his family and supporters from visiting Britain.
This ended regular spending sprees by his wife in West End shops - usually at the expense of the Zimbabwean taxpayer, whose money Mugabe shamelessly amassed for his own benefit. While there he shook hands with the Prince of Wales, who was seated one place away from the president.
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