During the early 1980s Robert Mugabe was a respected freedom fighter who managed to free his people from the racist Ian Smith regime of the then Rhodesia. So where did Mugabe go wrong?

During the early 1980s Robert Mugabe was a respected freedom fighter who managed to free his people from the racist Ian Smith regime of the then Rhodesia. So where did Mugabe go wrong?

For many years things were good in Zimbabwe.Then Mugabe felt threatened, probably remembering the time when Ian Smith ruled.

Zimbabweans kept supporting him in spite of corruption and the genocide his ruling party committed in the 1980s against his opponents.

People allowed him to gain too much power and now no one can get rid of him.

Are freedom fighters really who we think they are? The only difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is that a freedom fighter agrees with me and a terrorist disagrees with me. But they both kill innocent people.

Shouldn't we learn from Zimbabwe's mistakes and reject anyone who has stolen or murdered?

Planting a bomb is murder. Can you trust a freedom fighter-terrorist to govern? If you are not sure, ask any Zimbabwean.

Boitumelo Olivier, Fontainebleau