On the 2nd of June 2013, an episode of People of the South aired on SABC3 where Dali Tambo interviewed President Robert Mugabe. It is one of those interviews that people in Zimbabwe and around the world would be interested in because interviews with Mugabe are a rarity and also that it was marketed as an occasion where viewers got to gain a deeper understanding of and got to see a side of Mugabe that has never been seen.
The start of the interview (video below) paints Mugabe in the following light,
“Robert Mugabe is to many the archetypal son of the soil, a strong man, an African gentleman, a controversial man, but above all else, a Chimurenga Man.”
The interview has had mixed reviews with some people saying that Dali glorified Mugabe by only asking surface questions and not probing or asking the tough questions about the issues that Zimbabwe may be facing. Others look at it as being a good interview, one where has not become the victim of Western media.
It is an interview that you should watch (if you havent already done so) and make your own assumptions about.
The interview ends with Mugabe being asked what he would like to be remembered for most with his answer being:
“There was once a man called Robert Mugabe who in the interests of his own people formed a struggle to liberate them and had ideas, ownership of resources for his own people, and…. the fact that the people should be united, to remain revolutionary, guard against colonial and imperial powers, that seek to undermine the authority…. of governments and what he desired right up to the end that his own people should be masters of their own destiny and that is all. I don’t desire to be know as anything greater than that…….”
In your own opinion, was the interview good or was it a disappointment?
Leave a comment with your thoughts.
It was a very nice but sort of a very superficial interview. I have always admired Robert Mugabe. He is a hero in the African continent. He has done a lot good for his country and has been an inspiration to all Africans.
Having said that I very much doubt that people from Matabeleland will ever forgive him for the atrocities committed there. Although time heals the wound, the ugly scar remains a reminder of the terror of the past.