:00:00. > :00:07.interview with resident Robert Mugabe follows `` president. Opinion
:00:08. > :00:16.on his legacy remains incredibly divided. In Zimbabwe, birthday
:00:17. > :00:21.celebrations are under way for Africa's oldest and longest`serving
:00:22. > :00:28.leader. Once the darling of the West, today Robert Mugabe is
:00:29. > :00:30.considered a pariah. He has been accused of ethnic cleansing and
:00:31. > :00:37.brutally suppressing the opposition. Most famously, he is
:00:38. > :00:48.said to have ruined the economy with his disastrous land grabbing. But
:00:49. > :00:55.among many Africans, he is seen in a different light. At home he still
:00:56. > :01:02.appears popular. He is steadfast, his message never changes. He is a
:01:03. > :01:08.revolutionary. As he celebrates his 90th birth day, I have been given
:01:09. > :01:13.rare access to a president that the West loves to hate. I was able to
:01:14. > :01:51.get his story and to challenge his views on the West. Rule Britannia,
:01:52. > :02:00.which world do they rule? Gone! I am a British born Ghanian. I grew up
:02:01. > :02:04.watching reports of African leaders and at school in the UK, it was
:02:05. > :02:12.tough being the African kit. But there was one leader who seemed
:02:13. > :02:18.different. Robert Mugabe was an eloquent, charming leader with a
:02:19. > :02:28.British air about him. He made me proud to be an African. And for the
:02:29. > :02:37.British, he was the role model for postcolonial leaders. But when
:02:38. > :02:46.Zimbabwe's crashed economically in 2008 I went to discover how this
:02:47. > :02:50.hero had become a villain. My request was finally granted after
:02:51. > :03:00.months of asking. An exclusive interview, the first for the BBC in
:03:01. > :03:08.14 years. A few days later, the call came from Statehouse. I wanted to
:03:09. > :03:12.know if he was worried about his international reputation. Does it
:03:13. > :03:16.bother you that the West views you as one of the worst villains of
:03:17. > :03:24.modern history? It doesn't bother me at all. He West is not objective.
:03:25. > :03:32.Far from it. We have seen how the West comes to its judgments and
:03:33. > :03:39.after all, there appears to be a kind of overall dementia affecting
:03:40. > :03:49.the mind of the West. To understand that, consider things from his point
:03:50. > :03:55.of view. Rhodesia as Zimbabwe was known until independence was
:03:56. > :04:00.Britain's last colony in Africa. White European settlers held power
:04:01. > :04:05.and the indigenous population was kept firmly in check. The white
:04:06. > :04:09.settlers owned the land and made a comfortable living from farming.
:04:10. > :04:23.Blacks were restricted to less fertile land and denied a political
:04:24. > :04:32.voice. Mugabe was the leader of a political party called Zanu. For
:04:33. > :04:36.years they fought against the white minority government and finally in
:04:37. > :04:43.1979, Britain intervened and helped to bring an end to the war with the
:04:44. > :04:49.Lancaster House talks. The final agreement gave them the vote, but
:04:50. > :04:54.they could only buy land from whites willing to sell. Thousands of your
:04:55. > :05:01.comrades died during the liberation struggle, attempting to reclaim
:05:02. > :05:08.their land. But you signed up to an agreement drafted by the British
:05:09. > :05:13.which allowed the whites to keep the land and there is a sense of
:05:14. > :05:28.betrayal in that. It was a tactical move. We had to make a move
:05:29. > :05:33.forward. The front line states were seen in the sense that once you had
:05:34. > :05:42.power, everything else that remains undone here, you will be able to
:05:43. > :05:48.do. But this voluntary land reform agreement, funded by the British
:05:49. > :05:57.only lasted until 1990. Almost no land changed hands. It was not until
:05:58. > :06:08.1997 that land distribution was reviewed. In the 1990s when you were
:06:09. > :06:15.awarded a knighthood by England and honorary degrees from around the
:06:16. > :06:19.world, yet in Zimbabwe, lock people remained without land so some might
:06:20. > :06:29.say that you were rewarded for protecting white interests and
:06:30. > :06:33.British interests in the country. You are wrong to say that the people
:06:34. > :06:39.remained without land. From the first day we started the process of
:06:40. > :06:52.appropriating land and we had programmes in place. On the basis of
:06:53. > :07:01.what I was doing, regarding the British, it was on the basis of my
:07:02. > :07:08.dedication to the freedom of my country and the independence of my
:07:09. > :07:13.country by and large. The cozy relationship between Mugabe and
:07:14. > :07:17.Britain ended in 1997 when the Labour Party came into power. They
:07:18. > :07:24.refused to continue paying for land redistribution in Zimbabwe. When you
:07:25. > :07:33.had these ruffians coming into power, wanting to reinvest the
:07:34. > :07:45.entire process, finally I told them, there is no obligation by Britain at
:07:46. > :07:52.all. Britain has no obligation to former colonies. Inside Zimbabwe,
:07:53. > :07:59.the pressure for land reform had reached boiling point. Former
:08:00. > :08:03.soldiers who had warned Mugabe not to trust the law now took it into
:08:04. > :08:12.their own hands. White owned farms were invaded. Mugabe reacted by
:08:13. > :08:19.amending the Constitution, giving the government the right to seize
:08:20. > :08:21.land without compensation. The West imposed sanctions. Zimbabwe was
:08:22. > :08:29.subsequently suspended from the Commonwealth. So, Tony Blair, keep
:08:30. > :08:35.your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe. The isolation had a
:08:36. > :08:42.devastating impact on the economy. Food and fuel became scarce. Land
:08:43. > :09:00.reform forced the closure of or,000 companies. `` 4000. It was
:09:01. > :09:16.represented as merely displacing white farmers, but they never acted
:09:17. > :09:20.on it and we are now the poorest African country `` one of the
:09:21. > :09:28.poorest. Many who leave school can never find work here. But there is
:09:29. > :09:42.one industry that continues to thrive. Tobacco was once the
:09:43. > :09:53.backbone of white commerce in Zimbabwe and today it is black
:09:54. > :10:02.farmers were profiting. `` who are. In comparison to the late 90s, it is
:10:03. > :10:06.a complete shift. We now have the situation where the small`scale
:10:07. > :10:12.growers are the majority and it is a good feeling because the majority of
:10:13. > :10:23.the people no longer have to compete against or,000 commercial growers.
:10:24. > :10:27.`` 4000. Now we have 90,000 individual farmers taking home money
:10:28. > :10:45.in their pockets. It is a beautiful thing. I have to graduate here ``
:10:46. > :11:01.two graduates here, my children from growing tobacco. I have five
:11:02. > :11:10.hectares of my own, allowing things `` ploughinh on my own. So I am
:11:11. > :11:18.happy. The country that was known as the breadbasket of Africa has now
:11:19. > :11:22.been reduced importing food. The success of the land reform programme
:11:23. > :11:30.should not be measured in terms of how much tobacco is taken to
:11:31. > :11:34.Yorkshire floors. We cannot continue to import food at a higher cost than
:11:35. > :11:43.we pay local farmers. It is an embarrassing scandal. What you say
:11:44. > :11:57.to? I know he is right. But they do not totally agree. `` I. We will
:11:58. > :12:04.have to adopt some law or regulation that compels commercial farmers to
:12:05. > :12:21.devote a portion of their land to growing maize for food. It's
:12:22. > :12:27.unnecessary because people are eating lots Greens now. There are
:12:28. > :12:30.reports that new black farmers are now leasing land back to formal
:12:31. > :12:35.white, commercial farmers. Do you feel let down by that? There are
:12:36. > :12:43.some labourers who are letting us down but... Whatever the numbers,
:12:44. > :12:50.they still worry us because that practice must cease. Since
:12:51. > :12:55.independence, three quarters of white Zimbabweans have left the
:12:56. > :12:58.country. But what surprised me after all I had seen about ZANU PF on
:12:59. > :13:03.British television is that the party has some white members. At a
:13:04. > :13:09.birthday celebration organised by ZANU PF's youth movement, I met
:13:10. > :13:18.Joshua, descended from three generations of white Zimbabweans. He
:13:19. > :13:23.is a diehard Mugabe supporter. I'm very African. I'm born in Africa. My
:13:24. > :13:27.parents were born in Africa, my grandparents were born in Africa.
:13:28. > :13:32.I'm African. It's not about the colour of your skin but what you
:13:33. > :13:37.think. That's important. ZANU PF is not racist. The farm and land reform
:13:38. > :13:43.was not racist. It was down to sort out a colonial imbalance. Mugabe was
:13:44. > :13:47.educated by white missionaries, who once had tremendous respect for
:13:48. > :13:54.Britain `` he once had tremendous respect for Britain. To the British,
:13:55. > :14:05.we don't hate you. We only love our country. We love ourselves better
:14:06. > :14:10.than we love you. What has happened to Britain? Is it their education?
:14:11. > :14:22.Is it their tradition? They have grown small in mind, small in
:14:23. > :14:29.intellect. Ideology gone. That wisdom which the likes of Churchill
:14:30. > :14:42.had. You don't see it at all. You cannot see it in people now with gay
:14:43. > :14:50.habits. Shame on them. IPP them. The one lady I admire is the Queen. But
:14:51. > :14:56.she is in exceptional circumstances, I'm sure. The loss of
:14:57. > :15:03.values in Britain. They go to drugs. No respect. Countries don't respect
:15:04. > :15:11.them any more. Rule Britannia. Britannia ruled the world. Which
:15:12. > :15:14.world? Gone. Gabi is currently vice`chairman of the African Union.
:15:15. > :15:20.Next year, he could be the chairman. `` Robert Mugabe is
:15:21. > :15:35.currently the vice`chairman of the African Union. Although ostracised
:15:36. > :15:39.in the West, in Africa, Mugabe is treated with respect by his fellow
:15:40. > :15:43.heads of state. Many of these leaders face same problems. Top of
:15:44. > :15:48.the list is how to get the most out of their natural resources. Zimbabwe
:15:49. > :15:54.hit the jackpot in 2007 it discovered the world's largest
:15:55. > :15:59.diamond field in over 100 years. The problem is that the wealth does not
:16:00. > :16:03.seem to be trickling down. At a ceremony last year, you said the
:16:04. > :16:06.mining sector would be the centrepiece of our economic recovery
:16:07. > :16:10.and will be night the economic miracle that must happen. But
:16:11. > :16:16.unfortunately, it is not happening, Your Excellency. The wealth from the
:16:17. > :16:26.Diamond has not been created yet. It takes time. Recently, you sold
:16:27. > :16:31.300,000 carats. But after how long? The process is taking a long, long
:16:32. > :16:35.period to get those carrots. The raw diamonds are going out. They could
:16:36. > :16:43.be cut and polished here, which creates jobs. We have just started.
:16:44. > :16:47.What is clear from the time I have spent in Zimbabwe is that corruption
:16:48. > :16:52.is widespread. Chief executives of some state`owned enterprises, known
:16:53. > :17:02.as Paris Staples, are accused of paying themselves massively inflated
:17:03. > :17:07.salaries. `` known as parastatals. There is anger in Zimbabwe at these
:17:08. > :17:10.obscene salaries that chief executives of state companies are
:17:11. > :17:16.making. In some cases, 600,000 US dollars per month, while people were
:17:17. > :17:23.three jobs to put $1 on the table. It's totally immoral. I'm engaging
:17:24. > :17:36.4000 just now. This is what we decided, that we pursued. We have
:17:37. > :17:40.tough times at the moment. All the parastatals now, we are discussing
:17:41. > :17:49.them, and one by one, we will go through them all and see what they
:17:50. > :17:56.are paying to their management. It is the management that has been
:17:57. > :18:00.benefiting in most of these cases. Accusations of electoral fraud have
:18:01. > :18:05.also dogged Mugabe for many years, most famously in 2008, when he lost
:18:06. > :18:11.the first round of the presidential election to the opposition leader,
:18:12. > :18:20.Morgan Chang the right. In March, 2008, Mugabe was beaten by
:18:21. > :18:27.Tsvangirai in the election. Tsvangirai has beaten Mugabe
:18:28. > :18:31.before. The elections in Zimbabwe have been characterised by force, by
:18:32. > :18:39.fraud and so on. Right now, the abuse of human rights is now more
:18:40. > :18:43.subtle. It is more instead of open violence, we have intimidation. We
:18:44. > :18:49.have undue influence. We have deep division of facilities ``
:18:50. > :18:58.deprivation of utilities like food aid and utilities to people who are
:18:59. > :19:02.not like vanity. But in spite of charges against him, Mugabe is
:19:03. > :19:13.adamant his Zimbabwe is a genuine democracy. Whatever leadership we
:19:14. > :19:20.have in the future, it must be leadership that derives from the
:19:21. > :19:25.people, chosen by the people. It goes back to the people. It listens
:19:26. > :19:36.to the people. It is guided by the interests of the people. That way,
:19:37. > :19:43.will stop any other way, we go into will stop any other way, we go into
:19:44. > :19:48.the dustbin and people will throw us out. Despite complaints of vote
:19:49. > :19:53.rigging from the opposition, last year, Mugabe was re`elected as
:19:54. > :19:58.president. Both the African Union and regional election of servers
:19:59. > :20:03.said that although not perfect, the results did express the will of the
:20:04. > :20:12.people. `` regional election observers. The VIPs of Africa have
:20:13. > :20:17.come to a family occasion. President is past and present are here for the
:20:18. > :20:23.wedding of Mugabe's daughter. In the West, he may be seen as a pariah.
:20:24. > :20:29.After years of predicting his demise, at 90, Mugabe seems to have
:20:30. > :20:35.proven them wrong. He never thought he would with his eyes see this
:20:36. > :20:41.day. The big question now is who will take over in Zimbabwe when he
:20:42. > :20:48.finally does go? Do you have someone in mind in your head? I have people
:20:49. > :21:00.in mind who would want to be but I have looked at them and I have not
:21:01. > :21:12.come to any conclusion as to which one really should be. I leave it to
:21:13. > :21:18.the choice of the people. Perhaps when we get to the election I will
:21:19. > :21:23.have someone in mind. Perhaps Mugabe is hinting that he has fought his
:21:24. > :21:26.last election. He clearly believes his whole life has been about
:21:27. > :21:31.redressing the political and economic imbalances he was born
:21:32. > :21:41.into. Even at his private birthday party, you cannot leave the issue
:21:42. > :21:47.alone. Never, never, never shall we once again make the mistake of
:21:48. > :21:59.allowing our resources, natural resources, to be owned by
:22:00. > :22:03.foreigners. Never. He is one of a dying breed, a generation of
:22:04. > :22:09.liberation fighters who devoted their life to trying to change the
:22:10. > :22:16.destiny of their country, there are people and their relationship with
:22:17. > :22:25.their former colonial masters. I don't know what will be people think
:22:26. > :22:30.my legacy is, but it is just the principles we fought for. The
:22:31. > :22:39.freedom, independence of our country, the rights of all our
:22:40. > :22:46.people for ownership of all of our resources. That wealth must benefits
:22:47. > :22:47.our people by and large. And our people by and large means the
:22:48. > :23:20.grassroots. A change in the wind direction on
:23:21. > :23:26.Good Friday brought some winners and losers, temperature wise. The losers
:23:27. > :23:31.were in the east of England. Kent was 19 degrees on Thursday but
:23:32. > :23:33.temperatures dropped overnight by six degrees on Good Friday, and
:23:34. > :23:35.there was