Mugabe at 90 Our World

interview with resident Robert Mugabe follows `` president. Opinion

on his legacy remains incredibly divided. In Zimbabwe, birthday

celebrations are under way for Africa's oldest and longest`serving

leader. Once the darling of the West, today Robert Mugabe is

considered a pariah. He has been accused of ethnic cleansing and

brutally suppressing the opposition. Most famously, he is

said to have ruined the economy with his disastrous land grabbing. But

among many Africans, he is seen in a different light. At home he still

appears popular. He is steadfast, his message never changes. He is a

revolutionary. As he celebrates his 90th birth day, I have been given

rare access to a president that the West loves to hate. I was able to

get his story and to challenge his views on the West. Rule Britannia,

which world do they rule? Gone! I am a British born Ghanian. I grew up

watching reports of African leaders and at school in the UK, it was

tough being the African kit. But there was one leader who seemed

different. Robert Mugabe was an eloquent, charming leader with a

British air about him. He made me proud to be an African. And for the

British, he was the role model for postcolonial leaders. But when

Zimbabwe's crashed economically in 2008 I went to discover how this

hero had become a villain. My request was finally granted after

months of asking. An exclusive interview, the first for the BBC in

14 years. A few days later, the call came from Statehouse. I wanted to

know if he was worried about his international reputation. Does it

bother you that the West views you as one of the worst villains of

modern history? It doesn't bother me at all. He West is not objective.

Far from it. We have seen how the West comes to its judgments and

after all, there appears to be a kind of overall dementia affecting

the mind of the West. To understand that, consider things from his point

of view. Rhodesia as Zimbabwe was known until independence was

Britain's last colony in Africa. White European settlers held power

and the indigenous population was kept firmly in check. The white

settlers owned the land and made a comfortable living from farming.

Blacks were restricted to less fertile land and denied a political

voice. Mugabe was the leader of a political party called Zanu. For

years they fought against the white minority government and finally in

1979, Britain intervened and helped to bring an end to the war with the

Lancaster House talks. The final agreement gave them the vote, but

they could only buy land from whites willing to sell. Thousands of your

comrades died during the liberation struggle, attempting to reclaim

their land. But you signed up to an agreement drafted by the British

which allowed the whites to keep the land and there is a sense of

betrayal in that. It was a tactical move. We had to make a move

forward. The front line states were seen in the sense that once you had

power, everything else that remains undone here, you will be able to

do. But this voluntary land reform agreement, funded by the British

only lasted until 1990. Almost no land changed hands. It was not until

1997 that land distribution was reviewed. In the 1990s when you were

awarded a knighthood by England and honorary degrees from around the

world, yet in Zimbabwe, lock people remained without land so some might

say that you were rewarded for protecting white interests and

British interests in the country. You are wrong to say that the people

remained without land. From the first day we started the process of

appropriating land and we had programmes in place. On the basis of

what I was doing, regarding the British, it was on the basis of my

dedication to the freedom of my country and the independence of my

country by and large. The cozy relationship between Mugabe and

Britain ended in 1997 when the Labour Party came into power. They

refused to continue paying for land redistribution in Zimbabwe. When you

had these ruffians coming into power, wanting to reinvest the

entire process, finally I told them, there is no obligation by Britain at

all. Britain has no obligation to former colonies. Inside Zimbabwe,

the pressure for land reform had reached boiling point. Former

soldiers who had warned Mugabe not to trust the law now took it into

their own hands. White owned farms were invaded. Mugabe reacted by

amending the Constitution, giving the government the right to seize

land without compensation. The West imposed sanctions. Zimbabwe was

subsequently suspended from the Commonwealth. So, Tony Blair, keep

your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe. The isolation had a

devastating impact on the economy. Food and fuel became scarce. Land

reform forced the closure of or,000 companies. `` 4000. It was

represented as merely displacing white farmers, but they never acted

on it and we are now the poorest African country `` one of the

poorest. Many who leave school can never find work here. But there is

one industry that continues to thrive. Tobacco was once the

backbone of white commerce in Zimbabwe and today it is black

farmers were profiting. `` who are. In comparison to the late 90s, it is

a complete shift. We now have the situation where the small`scale

growers are the majority and it is a good feeling because the majority of

the people no longer have to compete against or,000 commercial growers.

`` 4000. Now we have 90,000 individual farmers taking home money

in their pockets. It is a beautiful thing. I have to graduate here ``

two graduates here, my children from growing tobacco. I have five

hectares of my own, allowing things `` ploughinh on my own. So I am

happy. The country that was known as the breadbasket of Africa has now

been reduced importing food. The success of the land reform programme

should not be measured in terms of how much tobacco is taken to

Yorkshire floors. We cannot continue to import food at a higher cost than

we pay local farmers. It is an embarrassing scandal. What you say

to? I know he is right. But they do not totally agree. `` I. We will

have to adopt some law or regulation that compels commercial farmers to

devote a portion of their land to growing maize for food. It's

unnecessary because people are eating lots Greens now. There are

reports that new black farmers are now leasing land back to formal

white, commercial farmers. Do you feel let down by that? There are

some labourers who are letting us down but... Whatever the numbers,

they still worry us because that practice must cease. Since

independence, three quarters of white Zimbabweans have left the

country. But what surprised me after all I had seen about ZANU PF on

British television is that the party has some white members. At a

birthday celebration organised by ZANU PF's youth movement, I met

Joshua, descended from three generations of white Zimbabweans. He

is a diehard Mugabe supporter. I'm very African. I'm born in Africa. My

parents were born in Africa, my grandparents were born in Africa.

I'm African. It's not about the colour of your skin but what you

think. That's important. ZANU PF is not racist. The farm and land reform

was not racist. It was down to sort out a colonial imbalance. Mugabe was

educated by white missionaries, who once had tremendous respect for

Britain `` he once had tremendous respect for Britain. To the British,

we don't hate you. We only love our country. We love ourselves better

than we love you. What has happened to Britain? Is it their education?

Is it their tradition? They have grown small in mind, small in

intellect. Ideology gone. That wisdom which the likes of Churchill

had. You don't see it at all. You cannot see it in people now with gay

habits. Shame on them. IPP them. The one lady I admire is the Queen. But

she is in exceptional circumstances, I'm sure. The loss of

values in Britain. They go to drugs. No respect. Countries don't respect

them any more. Rule Britannia. Britannia ruled the world. Which

world? Gone. Gabi is currently vice`chairman of the African Union.

Next year, he could be the chairman. `` Robert Mugabe is

currently the vice`chairman of the African Union. Although ostracised

in the West, in Africa, Mugabe is treated with respect by his fellow

heads of state. Many of these leaders face same problems. Top of

the list is how to get the most out of their natural resources. Zimbabwe

hit the jackpot in 2007 it discovered the world's largest

diamond field in over 100 years. The problem is that the wealth does not

seem to be trickling down. At a ceremony last year, you said the

mining sector would be the centrepiece of our economic recovery

and will be night the economic miracle that must happen. But

unfortunately, it is not happening, Your Excellency. The wealth from the

Diamond has not been created yet. It takes time. Recently, you sold

300,000 carats. But after how long? The process is taking a long, long

period to get those carrots. The raw diamonds are going out. They could

be cut and polished here, which creates jobs. We have just started.

What is clear from the time I have spent in Zimbabwe is that corruption

is widespread. Chief executives of some state`owned enterprises, known

as Paris Staples, are accused of paying themselves massively inflated

salaries. `` known as parastatals. There is anger in Zimbabwe at these

obscene salaries that chief executives of state companies are

making. In some cases, 600,000 US dollars per month, while people were

three jobs to put $1 on the table. It's totally immoral. I'm engaging

4000 just now. This is what we decided, that we pursued. We have

tough times at the moment. All the parastatals now, we are discussing

them, and one by one, we will go through them all and see what they

are paying to their management. It is the management that has been

benefiting in most of these cases. Accusations of electoral fraud have

also dogged Mugabe for many years, most famously in 2008, when he lost

the first round of the presidential election to the opposition leader,

Morgan Chang the right. In March, 2008, Mugabe was beaten by

Tsvangirai in the election. Tsvangirai has beaten Mugabe

before. The elections in Zimbabwe have been characterised by force, by

fraud and so on. Right now, the abuse of human rights is now more

subtle. It is more instead of open violence, we have intimidation. We

have undue influence. We have deep division of facilities ``

deprivation of utilities like food aid and utilities to people who are

not like vanity. But in spite of charges against him, Mugabe is

adamant his Zimbabwe is a genuine democracy. Whatever leadership we

have in the future, it must be leadership that derives from the

people, chosen by the people. It goes back to the people. It listens

to the people. It is guided by the interests of the people. That way,

will stop any other way, we go into will stop any other way, we go into

the dustbin and people will throw us out. Despite complaints of vote

rigging from the opposition, last year, Mugabe was re`elected as

president. Both the African Union and regional election of servers

said that although not perfect, the results did express the will of the

people. `` regional election observers. The VIPs of Africa have

come to a family occasion. President is past and present are here for the

wedding of Mugabe's daughter. In the West, he may be seen as a pariah.

After years of predicting his demise, at 90, Mugabe seems to have

proven them wrong. He never thought he would with his eyes see this

day. The big question now is who will take over in Zimbabwe when he

finally does go? Do you have someone in mind in your head? I have people

in mind who would want to be but I have looked at them and I have not

come to any conclusion as to which one really should be. I leave it to

the choice of the people. Perhaps when we get to the election I will

have someone in mind. Perhaps Mugabe is hinting that he has fought his

last election. He clearly believes his whole life has been about

redressing the political and economic imbalances he was born

into. Even at his private birthday party, you cannot leave the issue

alone. Never, never, never shall we once again make the mistake of

allowing our resources, natural resources, to be owned by

foreigners. Never. He is one of a dying breed, a generation of

liberation fighters who devoted their life to trying to change the

destiny of their country, there are people and their relationship with

their former colonial masters. I don't know what will be people think

my legacy is, but it is just the principles we fought for. The

freedom, independence of our country, the rights of all our

people for ownership of all of our resources. That wealth must benefits

our people by and large. And our people by and large means the

grassroots. A change in the wind direction on

Good Friday brought some winners and losers, temperature wise. The losers

were in the east of England. Kent was 19 degrees on Thursday but

temperatures dropped overnight by six degrees on Good Friday, and

there was