Hokum In Harare

It looks like the end of an era may be at hand in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, the onetime guerilla fighter against white minority rule in the nation formerly known as Rhodesia, now president of Zimbabwe, saw his party come short of the 51 percent majority needed to avoid a runoff in parliamentary elections. Mugabe has always tried to hold elections that benefited his power base, but events and misfortune in the country have seemingly conspired against him.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's first and only president, might have been seen as the George Washington of his country for fighting against colonialism and leading it from the beginning of independence. Instead, he assumed dictatorial powers and terrorized his opponents, preferring to hold onto the presidency seemingly for life. Fighting against oppression in the former Rhodesia, has has become the oppressor. He has made such a mess out of his country that many people will be glad to see him go.