Sheriff in the “Club of Dictators”?: Robert Mugabe’s Role in the Politics of Southern Africa, 1976–2013

Abstract

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been described in some circles as “a club of dictators” in reference to the perceived authoritarianism of its rulers. The implication is that these leaders have self-serving interests and condone each other’s actions, irrespective of their impact on the region’s sociopolitical and economic fortunes. The question however is what role do individual leaders play within the “club”? This chapter therefore examines Robert Mugabe’s role in the organization, focusing specifically on his influence on regional politics since the time he was struggling to assume control of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle and gain the recognition of the Front Line leaders in the late 1970s. It argues that even prior to Zimbabwe’s independence, Mugabe worked with the Front Line States (FLS) as leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), one of the liberation movements recognized by the FLS as the legitimate representative of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe, but not before they had doubted him. By the time he assumed power in independent Zimbabwe, Mugabe already had some measure of influence over his peers in the FLS, most of who were younger than him. His influence was particularly enhanced by the comparative economic might of his country, which made the FLS leaders look up to Zimbabwe as an anchor against the belligerent apartheid regime. Indeed, as Zimbabwe attained its independence, a new regional body largely aimed at regional economic cooperation and integration, the Southern African Development Co ordination Committee (SADCC), was formed with Mugabe immediately playing a pivotal role by virtue of Zimbabwe’s relative political and economic might.