- Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe's embattled president, believes
he is haunted by the ghost of a former rival who berates him for mismanaging
the country, aides have said.
-
- For six months, Mugabe has been "seeing" Josiah
Tongogara, a former guerrilla leader who was expected to become president
in 1980, but died in a car crash. Mugabe is said to be tormented by his
accusations that the revolution for which they fought has been destroyed.
-
- Staff at the presidential palace say that in an effort
to placate Tongogara, Mugabe sets an extra place at dinner each night and
orders food to be served for him.
-
- He has sought help from witchdoctors, a rain goddess
and an oracle. Dr Vlad Rankovic, a government psychiatrist, has prescribed
anti-depressants to help Mugabe, 77, overcome his anxiety. The president's
wife, Grace, is understood to believe his psychological deterioration began
after parliamentary elections last year, when Mugabe's supporters resorted
to violence to help him secure a narrow victory over the Movement for Democratic
Change.
-
- Mugabe is said to have become convinced shortly afterwards
that she was going to run away with their two children. She has since been
largely confined to the presidential palace.
-
- Mugabe's distress deepened before an eclipse in June
- a portent of evil in traditional tribal culture. He has also been disturbed
by the recent deaths of Hitler Hunzvi, leader of the "war veterans"
who have occupied white farms, and two ministers killed in road accidents.
-
- As attacks on white farmers intensified in the north
of the country yesterday and 50 families fled properties near Chinhoyi
after looting by pro-government militants, Mugabe was pressed by advisers
to declare martial law, imprison his opponents and call off a presidential
election due by next April.
-
- He warned whites not to organise themselves against landless
blacks, saying any attacks could "ricochet". In a rambling speech,
he also condemned the US Senate for passing a bill last week aimed at funding
democratic change in Zimbabwe.
-
- "They feel repulsed that we seek to correct the
imbalances of the sinful slave past," Mugabe said. "Our crime
is that we are black and in America blacks are a condemned race."
|
