When Wilf Mbanga met Robert Mugabe in 1974, he says he worshipped the man. As a young journalist, he followed Mugabe around the world, wrote his first biography, considered him a friend, defended his presidency. Thirty-four years later, the journalist has become one of Mugabe’s fiercest critics – and there’s no shortage of those. Now in “self-imposed exile” in Britain, he is founding editor of The Zimbabwean, a weekly newspaper-in-exile that aims to bring the news from within Zim’s media blackout, using loopholes in Mugabe’s laws that give more freedom to newspapers printed outside the country. In its third year, The Zimbabwean is Zimbabwe’s highest selling newspaper.

With a run-off beckoning and widespread government intimidation reported, many observers are doubtful  that the MDC can win the vote. How hopeful are you?

I learnt very early in life, you can’t say “never” in politics. Mugabe likes to use the word “never”. Ian Smith used it in the mid-70s: “There will never, ever be a black government.” He lived to regret that. Mugabe is the same: “Morgan Tsvangirai will never, ever rule Zimbabwe.” He will also live to regret that. The problem we have in Zimbabwe is that we have an unpredictable, unstable man with his finger on the trigger. We don’t know how he’s going to react. If ZEC (Zimbabwean Election Committee) comes along and says, “Sorry mister president, we’ve had a recount and you’ve lost,” is he going to pack up his bags and go? I don’t think so.

How attractive is the possibility of a compromise candidate, like Simba Makoni?
We asked the people to vote, to choose the men they want to govern them. They’ve chosen Morgan Tsvangirai. Then we say, “Let’s bring in a compromise, let’s bring in someone else who’s not been elected.” Why? I don’t understand that. Why did we bother to have the election? If you got to an election, what you’re saying is that people are free to choose who they want. They have spoken.

Some say the MDC’s ambition to dethrone Zanu-PF has been put at risk by  internal tensions. Do you think the factions should do more to unify for “the cause”?

If [MDC leaders] don’t agree, if they don’t share the same ideology, then [they should] split. I am one of those people who does not believe you should force a marriage of inconvenience. You’re heading for trouble. You’re postponing the inevitable. If they don’t agree, you should go separate ways. They (MDC) still won. [Ed’s note: at time of going to print, MDC factions have united behind Tsvangirai.]

You’ve said in interviews that before 1995, you thought Mugabe was “the best thing on two legs”. Yet you joined a powerful chorus of people who were once Mugabe’s supporters and are now his critics. Where do you position yourself in a space where Mugabe constructs himself as so Zimbabwean that anyone against him is anti-Zimbabwean?

They dismiss us as puppets of the British. But of course I’m a Zimbabwean, and I’m critical of him because I love my country. I want Zimbabwe to be the best country in the world; I don’t want it to be second best. I want a proper democracy, I want respect for human rights, I want to see respect for the rule of law. Good education for our kids, good hospitals for the poor and sick, life expectancy that is normal ­­– not what it is today. We used to be the breadbasket of southern Africa. Now we’re a basket case! I want to live in my own country! I don’t want to live in Britain. We’ve got lovely weather in Zimbabwe. I’ve got a house in Harare, and I want to live in it. That’s where I want to be. That’s where I was born and that’s where I want to be buried. That’s why I’m critical.

How much currency does Mugabe still have in that self-constructed image as a defender against imperialism?

Mugabe was a great supporter of Britain. He loved the Royal Family. He loved wearing Saville Row suits. His wife loved shopping at Harrod’s. And I remember in the days when I used to travel with him, whenever we went anywhere, we always passed through London. This anti-British rhetoric only started in 2000 when things weren’t going his way. He’s always loved Britain.

Thabo Mbeki’s sustained a lot of criticism for his “quiet diplomacy”, but some say he’s one of the more powerful leaders still able to engage with Mugabe. What do you think of this?

He’s not been a fair moderator. He’s come out openly on Mugabe’s side. He talks of this quiet diplomacy, which had been appeasement for Mugabe. Have you ever seen a photograph of Mbeki holding Morgan Tsvangirai’s hand anywhere? No. Yet you’ve seen a photograph of Mbeki holding Robert Mugabe’s hand and laughing, when Zimbabweans are dying. And he says there’s no crisis.

Mbeki aside, do you see signs that the region is hardening against Mugabe?

The people are [hardening] but not the governments. Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania are beginning to harden their attitudes towards Zimbabwe, but the others are not. I think South Africans have a better understanding of what is going on. The ANC, for example, has changed its tune, lead by Cosatu and the Youth League and the Communist Party. They’re leading the way in South Africa, and the DA has always understood the conditions. South Africans are now beginning to understand what’s going on, but it’s a recent development.

Image courtesy of The Zimbabwean

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This article was first published in Vol III, Issue 1 of The Cape Town Globalist, May 2008.