President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sent a message of condolence to the government and people of Zimbabwe, and to the family of the first President, Robert Mugabe, 95, who passed away on Friday, September 6, 2019, in Singapore.
In the message to the Zimbabwean leader, Emerson Mnangagwa, President Akufo-Addo stated that: “Robert Mugabe will be remembered, above all, for his immense contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa from imperialism, colonialism and racist rule. His dedication to the cause of Pan-Africanism is fully acknowledged.”
“Through his marriage to the late Sarah Francesca Hayfron, his first wife, the Ghanaian people have always considered him and, indeed, all other Zimbabweans, as our in-laws.”
“Ghana, therefore, shares in the grief and loss of the Zimbabwean people, as we mourn his demise. He will be sorely missed,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
Mugabe, ruled for 37 years, after leading his country to independence from white minority rule (then Rhodesia), in 1980, and was also leader of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front.
Mugabe holds seven degrees from South Africa’s Fort Hare University and, in 1963, he was Secretary General of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union.
In 1964, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “subversive speech” against the Rhodesian government, and when he was released, he fled to Mozambique to launch a guerrilla war for independence.
Mugabe returned to Rhodesia in 1979, and became Prime Minister in 1980; the next month, as the newly independent country was renamed Zimbabwe.
Mugabe assumed the presidency in 1987, with the prime minister role being abolished.
