President Robert Mugabe’s victory in the 31 July elections was reminiscent of his victory in 1980. He was the most disliked candidate. Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who had been Prime Minister of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was the front runner. Zimbabwe African People’s Union leader Joshua Nkomo was the second favourite. But Mugabe won 57 of the 80 seats reserved for blacks. Muzorewa won only 3 down from 51 out of 72 a year earlier. Soon after Mugabe’s victory, former Tanzanian Foreign Minister Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu, regarded as one of Africa’s foremost thinkers, wrote an open letter to Mugabe, then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. Babu was now an economics professor in the United Kingdom. We reproduce the letter here published in Babu’s collection. The letter was also published in the New African.
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