In the Footsteps of Robert Gabriel Mugabe: Namibian Solidarity with Mugabe’s Populism—(Bogus) Anti-imperialism in Practice

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the close Namibian-Zimbabwean ties among the governing parties and especially their long-standing leaders Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma. The evidence presented testifies to the popularity Mugabe and his policy enjoy among the “hard core” Namibian nationalists. Since independence, close bonds were knitted between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO of Namibia, now SWAPO Party). Both were successful as anticolonial movements to seize political power at independence (1980 and 1990, respectively) without abandoning political control ever since. While initially ZANU and SWAPO were not particularly close, this changed since the mid-1990s due to the regional shifts and subsequent strategic alliances.