Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe is a man who divides opinions. To some, he is the hero, the man who almost single-handedly liberated his country and is making sure it doesn't fall into imperialist claws again.
Indeed, former supporters of Zimbabwe's incumbent president have come round to this view as well, having been deeply disappointed by what has become of the country and of the man who runs it.
Man behind the president
Journalist Heidi Holland may not want to be entirely included in this last group. But she can certainly be credited with trying to find an answer to the question regarding the true intentions of Mr Mugabe.
Nevertheless, such a question cannot be answered by simply describing him as hero or villain. So who is the man behind Robert Mugabe and what makes him tick? Heidi Holland spoke to the Zimbabwean president at the end of 2007 and has written a book entitled "Dinner With Mugabe" (http://www.dinnerwithmugabe.com).
Abilty to connect
Bridges With Africa conducted an extensive interview with Ms Holland resulting in a three-part programme to be broadcast on 9, 16 and 23 May.
The "Dinner" refers to a meal Heidi Holland shared with Robert Mugabe more than 30 years ago. He had just spent 10 years of his life in a Rhodesian jail, gaining six degrees whilst in captivity, and he was on his way to Mozambique, from where he was to launch the final push for Zimbabwe's independence. At the time, he certainly managed to relate to others, Ms Holland recalls; "He was in a hurry to leave so I offered him a lift, which meant I had to leave my baby in the house alone, on the way I apologised for driving so fast. I explained that I didn't want to leave the baby alone for too long. The next day, to my great surprise he called me and asked if the baby was alright.That's not something you associate with the expressionless Sphinx he's made out to be."
Indeed, as late as 1991 Robert Mugabe demonstrated an ability to connect with ordinary people when he travelled to a remote corner of northeastern Zimbabwe. He went there to comfort the distraught relatives of 91 schoolchildren and teachers who had perished in the worst bus accident in the country's history. He genuinely shared their grief.
Corruption
Had he been aware of the 272,000 euros (spontaneously donated to the victims' relatives) being siphoned off by pond-life lower down his own administration's food chain then he would have had an idea of how rotten things were becoming in the State of Zimbabwe. Heidi Holland remembers well that by the early 1990s the country was already showing signs of decline with rising food prices, corruption scandals and so forth.
Regardless, no one at the highest level painted the real picture, any such revelations would have been tantamount to contradiction, a serious crime in Mr Mugabe's universe. The only person who could safely contradict him was his first wife, Sally Hayfron, and she died in 1992.
Horrendous childhood
President Mugabe spends most of his time in a familiar lonely bubble, a place where he goes when things go wrong. Heidi Holland thinks that the explanation for this behaviour can be found in rural Zimbabwe where he grew up.
"He had a horrendous childhood. His brother drank from a gourd that contained herbicides, as a consequence he died when Robert was only 10. His mother never recovered, she went into a period of prolonged depression from which he could not rescue her, at this point his father had already abandoned the family." Added to this Mr Mugabe was educated in a Jesuit college:"He had to negotiate with the white missionary priests to go and see his "heathen" grandparents. So it's easy to see how psychologically damaged this boy emerged."...."...He never had any friends. You know, in most cases people learn about life from their encounters with other people. He learnt everything from books. I think he made a decision early in life that people would not matter to him."
Not exactly the profile of someone who should aspire to lead a country, and Ms Holland believes that his destiny may have been very different had he been allowed to follow his calling: education.
''He would have been a perfectly respectable headmaster in a good school, all prim and proper. I don't believe he was all that interested in the liberation movement. The movement found him; it was in disarray and there was this man, Robert Mugabe, who was educated, well dressed - you know he is a very elegant man - and articulate, which is probably his greatest asset. He was what they needed."
Humiliation and revenge
But he also had more ominous character traits. Heidi Holland sees this clearly in his total fixation with former colonial power, Britain. The story is this. After Labour came to power in 1997, the new minister for overseas development, Clare Short, wrote a letter informing the government in Harare that, basically, no more money would be forthcoming to finance the much-needed land reform programme, which at the time was advancing at a snail's pace. Labour considers the colonial heritage in Zimbabwe "a Tory issue", nothing to do with them. "The British don't come out of this history looking very well," is Holland's assessment.
And that is putting it mildly. The extremely insensitive tone of Clare Short's letter roundly humiliated Robert Mugabe, the anglophile, who considers himself closely attached to the British Royal Family. "If he is rejected and humiliated," says Ms Holland, "he turns to revenge. I asked him if he was not afraid to destroy his country, just to prove his point to Britain and he replied 'Yes, that's what we're doing.' I found that extraordinary, I had expected him to argue the point..."
Rejection, humiliation, revenge. The pattern reveals itself many times over during his career. Had he been that respectable headmaster, the damage would have been limited. But he is the president. He has an army, an elaborate security apparatus, a brutalised police force that does his bidding. This in Ms Holland's opinion, makes him dangerous.
The signs are already there with 27 June now fixed as the date for the presidential runoff; revenge is in full swing. There are countless reports of party thugs, youth gangs and war veterans brutalising those who had the bloody nerve to vote against Mugabe. Houses are being burnt, property vandalised, people attacked, wounded and killed.
All this to ensure that Robert Mugabe retains the presidency he believes he owns. All this to ensure he remains inside a bubble where only Robert Mugabe is right and everybody else is wrong.
Tags: Bridges With Africa, Clare Short, Heidi Holland, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe