'We were brought up in a society which actually worshipped the white man
as a kind of god.'[1]
Robert Mugabe
The Africa in which Mugabe was born was a place of
oppression and subjugation for anyone but the white rulers. Colonialism was at
its peak, and the European leaders were ruthless in their quest for complete
control. Unsurprisingly Mugabe's childhood instilled in him a desire for
change.
Catholic missionaries were first established in Rhodesia
after Cecil Rhodes' company, the British South Africa Company, claimed
occupation of Mashonaland in 1890.[2]
Jesuit priests built schools, clinics, workshops and taught trades such as
stonemasonry, shoemaking, carpentry and horticulture. Dominican nuns also
established a presence in the area, teaching domestic skills and childcare.
Their biggest mission was the Chishawasha mission, of which Kutama mission in
the Zvimba district was an offshoot.[3] It
was at Kutama that Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on February 21 1924.
Like many Zimbabweans Mugabe was born at a Catholic mission
established by Jesuit priests. His parents were trained by the missionaries;
his father, Gabriel, was a carpenter and his mother, Bona, was a devout
Catholic who taught catechism.[4]
The strict, disciplined nature of the Jesuit teaching is critical to the man
Mugabe would become. He later commented that he 'benefited from their (the
Jesuit) teaching enormously'.[5] In
1931 Father Jerome O'Hea became the new supervisor at Kutama.[6]
Father O'Hea's strong belief in education as the key to emancipation
undoubtedly influenced not only the mission but a young seven year old Mugabe. As
a child Mugabe was serious; he preferred solidarity, was secretive and favoured
reading over sports or other school activities. Mugabe's brother, Donato,
commented 'his only friends were books'.[7]
His intelligence and aptitude for learning were identified at a young age;
Father O'Hea later confessed 'I would have kept him for nothing because of his
influence over the other boys. Before long he was teaching his classmates how
to teach'.[8]
Interestingly O'Hea, an Irish priest, admitted to describing to his students
the ongoing struggle and upheaval Ireland faced in obtaining independence from
the British. This would have resonated with the young African students who
understood British supremacy all too well and whose education itself came at
the cost of British occupation of their land.
The missionary was a safe place were education was nurtured
and family life flourished, yet outside of the mission, Mugabe and his fellow
Africans bore the brunt of white occupation. The world Mugabe was born into was
a world of suppression, where the white man ruled supreme. In later years,
after becoming Prime Minister, Mugabe recalled his childhood in which 'whoever
was white therefore not only had the power but also the privilege of demanding
respect from every black. And so we feared the white man.'[9] It
is clear the young Robert Mugabe was influenced by white supremacy and the
subjugation of black people that was continually reinforced in all aspects of
his life. This fear of the white man would later manifest itself into a radical
hatred for the colonial/white establishment and everything it stood for.
[1] M,
Meredith, Power, Plunder, and the
Struggle for Zimbabwe, PublicAffairs, New York, 2007, p. 22.
[2] T,
Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerilla
War in Zimbabwe, James Currey, London, 1985, p.20.
[3] A,
Russell, Big Men Little People, New York
University Press, New York, 2000, p. 294