alternatehistory.com
Beata Beatrix - Mugabemania (Presidents of Zimbabwe from 1987 to present)
A nasty potential future for Zimbabwe. I really do hope things go better than this.
PRESIDENTS OF ZIMBABWE (1987 - present)
1980 - 1987: Canaan Banana (Zimbabwe African National Union)
1987 - 2019: Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe African National Union - Popular Front)
1990: Edgar Tekere (Zimbabwe Unity Movement)
1996: Abel Muzorewa (United Parties)
2002: Morgan Tsvangirai (Movement for Democratic Change)
2008: Morgan Tsvangirai (Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai)
2013: Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T)
2018: Morgan Tsvangirai (United Movement for Democratic Change)
2019 - 2023: Grace Mugabe (ZANU-PF)
2023 - 2023: Thokozani Khuphe (UMDC)
2023: Grace Mugabe (ZANU-PF)
2023 - 2025: Perence Shiri (Military / ZANU-PF)
By 2018, the two rival factions of the Movement for Democratic Change, the dominant opposition party to Robert Mugabe's long-established ZANU-PF, led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, respectively, had reunited after Mugabe's very public health struggles during the build-up to the 2018 presidential election. Ultimately, Tsvangirai would be the new United Movement for Democratic Change's candidate, but would lose to Mugabe, who would die in 2019, at the age of 95. After a brief power struggle in which Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa would be dispatched, the former First Lady, Grace Mugabe, would assume the presidency.
"Gucci" Grace, many years her ex-husband's junior, was primarily known for her lavish lifestyle (hence her nickname; supporters called her "Amai," or "mother"), and was rumored to only be holding onto the presidency so she might have continued use of the credit card that went along with the office. Her government was a disastrous one, with the cracks hidden by her predecessor surfacing en masse. By 2023, she barely retained control of ZANU-PF over her Vice President, Fortune Chasi. Ultimately, Mugabe lost the presidency to the UMDC's candidate, Thokozani Khuphe.
Khuphe's term would only last a few days, for military "loyalists" and much of ZANU-PF would support a coup led by Air Marshal Perence Shiri. Shiri was a cousin of Robert Mugabe, who called himself "Black Jesus" because he "could determine your life like Jesus Christ." Some forty years prior, Shiri had been responsible for leading the Zimbabwe Fifth Brigade, which perpetrated the genocide against the Ndebele people known as the Gukurahundi. With Khuphe and her government fleeing Zimbabwe, and Shiri becoming more and more authoritarian in nature, pressure to send a humanitarian mission to remove Shiri grew. On March 10th, 2024, the President of the United States, Tom Periello, authorized American troops, as part of a UN task force, to intervene in the "tragic crisis" gripping Zimbabwe.
PRESIDENTS OF ZIMBABWE (1987 - present)
1980 - 1987: Canaan Banana (Zimbabwe African National Union)
1987 - 2019: Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe African National Union - Popular Front)
1990: Edgar Tekere (Zimbabwe Unity Movement)
1996: Abel Muzorewa (United Parties)
2002: Morgan Tsvangirai (Movement for Democratic Change)
2008: Morgan Tsvangirai (Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai)
2013: Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T)
2018: Morgan Tsvangirai (United Movement for Democratic Change)
2019 - 2023: Grace Mugabe (ZANU-PF)
2023 - 2023: Thokozani Khuphe (UMDC)
2023: Grace Mugabe (ZANU-PF)
2023 - 2025: Perence Shiri (Military / ZANU-PF)
By 2018, the two rival factions of the Movement for Democratic Change, the dominant opposition party to Robert Mugabe's long-established ZANU-PF, led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, respectively, had reunited after Mugabe's very public health struggles during the build-up to the 2018 presidential election. Ultimately, Tsvangirai would be the new United Movement for Democratic Change's candidate, but would lose to Mugabe, who would die in 2019, at the age of 95. After a brief power struggle in which Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa would be dispatched, the former First Lady, Grace Mugabe, would assume the presidency.
"Gucci" Grace, many years her ex-husband's junior, was primarily known for her lavish lifestyle (hence her nickname; supporters called her "Amai," or "mother"), and was rumored to only be holding onto the presidency so she might have continued use of the credit card that went along with the office. Her government was a disastrous one, with the cracks hidden by her predecessor surfacing en masse. By 2023, she barely retained control of ZANU-PF over her Vice President, Fortune Chasi. Ultimately, Mugabe lost the presidency to the UMDC's candidate, Thokozani Khuphe.
Khuphe's term would only last a few days, for military "loyalists" and much of ZANU-PF would support a coup led by Air Marshal Perence Shiri. Shiri was a cousin of Robert Mugabe, who called himself "Black Jesus" because he "could determine your life like Jesus Christ." Some forty years prior, Shiri had been responsible for leading the Zimbabwe Fifth Brigade, which perpetrated the genocide against the Ndebele people known as the Gukurahundi. With Khuphe and her government fleeing Zimbabwe, and Shiri becoming more and more authoritarian in nature, pressure to send a humanitarian mission to remove Shiri grew. On March 10th, 2024, the President of the United States, Tom Periello, authorized American troops, as part of a UN task force, to intervene in the "tragic crisis" gripping Zimbabwe.
- Beata Beatrix
- Word Count: 420