Until relations went completely sour in the last decades of the 20th century, Mugabe was inundated with honorary degrees and awards from western universities and other outstanding institutions. In addition to his personal academic accomplishments, the Zimbabwean leader holds honorary doctorate degrees from reputable institutions from the U.S through Britain to Russia. These include the University of Edinburgh, the University of Massachusetts, and Michigan State University.
The climax of this appreciation was in 1994 when he was knighted “Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath” by Queen Elizabeth 11. This was in recognition of Mugabe’s “significant contribution to relations between Britain and Zimbabwe.” These moves added to several attempts by western countries to support land reform in Zimbabwe through financial contributions.
This honeymoon, however, ended in the mid-1990s when the inherent contradictions of the Lancaster Constitution started producing cracks that widened over time. When the damage became irreparable after brutal land seizures in Zimbabwe, Britain decided to strip Mugabe of his knighthood. The one time “Knight of the Order of Bath” had become the “devil with a long tail and two horns.”
Mugabe’s respect for the Lancaster Constitution
The “willing seller, willing buyer” clause of the Lancaster Constitution which focused entirely on the land, made it clear that land could change hands only with the consent of both the buyer and the seller, at a price agreed by both. This was to run for ten interrupted years from 1980. True to the provisions of Lancaster, Mugabe showed complete respect for this constitution despite pressure from his war veterans to deliver on his promises to restore land to blacks.
The peace and prosperity that reigned in Zimbabwe during this period cleared every doubt in the hearts of his counterparts about his dependability. No one was ready to criticise Mugabe, not even when he embarked on the now infamous gukurahundi massacres of 1982 aimed at destroying the strong hold of the opposition in Matabeleland. Because Mugabe at this time was willing to dance to the tune of the West, he was embraced very tightly.
