Here are some key dates in the late former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe
1924: He was born on 21 February 1924 at Kutama Mission in Zvimba.
1944: His father died leaving Mugabe to take care of his 6 siblings, half of them from his father relationship outside marriage with Robert’s father.
1945: Mugabe started s his teaching career
1955: Moved to present-day Zambia (then Northen Rhodesia) where he worked at Chalimbana Teacher Training College in Lusaka
1958: Moved to Ghana to teach. He met Sally Hayfron, his future wife there. He later said: “I went [to Ghana] as an adventurist. I wanted to see what it would be like in an independent African state”
1960: Returned to Southern Rhodesia with Sally and joined active politics in the National Democratic Party (NDP). He also married Sally that year.
1964: Imprisoned by the Rhodesian government for his involvement in politics.
November 1974: Mugabe was released from prison, after almost 11 years.
1976: Mugabe moved to Mozambique where he became defacto leader of ZANU. With Josiah Tongogara leading on the military front, Mugabe was tasked with focusing on the propaganda war, making regular speeches and radio broadcasts.
1979: With Mugade leading ZANU and Joshua Nkomo leading ZAPU, the two presented themselves as the Patriotic Front at the Lancaster House Conference.
1980: Won post-independence elections becoming Zimbabwe’s first Prime Minister. The non-executive president was Canaan Banana.
1983: Presideed over what is now called Gukurahundi, a genocide against people in Matabeleland and Midlands with an estimated 20,000 people killed over a number of years.
January 1992: Sally Mugabe died of kidney failure
1996: Married Grace Marufu
2000: Lost a constitutional referendum. The invasion of white-owned farms by war veterans, dubbed the Third Chimurenga, began.
2008: Mugabe lost the first round of presidential elections to Morgan Tsvangirai. This was followed by widespread violence against MDC supports leaving more than 200 dead. Tsvangirayi pulled out of the run-off election and the impasses results in a negotiated Government of National Unity the following year.
2009: Shared governance of Zimbabwe with Tsvangirayi, who became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
2017: Fired long-time ally Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa accusing him of leading a faction plotting against him and his wife.
November 2017: A military coup de tat, code-named “Operation Restore Legacy” forces Mugabe to resign as President of Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa takes over as president.
July 2018: Mugabe openly declares support for the opposition presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, in the July 2018 general elections
2019: Photos circulate on social media showing a frail Mugabe with his family members, mostly his son.