Robert Mugabe’s 1980 candidature as depicted in the (South African) Sunday Times

Abstract

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has now been in power for three decades. He has acquiredan almost universal image of being a dictator who has steadily governed the country to ruin.This article investigates the depiction of Robert Mugabe’s candidature in the 1980 Zimbabwean(common roll) independence election campaign in the Sunday Times, then by far the largestSouth African newspaper. A content analysis of the coverage is followed by argumentation thatbrings the content of the coverage in line with the general culture of the newspaper. The SundayTimes employed mainly stereotypical images of Mugabe. For it, the Zimbabwean independenceelection campaign revolved respectively around a choice for Southern Africa between capitalismand Marxism and between the future of white and black power. Mugabe was depicted as anenemy both of capitalism and of continued white interests