The Statue of Robert Mugabe is a springstone statue of the former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe located at

State House State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. Made by the Zimbabwean sculptor Dominic Benhura, it was unveiled in 2016 but was subject to criticism and mockery for its design.

Background

Mugabe had been

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and later

President of Zimbabwe The president of Zimbabwe is the head of state of Zimbabwe and head of the executive branch of the government of Zimbabwe. The president chairs the national cabinet and is the chief commanding authority of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The in ...

since the country transitioned from

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

and gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980. In 2016, Mugabe asked for a statue to be made of himself and asked local sculptor Dominic Benhura to craft it out of springstone using chisels and sandpaper. It took Benhura six months to sculpt it. The statue consists of a figure of Mugabe with his fist in the air. It was revealed at State House in September 2016.

Reaction

Upon the statue's unveiling by Mugabe, it received criticism and mockery from around the world. A number of commentators accused it of looking like "

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

taking off drunk" or characters from ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

''. Others viewed it as following a convention of dictators ordering the erection of statues of themselves. The sculptor responded to the criticism by saying it was done in his style, of which Mugabe knew, and was not a mockery. Mugabe said he liked it and called for respect for the sculptor who had made it after inspecting another statue of himself that he had commissioned. This came after it was revealed Mugabe had spent $5 million on two more statues of himself made in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

to be erected after his death.

References

{{coord missing, Zimbabwe Buildings and structures in Harare Robert Mugabe 2016 establishments in Zimbabwe Stone statues Mugabe, Robert 2016 sculptures Sculptures of Black people Statues of presidents Sculptures of men in Zimbabwe