Robert Mugabe - Honours and Revocations

Honours and Revocations

In 1994, Mugabe was appointed an honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II. This entitled him to use the postnominal letters GCB, but not to use the title "Sir." In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee called for the removal of this honour in 2003, and on 25 June 2008, the Queen cancelled and annulled the honorary knighthood after advice from the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. "This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided".

Mugabe holds several honorary degrees and doctorates from international universities, awarded to him in the 1980s; at least three of these have since been revoked. In June 2007, he became the first international figure ever to be stripped of an honorary degree by a British university, when the University of Edinburgh withdrew the degree awarded to him in 1984. On 12 June 2008, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Board of Trustees voted to revoke the law degree awarded to Mugabe in 1986; this is the first time one of its honorary degrees has been revoked. Similarly, on 12 September 2008, Michigan State University revoked an honorary law degree that it awarded Mugabe in 1990. He has been appointed as a UN "leader of Tourism".

Titles and honours of Robert Gabriel Mugabe
Title/Honour Awarding body/person Date of award Reason for award Date of revocation/loss of award Reason for revocation/loss
(Comment)
1 Comrade member of ZANU-PF
2 General Secretary ZANU-PF (date of appointment)
3 1st Executive President Constitution (date of constitutional amendment)
4 Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath Queen Elizabeth II 1994 "significant contributions" to relations between Britain and Zimbabwe 25 June 2008 "The abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided"
5 Honorary LLD degree University of Edinburgh 1984 "... honoured not only for his extraordinary intellectual discipline and energy but for those qualities of statesmanship which made him one of the great figures of modern Africa.” June 2007 "The decision was taken after the university set up an academic panel to look at events between 1982 and 1984 in Matabeleland, where 20,000 people are thought to have died. The university has said that it knew nothing of the killings at the time of the award."
6 Honorary LLD degree University of Massachusetts 1986 "Your gentle firmness in the face of anger, and your intellectual approach to matters which inflame the emotions of others, are hallmarks of your quiet integrity." ... "We salute you for your enduring and effective translation of a moral ethic into a strong, popular voice for freedom." June 2008 "Mugabe's corrupt, repressive regime" was deemed "antithetical to the values and beliefs of the University of Massachusetts." It is the first time the board has revoked an honorary degree.
7 Honorary LLD degree Michigan State University 1990 "... for his achievements as the president of Zimbabwe and for establishing a strong cooperative effort between MSU and the University of Zimbabwe." 12 September 2008 "...a pattern of human rights abuses."
8 Honorary LLD degree Ahmadou Bello University
9 Honorary LLD degree Morehouse College
10 Honorary LLD degree University of Zimbabwe
11 Honorary LLD degree St. Augustine's College
12 Honorary LLD degree Lomonosov Moscow State University
13 Honorary LLD degree Solusi University
14 Honorary D.Litt. degree Africa University
15 Honorary D Civil Laws degree University of Mauritius
16 Honorary D.Com. degree University of Fort Hare
17 Honorary D.Tech. degree National University of Science and Technology
18 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger The Hunger Project 1988 Mr. Mugabe's agricultural programs "pointed the way not only for Zimbabwe but for the entire African continent." 8 August 2001 "The Hunger Project wishes to be on the record as deploring policies that have resulted in increased unemployment, poverty and hunger in Zimbabwe. This situation is inconsistent with the spirit of the Africa Prize for Leadership and Zimbabwe’s need to work for the sustainable end of hunger."
19 Honorary Order of Jamaica Government of Jamaica 1996 "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the fight for liberation and the overthrow of apartheid in Southern Africa, and his distinct leadership in the pursuit of freedom and human development throughout the African continent" Prime Minister Bruce Golding says Jamaica has no plan to strip President Robert Mugabe of the honorary award conferred on him in 1996, despite the ongoing political situation in Zimbabwe.

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