Mugabe a student of Smith

The Zanu-PF government scored many successes during the first 10 years of independence because it had adopted former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith's "lock-stock-and-barrel" management style, former Cabinet minister Fay Chung has said.

Chung said President Robert Mugabe then lost the plot after he adopted the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) in the early to mid-90s.

Chung, who served under Mugabe's administration as Education minister during the period, said the governance system included use of subsidies to prevent possible upheavals.

Mugabe has never publicly hidden his disdain for colonialism and Smith, in particular, but most of his critics have argued his actions seem to indicate the veteran leader has been a willing disciple of Rhodesia's last white ruler's polices.