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degrees and doctorates from international universities, awarded to him in the 1980s; at least three of these have since been revoked.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voted to revoke the law degree awarded to Mugabe in 1986; this is the first time one of its honorary degrees has been revoked.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".
| 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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“If a novel reveals true and vivid relationships, it is a moral work, no matter what the relationships consist in. If the novelist honours the relationship in itself, it will be a great novel.”
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