This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

There was little regret expressed on the streets of Harare at the news of the death of the former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.

A hero of Africa’s independence struggle, but whose nearly four-decade rule descended into tyranny, corruption and incompetence, Mugabe died in Singapore on Thursday night.

Nomarn Makoto, 33, a school teacher from the poor outlying neighbourhood of Epworth, said he felt little sympathy for Mugabe, who was ousted in a military takeover in 2017.

Play Video 3:06 From liberator to tyrant: the life and legacy of Robert Mugabe – video obituary

“He has just died like everyone else. He left us in this mess and we are still suffering. The Bible says your deeds, good or bad, will follow you. His will surely haunt him on the other side,” Makoto said.

Netsai Gute, a 68-year-old retired civil servant whose pension was wiped out by runaway inflation caused by Mugabe’s economic mismanagement, said the former leader had become a distant “godlike” figure who believed himself infallible and indispensable.

“He was heartless … Everything that we fought for he threw in the mud. May God have mercy on his soul, because he left Zimbabwe worse off. My generation does not have a decent pension because of him, I can not afford a decent burial because of him. Surely justice must now take its course, and he will be punished as he deserves” Gute said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Children stand besides a mural of Robert Mugabe in the Mbare district of Harare. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party remains in power and is blamed by many in Zimbabwe for the country’s deep problems.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, who became president after Mugabe’s fall, expressed his condolences to the former leader’s family on Twitter and described his predecessor as a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to his country.

Mnangagwa promised to bring foreign investment to Zimbabwe and restore full relations with the international community when he took power.

But early hopes of reform were dashed when violence followed a contested election. There have since been several waves of repression, targeting opposition and labour activists as well as pro-democracy campaigners.

With no prospect of a major international bailout, an already grave economic crisis is deepening. Millions face shortages of power, clean water and affordable food. Hospitals are short of medicine. Few people have steady employment.

Zanu-PF officials frequently blame international sanctions for the country’s problems, but most analysts point to systematic mismanagement and widespread corruption.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Youths stand besides a mural in Harare depicting Robert Mugabe after hearing the news of his death. Photograph: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Tendai Biti, a former finance minister and opposition politician, said it was important to acknowledge the massive destruction caused by Mugabe as well as the late leader’s role in Zimbabwe’s independence struggle.

“A giant has fallen, a man who was a coalition of controversies, who failed to transform himself from a liberation leader to a national leader,” Biti said.

Yet there is still some fondness for a man seen by many as a national hero for his role in fighting the white supremacist regime in the former British colony in the 1970s.

Elvis Gwekwerere, 35, a taxi driver, said he was “in pain”. He added: “We are who we are because of him. Zimbabwe feels like it does not have a president at the moment since he left power. The gap that he left will never be filled.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Kenyan woman watches TV news announcing the death of Mugabe in Nairobi. Photograph: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Massa Munetsi, 25, a University of Zimbabwe student, said Zimbabwe was better under Mugabe and his successor had failed to live up to people’s expectations.

“To be honest, despite his flaws, we need to forgive and forget. Surely we all make mistakes and we shouldn’t forget that he fought for this country. During his time things were not this hard, but now we are suffering,” Munetsi said.

“We will miss him. When he fell from power, people were happy because they felt a new government had come, but now we regret the old days. Forgive us, Uncle Bob.”

Monica Mutsvangwa, the information minister, described Mugabe as a father figure. “Some of us, we were like his children to him. We can never write our history without mentioning him,” she said.