Mugabe: Africa's 'lasting connection'?

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Robert Gabriel Mugabe earned his "struggle credentials" fighting a white minority regime he and his comrades insisted was illegitimate.

They had occupied his people's land, and in his words made them a "race of no rights beyond those of chattel."

The white regime threw him in prison for 10 years.

After being released in 1974, Mugabe launched the so-called "Second Chimurenga," or fight for freedom -- the first being against the British in the late 1800s. From Mozambique, he coordinated a guerilla war against Ian Smith's white minority regime.

In 1979, talks in London produced the Lancaster agreement, ending the war.

EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Zimbabwe Election 2002

At independence in April 1980, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. In 1987 Mugabe became Zimbabwe's first elected president.

From then until recently, Mugabe called for reconciliation with the whites who had fought him inside and outside the country.

"The historical links between the UK and Zimbabwe which date from far back in history have grown from strength to strength over the years," Mugabe once said.

But his primary focus was on improving the lives of the black majority -- he built schools and hospitals and promoted agriculture aimed at the small peasant farmer.

Mugabe has been accused of dealing harshly with his opponents, killing some 20,000 ethnic Ndebeles in southwest Zimbabwe whom he saw as supporting an opposition party.

But his minister of information, Jonathan Moyo sees Mugabe differently, calling him "someone who accommodates, someone who listens (and) will naturally treat their enemies with understanding."

In the 1990s, the country's economy began a downward spiral as charges of elitism, cronyism and corruption plagued Mugabe's government. Today, half of the workforce is jobless.

In late 1999, Mugabe endorsed often-violent seizures of white-owned farms. He calls this the Third Chimurenga.

Mugabe blames whites -- especially the British -- for Zimbabwe's economic woes. Others blame Mugabe himself. His supporters disagree.

"You know, you find in him the lasting connection between the struggle which the African fought to liberate themselves and the African way into the future, especially now as they are struggling for economic emancipation," says Moyo.

If this election is about anything, it is just that: whether Mugabe is a man for all seasons or if, at 78, he is a man whose time has come and gone.