# P. W. Botha vs Robert Mugabe

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 9, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606 "2016-01-09T18:27:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606/1 "2016-01-09T18:27:10Z")

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Alternate title: “ordinary bigotry vs murderous incompetence.”

P. W. Botha was the last South African leader to defend apartheid. Other than his racial views, he seems to have been a reasonably good leader who in many ways left his country better off than it was when he took office.

Robert Mugabe took a country that was doing quite well in many respects, and turned it into one of the worst-perfoming countries in the world. Zimbabwe is among the worst in terms of corruption, life expectancy, and general economic conditions.

If you had to choose, which one would you rather live under? I would choose Botha. As long as a country has well-functioning institutions, you can always try to improve the parts that aren’t good.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606/2 "2016-01-09T18:34:26Z")

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I choose Botha, but I’m white, so it’s not really that hard a choice.

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**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606/3 "2016-01-09T18:43:01Z")

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Am I white or black?

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**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-w-botha-vs-robert-mugabe/742606/4 "2016-01-09T18:48:03Z")

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And Mubage of 1980s or the Mugabe of the 1990s?

Or the De Clerk of 1994 or the De Clerk of the 1970s.

If you were white or black, the Mugabe of the 1980s is the best choice but you should emmigrate in the 1990s.