ZANU-PF Congress to End Factionalism: President Mugabe of Zimbabwe
November 5, 2014
From Mduduzi Mathuthu in VIENNA, Austria
Zimbabwe Herald
Ongoing factional fights in ZANU-PF that have been playing out in the media will be ended at the Sixth National People’s Congress next month, President Mugabe has said.
Addressing a gathering of African diplomats, students and Zimbabweans working here at a dinner hosted by the Zimbabwean mission, the President said the factional fights did not faze him.
“Of course, you’ve got the little fights in the parties and so on, especially if you’re going to congress, you react so much, people want positions and they begin to work for positions. But it doesn’t worry us very much. We’ll get to congress in the first week of December and this will stop.”
Britain and its allies, the President said on Monday, were free to “impose the worst sanctions ever,” but Zimbabwe will never bow to their imperialist designs.
The President, who circumvented a European Union travel ban because he was attending a United Nations event here — the Second Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries — sent out a defiant message at a cocktail hosted by Zimbabwe’s mission.
He accused Britain of using deception to maintain a travel ban on him and the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, who did not attend the conference.
“We came [to the conference] because we’re a landlocked country. Landlocked countries have immense difficulties, they’ve got to transit through coastal countries, and sometimes the’re difficulties with restrictions and sometimes with imports. For certain imports you’re told ‘oh no, we can’t receive these through our ports’. We’ve had those difficulties ourselves, but they’re not difficulties we can reveal here. We discuss them in regional meetings, but here we can only discuss them in general terms,” President Mugabe said.
“That’s what has brought us here and, naturally, as current chairman of Sadc, it was our responsibility not to just talk about Zimbabwe but talk about Sadc as well, what we’re doing in Sadc, the good things we’ve done and a few restrictive things that remain, well we could only express them in general terms.
“Coming here for me, as indeed it would have been for my wife, would have only been because there’s a meeting of the United Nations otherwise I would’ve had sanctions imposed on me, my wife and on Zimbabwe by the European Union. The reasons, we don’t know.”
President Mugabe said Britain’s main charge that Zimbabweans were being denied their freedoms was hugely discredited, not least because the first democratic elections in Zimbabwe came only after the country freed itself from racist British colonial rule.
“They can’t say we’re not democratic, which is what was said as the reason, a reason, given to Europe by Britain. It was Britain under Mr [Tony] Blair at the time. We fought for our democracy, against the British for that matter,” the President said.
“We never had democracy under the British. We freed our people, gave them freedom, gave them independence, the right to self-determination and here is a country which yesterday was oppressing us, which yesterday was denying us democracy, which yesterday had seized our land, which yesterday had made us semi-slaves now saying to Europe ‘Zimbabwe is undemocratic’.
“The act of Independence in 1980 was the act that ushered freedom and independence, democracy and every five years we’ve held elections, ‘one-man one-vote’ as we used to call them, now we dare not call them that, they’re ‘one-person one-vote’.”
The European Union, in a review of its sanctions regime two weeks ago, said it had lifted travel bans on a list of government officials which once topped 100, leaving just President Mugabe and First Lady Grace Mugabe. The bloc also maintains an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Although the EU insists the sanctions are “targeted” at hurting President Mugabe and his wife over alleged rights abuses, in real operation placing sanctions on the President of a country carries a stigma which hurts the country’s competitiveness as an investment and tourist destination, the President’s Zanu-PF party has always argued.
Only last week, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority CEO Karikoga Kaseke was denied a visa to the United Kingdom where he planned to attend the UNWTO and World Travel Market exhibition. Kaseke’s name was previously on the travel ban list.
A UK entry clearance officer, in rejecting Kaseke’s visa application, said “in light of your association, I consider it undesirable to issue you entry clearance and I am not prepared to exercise discretion in your favour.”
And President Mugabe says Britain continues to use subterfuge in its unrelenting international campaign to keep the country isolated and weakened. Last year’s elections which swept Zanu-PF back into power by a landslide passed every international standard, he maintained.
“There’s no election which can beat the one we had on July 31 last year, none at all, there’s none in the world that can beat that. [There was] absolute quiet! No disturbance from any source, but of course, the British, the grievance that we took land from them, and it was, as I said, the Blair government that accused us of not having democracy, not having the rule of law and violating human rights,” the President said.
“It’s quite interesting how those who offended us yesterday in worse ways than these charges they’re now levelling at us can forget. But there it is, we’ve refused to be bow to their sanctions. We’ve said they can impose the worst sanctions ever, but the land is ours, the country is ours, we’re independent and we shall never go back. Never ever ever! So do what you can Britain, but Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!”
Prior to his address, President Mugabe took time to pose for photographs with some of the over two dozen guests in attendance.
The President is expected back home this morning.
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| Republic of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe speaking at a UN meeting in Vienna on landlocked states. |
From Mduduzi Mathuthu in VIENNA, Austria
Zimbabwe Herald
Ongoing factional fights in ZANU-PF that have been playing out in the media will be ended at the Sixth National People’s Congress next month, President Mugabe has said.
Addressing a gathering of African diplomats, students and Zimbabweans working here at a dinner hosted by the Zimbabwean mission, the President said the factional fights did not faze him.
“Of course, you’ve got the little fights in the parties and so on, especially if you’re going to congress, you react so much, people want positions and they begin to work for positions. But it doesn’t worry us very much. We’ll get to congress in the first week of December and this will stop.”
Britain and its allies, the President said on Monday, were free to “impose the worst sanctions ever,” but Zimbabwe will never bow to their imperialist designs.
The President, who circumvented a European Union travel ban because he was attending a United Nations event here — the Second Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries — sent out a defiant message at a cocktail hosted by Zimbabwe’s mission.
He accused Britain of using deception to maintain a travel ban on him and the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, who did not attend the conference.
“We came [to the conference] because we’re a landlocked country. Landlocked countries have immense difficulties, they’ve got to transit through coastal countries, and sometimes the’re difficulties with restrictions and sometimes with imports. For certain imports you’re told ‘oh no, we can’t receive these through our ports’. We’ve had those difficulties ourselves, but they’re not difficulties we can reveal here. We discuss them in regional meetings, but here we can only discuss them in general terms,” President Mugabe said.
“That’s what has brought us here and, naturally, as current chairman of Sadc, it was our responsibility not to just talk about Zimbabwe but talk about Sadc as well, what we’re doing in Sadc, the good things we’ve done and a few restrictive things that remain, well we could only express them in general terms.
“Coming here for me, as indeed it would have been for my wife, would have only been because there’s a meeting of the United Nations otherwise I would’ve had sanctions imposed on me, my wife and on Zimbabwe by the European Union. The reasons, we don’t know.”
President Mugabe said Britain’s main charge that Zimbabweans were being denied their freedoms was hugely discredited, not least because the first democratic elections in Zimbabwe came only after the country freed itself from racist British colonial rule.
“They can’t say we’re not democratic, which is what was said as the reason, a reason, given to Europe by Britain. It was Britain under Mr [Tony] Blair at the time. We fought for our democracy, against the British for that matter,” the President said.
“We never had democracy under the British. We freed our people, gave them freedom, gave them independence, the right to self-determination and here is a country which yesterday was oppressing us, which yesterday was denying us democracy, which yesterday had seized our land, which yesterday had made us semi-slaves now saying to Europe ‘Zimbabwe is undemocratic’.
“The act of Independence in 1980 was the act that ushered freedom and independence, democracy and every five years we’ve held elections, ‘one-man one-vote’ as we used to call them, now we dare not call them that, they’re ‘one-person one-vote’.”
The European Union, in a review of its sanctions regime two weeks ago, said it had lifted travel bans on a list of government officials which once topped 100, leaving just President Mugabe and First Lady Grace Mugabe. The bloc also maintains an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Although the EU insists the sanctions are “targeted” at hurting President Mugabe and his wife over alleged rights abuses, in real operation placing sanctions on the President of a country carries a stigma which hurts the country’s competitiveness as an investment and tourist destination, the President’s Zanu-PF party has always argued.
Only last week, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority CEO Karikoga Kaseke was denied a visa to the United Kingdom where he planned to attend the UNWTO and World Travel Market exhibition. Kaseke’s name was previously on the travel ban list.
A UK entry clearance officer, in rejecting Kaseke’s visa application, said “in light of your association, I consider it undesirable to issue you entry clearance and I am not prepared to exercise discretion in your favour.”
And President Mugabe says Britain continues to use subterfuge in its unrelenting international campaign to keep the country isolated and weakened. Last year’s elections which swept Zanu-PF back into power by a landslide passed every international standard, he maintained.
“There’s no election which can beat the one we had on July 31 last year, none at all, there’s none in the world that can beat that. [There was] absolute quiet! No disturbance from any source, but of course, the British, the grievance that we took land from them, and it was, as I said, the Blair government that accused us of not having democracy, not having the rule of law and violating human rights,” the President said.
“It’s quite interesting how those who offended us yesterday in worse ways than these charges they’re now levelling at us can forget. But there it is, we’ve refused to be bow to their sanctions. We’ve said they can impose the worst sanctions ever, but the land is ours, the country is ours, we’re independent and we shall never go back. Never ever ever! So do what you can Britain, but Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!”
Prior to his address, President Mugabe took time to pose for photographs with some of the over two dozen guests in attendance.
The President is expected back home this morning.
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