I will not succumb to opposition - Mugabe
I will not succumb to opposition - MugabeBy Webster Malido and Chansa Kabwela in Harare
Wednesday April 18, 2007 [16:11]
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has said he will not succumb to pressure from the opposition for him to step down from power. During the 27th Independence celebrations at Harare's Rufaro Stadium today, President Mugabe said he was duly elected by the people of Zimbabwe and that the 2002 presidential elections, which he won, were declared free and fair by various African observer missions. President Mugabe said his government was that of the people, for the people and by the people. He said he would not be removed from power by Britain or its allies.
"We ask Mr Tony Blair, who are you to Zimbabwe to decide on regime change? And you Mr George Bush in Washington, can you answer us? We have the right to decide on the situation in our country. We are right and supported by the people and people have power. Right is might," President Mugabe said.
"We celebrate not only our 27th year of sovereignty and self determination but also our success, our collective success, in repulsing the unending attempts by our erstwhile colonisers and other detractors to disturb our peace, stability and tranquillity.
"Today as we come to celebrate our independence we want to repeat to those in Britain whose ears are apparently deaf that your flag went down here Rufaro Stadium. Let the sound of the celebrations reach the ears of Britain and her allies and let them know that we shall never, never be a colony again."
He said Britain and its allies had no right to interfere in the affairs of other countries. President Mugabe said Zimbabwe's independence anniversary demonstrated the victorious spirit of people's unity and their vision to defend and determine their future direction.
"These heroes and heroines of the struggle would turn in their graves if today we were to bequeath anything less than full, uncompromised independence and sovereignty to the future generations of the country. Thus today is a day when we celebrate our continuing electoral successes and victories over British-sponsored negative forces, however organised," he said.
President Mugabe applauded the Zimbabwean people whom he said had resisted brazen attempts by the local people that were openly working in cahoots with "shameless local puppets" to reverse independence gains through regime change.
He said government had observed how the conspiracy of late had attempted to transform into a militant criminal strain characterised by what he termed as puerile attempts of misguided opposition elements to create a state of anarchy through an orgy of violence.
"As government our message remains clear that we will never hesitate to deal firmly with those elements who are bent on fomenting anarchy and criminal activities. The opposition has all the room for its activities provided they act legally. Once they act illegally, naturally they come up against the law and naturally the police will intervene," he said.
President Mugabe further said the economy had continued to be buffeted by seemingly unending waves of price hikes largely prompted by both unbridled greed among business persons and by the strategy of saboteurs.
He said the spates of increases in prices of basic commodities had largely been without justification.
"The price escalations have eroded the incomes of our people, thereby stirring disquiet across all sectors of the economy. Because price instability adversely affects ordinary people it is imperative that all stakeholders should work together to stem the existing inflationary spiral. We cannot drift along while this voice continues to undermine our economy," President Mugabe said.
"It is on this premise that government is actively involved in negotiations for the eventual establishment of a social contract. Within this framework, government, business, labour and other key stakeholders are expected to agree on establishing binding protocols that will and help the planned turnaround of the economy.
"On another front government is also expediting the setting up of the National Incomes and Pricing Commission which will provide the framework for appropriate pricing of goods and services using well-tested scientific pricing models.
"It is hoped that the Incomes and Pricing Commission will be fully operational during the second quarter of 2007. But above all these attempts, is the need for greater production of those commodities in scarce supply in order to more than satisfy demand for them.
This is indeed the function of more investment capital, domestic and foreign, hence our Look East Policy."
President Mugabe also said government gave priority to poverty reduction and the attainment of United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
"Funds have been allocated to the Rural Capital Development Fund for water and sanitation facilities in various rural districts of the country. Regrettably this has once again suffered some setbacks following the drought that affected the southern Africa region. However, government is determined to ensure that none of our people starve," he said.
President Mugabe said government had evolved decisive measures through the National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP) to address issues such as inflation, stabilisation of the local currency, ensuring food security, increase output and productivity and generation of foreign earnings.
On the land reform programme, President Mugabe said government focussed on raising productivity adding that it would like to see agricultural mechanisation assume a pivotal role as a springboard to greater levels of production.
He said a total of 475 farmers had so far qualified for the 99-year leases and that they could be used as security of tenure and collateral in accessing finances thereby improving production.
In the mining sector, President Mugabe said the country had continued to lose foreign currency through rampant leakage and smuggling of minerals such as gold and diamonds.
However, he said the Zimbabwean government would ensure that the nefarious activities are stamped and that a bill would be introduced to help govern ownership structures of mining organisations to enhance empowerment and national control.
Apart from empowering the youths and ensuring involvement of indigenous Zimbabweans in the economy, President Mugabe also emphasised the empowerment of women.
On national fuel and energy requirements, President Mugabe said his government would continue to work on bio-diesel and ethanol projects.
He said Zimbabwe had also renewed existing power purchase agreements with the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Mozambique to help alleviate the current power shortages.
President Mugabe also said the brain drain was worrisome and that Zimbabwe was fast turning into a training ground for other countries.
He said to address that, a skills retention fund had been created to attract and support critical skills shortage areas of the economy.
On HIV/AIDS, President Mugabe said although the prevalence rate had reduced from 23.4 per cent in 2005 to 18 per cent this year, there was need to promote abstinence and faithfulness to one's spouse.
On international relations, President Mugabe said priority would be given to investment, trade and tourism for economic turnaround.
"We have therefore redoubled our efforts to forge strong and mutually beneficial economic ties with both our traditional friendly and new cooperation partners. We held very successful Joint Permanent Commissions with Zambia, China, Iran and Namibia," President Mugabe said.
Earlier in his dedication, Anglican Bishop Nobert Kunonga urged the people to resist sanctions and to refuse to be governed by others.
Bishop Kunonga said Zimbabwe was independent by the divine will of God and that people should stand as one.
Local government minister Ignatius Chombo said government's spirit of reconciliation after independence had been negated by people who thought Zimbabwe could be a colony again.
However, Chombo said the people had listened to President Mugabe's call to concentrate on development.
He said independence without reclamation of the land right could have been translated into nothing.
Chombo said the government was aware of the machinations bent on destabilising the nation to cause regime change.
But he said people were prepared to resist the imperialist manoeuvres and that they would continue to exhibit a shared vision to face the challenges.
The independence celebrations, which were attended by people from all walks of life, were coloured by a variety of performances by youths, the police and the defence forces.
Vice-President Rupiah Banda represented Zambia at the celebrations and was accompanied by finance deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa and MMD vice national secretary Major Richard Kachingwe.
Although the earlier ceremony ended after midday, celebrations continued in the afternoon with some independence football finals being played.
posted by MrK @ 6:59 PM
2 Comments:
MrK,
Surely even you must now accept the "old man" has the wrong emphasis. How long will he blame others for his own mistakes?
" Surely even you must now accept the "old man" has the wrong emphasis. How long will he blame others for his own mistakes? "
He has a few good points.
" On the land reform programme, President Mugabe said government focussed on raising productivity adding that it would like to see agricultural mechanisation assume a pivotal role as a springboard to greater levels of production. "
I couldn't have said it better. And because of land reform, Zimbabwe is now in a prime position to have mechanisation be effective.
" He said a total of 475 farmers had so far qualified for the 99-year leases and that they could be used as security of tenure and collateral in accessing finances thereby improving production. "
Something you've been championing. :)
" Local government minister Ignatius Chombo said government's spirit of reconciliation after independence had been negated by people who thought Zimbabwe could be a colony again. "
Actually those do exist. Even forgetting about the neocolonialism of the IMF.
" On national fuel and energy requirements, President Mugabe said his government would continue to work on bio-diesel and ethanol projects.
He said Zimbabwe had also renewed existing power purchase agreements with the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Mozambique to help alleviate the current power shortages. "
All countries should be moving toward biofuel and other sustainable forms of energy. It would save a lot of the price of fuel, food and everything else if the country would no longer depend on middle east fossile energy, that has to be transported for thousands of miles.
Look at it this way, I know that all involved have faults. However, Zimbabwe's economy was not undermined by land reform, but by IMF sanctions. Which should be mentioned.
Can either of us say, that Robert Mugabe has flaws that LPM doesn't? Or any other leader in the region? Or that any government or economy in the region is without flaws? What makes Zimbabwe unique is that it has IMF pressure on it to comply with it's programs.
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