Maravi

Zimbabwe can fight sanctions - Mugabe

Zimbabwe can fight sanctions - Mugabe
By Chansa Kabwela, George Chellah and Kingsley Kaswende in Hara
Wednesday June 13, 2007 [04:00]

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabweans can fight and repel the imposed sanctions through focused production and sound macro-economic policies. And President Mugabe said land was the main anchor of Zimbabwe's economy.
Meanwhile, President Mugabe said it was wrong for US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to attack Iraq and that it was also wrong for Prime Minister Blair to organise the world into tarnishing Zimbabwe.

During the handover of agricultural equipment acquired by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) under the farm mechanization programme on Monday, President Mugabe said for nearly a century, Zimbabwe was a provider of both life and wealth to Britons who were there.

"Our wealth was being scooped from the ribs of our middle part of the earth, going to Britain to feed others at our expense. So let us be cautious, very careful and very alert," President Mugabe said. "But within our own system, let us do those things that sustain our system and not help towards its destruction as desired by our enemies. We can fight and repel the sanctions imposed on us through focused production and sound macro-economic policies."

He urged Zimbabweans to be adaptable to the current situation.
"Challenges must not weigh us down lest still kill us. Challenges must cause the essence they are supposed to pose. They are challenges, so they must raise in us the spirit to counteract them, to challenge them. Without those challenges, without problems, there cannot be solutions. Let's be adaptable," he said.

President Mugabe said land was the main anchor of Zimbabwe's economy.
"We belong to the land, we are sons of the soil, the land belongs to us and so that should be remembered all the time, even unto death," he said.

President Mugabe said there was need for Zimbabweans to commit themselves to a singleness of purpose.

"Resist attempts by our detractors to tempt us into losing sight of our national programmes. Even as we are being positive and looking forward, there are others in Europe and in America planning our downfall. In a British Parliament, hardly a month ends without a debate on Zimbabwe. And when you listen to it, look at what is happening on television you begin to wonder really whether the British are any longer sane and rational," President Mugabe said. "They are debating Zimbabwe as what country to them? Is he a mad man to be fazing the issue of Zimbabwe either in the House of Lords or the above? But that's imperialism at its worst. They don't care about the international law, international relations or the norms that govern us.

"All what is written in the Charter of the United Nations (UN) that they should not interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries no, that does not bind them as long as they are thinking of their interests, and their interests only govern them. Then they will attack any country that they think is affecting their interests."
President Mugabe said the country was now beginning a period, which is witnessing facts.

"Right is also might and what is right is beginning to reign. It was wrong for Bush and Blair to attack Iraq. It was wrong for Blair to organise the world into tarnishing us completely disregarding the area of our difference, which was the land issue and the failure by Britain to abide by our agreement at Lancaster House to provide the necessary money for compensating the farmers," President Mugabe said. "And organising the rest of the world on the political principle that Zimbabwe was a violator of human rights or the rule of law and good governance.

That was a big lie put together for the rest of the world and on that basis they started imposing sanctions on us. But we knew we were right in what we had done and were doing. We knew we were right in our politics, we knew we were right in taking our land and indeed right is becoming our might."
He said through their unshakable determination, Zimbabweans were now proud masters of their political and economic destinies.

"As the fountain of our collective heritage which is back in our hands, the land should now be transformed into acres upon acres or hectares upon hectares of maximum production," he said.

President Mugabe said when government embarked on the revolutionary land reform programme, its detractors led by Britain sought to breed disillusionment and despondency among Zimbabweans through their false message of a complete annihilation of the country's agricultural sector.

"Further, this gloomy prophecy got misguided and futile echoes of support from the few among us who have chosen to betray the country and sup with the enemy in seeking to perpetuate the odious and unjust remnants of colonialism," President Mugabe said. "As is characterized of any pioneering mission, the land reform programme has, during its eventful life, been emotive at times, and met with setbacks at others. However, as a principled government, we have remained steadfast in our resolve to follow our deepest conviction that what is morally right and just for the people of Zimbabwe always comes first."

President Mugabe further said government has embarked on a long-term agricultural mechanisation programme meant to give added impetus to the productivity of its farmers.

"The mechanization programme, whose implementation will span the next five years, focuses on equipping farmers with mechanized capabilities across the entire cropping cycles covering tillage, planting, fertilizer and chemicals application, crop tendering as well as harvesting and right up to transportation to the markets," President Mugabe said. "Experience here at home, in the region and all over the world has shown that farm productivity is directly linked to the degree of mechanization and specialisation in the agro-chain. Hence my government has taken the bold step of strengthening and increasing the hands available to our farmers through mechanization.

"Collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Agricultural Engineering and Mechanization and the Reserve Bank, among other players, have seen government procuring assorted farm machinery, which we are proudly distributing to the initial batch of beneficiaries today."

He said government would continue to work towards expansion of the mechanization programme in order to empower the growing number of our farmers.

"Consideration will also be given to special interest groups, who include women, the youth, war veterans and war collaborators as well as grassroots farmers on A1 and communal area settlements," President Mugabe said. "As we work to reinvigorate agricultural productivity, government will remain alert to the varying needs of our farmers by ensuring that national resources are deployed in a manner that yields maximum impact."

President Mugabe said as Zimbabweans, there was need to turn the current challenges facing the country into stepping-stones towards macro-economic stability, recovery, growth and development.

He said slippages of past seasons have no places where the country's motto is "maximum productivity".

Labels: MECHANISATION, MUGABE, SANCTIONS, TONY BLAIR, TRACTORISATION, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:44 AM