ZANU-PF will emerge victorious, says Zim envoy
ZANU-PF will emerge victorious, says Zim envoyBy Larry Moonze in Havana,Cuba
Thursday March 27, 2008 [12:06]
ZIMBABWE Ambassador to Cuba Major General Jevana Maseko has said a ZANU-PF victory in Saturday's harmonised polls would deflate the Western world and 'kill' the opposition. And Maj Gen Jevana Maseko said Zimbabwe had a lot to learn on how Cuba managed to overcome hardships in the face of the almost half-a-century US-led financial and economic sanctions.
In an interview on Tuesday, Maj Gen Maseko said a win by President Robert Mugabe's party would mean death of the opposition party and at the same time creating more unity in Zimbabwe. He said the birth of opposition political parties in Zimbabwe was a creation of the Western Europe as a result of "their frustration at the development achieved by the ZANU-PF. "They wanted to destroy what we achieved," Maj Gen Maseko said. "But because of the struggle that we went through to earn our independence, people remained behind their government.
I hope and believe the results of the elections, which I believe will be won by the ZANU-PF, will demoralise those following the opposition." Maj Gen Maseko accused the West of trying to create fear among Zimbabweans so as to foment violence. "But it has been amazing, particularly this time, there has been very little violence during campaigns," he said.
"People are tired of the Western world's intentions in Zimbabwe." Maj Gen Maseko said in imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe the West behaved as though it did not understand that suffering was a mother of all inventions. "Zimbabweans can suffer today but little by little all their effort will make them live a better life many years to come," he said. "Zimbabwe is not waiting for somebody to come and help.
We are doing everything on our own." And Maj Gen Maseko said Cuba provided Zimbabwe with support at international fora specifically now that Harare was under sanctions from Western Europe following the land redistribution programme. He said the relations between Cuba and Zimbabwe were very good. "We have a lot to learn from Cuba which has been under a blockade for almost 50 years," Ambassador Maj Gen Maseko said. "But around the streets you cannot detect that there is any crisis in Cuba.
They have used everything in the textbook to counter the sanctions and Zimbabwe can benefit from Cuba if we learn how they survived from the US." He said Zimbabwe could also benefit from how Cuba had managed to achieve unity. "There is not much opposition in the country," Ambassador Maj Gen Maseko said. "Even when there could be disagreements on anything, the whole population is behind the government." Maj Gen Maseko said Cuba was a friend of Africa.
He said the island had helped Africa in many ways for free, right from liberation struggle to socio-economic advancement. Maj Gen Maseko said whereas there were only 22 African diplomats in Havana, Cuba did not segregate in awarding scholarships to African countries among other cultural exchanges. He said Zimbabwe receives 200 Cuban medical brigades every year to fill in the gap created by local medical staff who have left the country for Europe.
Maj Gen Maseko said Britain had several thousands of Zimbabwean doctors and nurses. "This deep gap in medical personnel has to be filled and Cuba tries to do so every year," he said. Maj Gen Maseko said in the initial days, Cuba offered 250 scholarships to Zimbabwe but that now the number had reduced. He said over the years Zimbabwe and Cuba managed to transfer some programmes to Harare where Cuban lecturers provide tutorials.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, CUBA, ZANU-PF
posted by MrK @ 4:54 PM
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