Mugabe's wife joins campaign

Mugabe's wife joins campaign
By George Chellah in Shamva, Zimbabwe
Saturday May 31, 2008 [04:00]

ZIMBABWE's first lady Grace Mugabe (left) has said President Robert Mugabe will not leave office for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses the June 27 presidential runoff. And Grace said it is an insult to compare President Mugabe with Tsvangirai, who does not even posses an O’level certificate of education. Meanwhile, President Mugabe said the runoff was crucial, as it would determine whether the country remains with Zimbabweans or goes back to the Rhodesians.

Addressing a public rally alongside her husband after touring villages that were allegedly burnt by MDC activists on Thursday, Grace vowed that the opposition would never assume power in Zimbabwe.

"You should vote correctly. Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan will never step foot inside State House. He will only get to hear about what it looks like inside State House from people who have been there. Even if Baba Mugabe loses, he will only leave State House to make way for someone from ZANU-PF," said Grace amidst laughter from President Mugabe and other party officials.

"If he Tsvangirai was from a party which was made by Zimbabweans, we will accept, not when you are a front of whites. If it doesn't come right this time again, we will vote again and again... this year we are voting until you know what it means to vote correctly. We will vote 20 times this year. This is no joke we should protect our country."

Grace, who described her husband as a modest man, said President Mugabe had done a lot for Zimbabwe.

"The whites are saying 'what's Mugabe trying to do?' They are saying we want to fix him. Morgan is just being used as a front.

There is no comparison between Morgan and Baba Mugabe. It's an insult to compare him with Baba," Grace said. "Baba built us schools, there are some who are saying if Mugabe loses we will be kept by Morgan who does not even have an O level. You are giving away a country for a cup of sugar which can even cause tooth decay or a running tummy."

She said President Mugabe had empowered Zimbabweans.

"Baba is saying here are tractors. We need to deal with farm workers, they are saying among themselves the whites will come back. They workers will not accept we are in-charge," she said.

Grace said the West had an agenda to ensure that Zimbabweans did not run their economy.

"If they give me the mantle for once, the whites will run out of words to tarnish my image. They would call me Iron lady, black Hitler etc. Look, they sent blacks to fight fellow blacks... people like Collin Powell, Jendayi Frazer and James McGee US Ambassador," Grace said.

"We are going to vote for our party which guides us. Let's not be misled by Morgan, he is now mad. What's left is to commit him to a psychiatric institution."
She further condemned political violence.

"I am pained that some people lost their homes. Please don't fight each other, don't even provoke the MDC. If you persuade them, they will come back," Grace said.
And President Mugabe warned the MDC to stop the violence.

"What we saw really touched us. We are not animals but humans. If you burn down someone's house, you want to destroy their life? We want to warn MDC they should stop this barbaric campaign of burning and destroying people's homes immediately," he said.

President Mugabe said the run-off was a crucial election, which would determine whether Zimbabwe remained with the people or went back to Rhodesians.
He said the March 29 election result was saddening.

"We are sad for the people who were bought and sold out. These people are in the party, in the communities and shamed us as a party," he said.

President Mugabe further said it was fortunate that laws in Zimbabwe provided for a run-off after a stalemate in the presidential election.

"There was no winner according to our laws. Your vote is important, we are not happy with the results after the elections but go and vote together. Chiefs should go with their people even in areas where ZANU-PF lost. We must make sure that we retain our votes in those areas," he said.

President Mugabe expressed concern with the party's performance in Mashonaland Central. ZANU-PF lost two House of Assembly seats in the province - Bindura South and Mazowe West- in the last elections.

"We are rocking as a nation and on June 27 when you go to vote, you should vote to show that Rhodesia is gone forever and Zimbabwe shall live forever," President Mugabe said.

He said ZANU-PF was aware of the issues affecting the people such as shortages of food and basic commodities and the rise in prices.

"These issues are being caused by sanctions, droughts and heavy rains that affected agricultural production last year. We had grown maize but it was destroyed by the heavy rains. However, the Reserve Bank has paid for 600,000 tonnes of maize from South Africa and is awaiting delivery and enough maize is coming to the people," President Mugabe said.

President Mugabe said the British had imposed sanctions to mislead Zimbabweans.
"Did you join ZANU-PF for salt or sugar or for our land? We can have these shortages, but we need to work, produce and be fine. We can work on the land to produce food," he said.

President Mugabe said the government was working on empowering the people.
"We want to empower the people but there are others who are saying people are starving because the white farmers are gone, they didn't produce any food. The people in the communal farmers were producing food for the nation as they were growing tobacco," he said.

President Mugabe also said there were programmes to upgrade roads, increase electricity generation and that the government was determined to complete them.