(TALKZIMBABWE) No Zim return to Commonwealth: Mutasa

No Zim return to Commonwealth: Mutasa
Ralph Mutema
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:01:00 +0000

ZIMBABWE will not return to the Commonwealth at the request of the British government or the group itself as it voluntarily left the grouping, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Didymus Mutasa, said Sunday.

Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth, a group of mainly former British colonies, in 2003 in protest against treatment by Britain and Australia, over the land reform programme and other domestic affairs. The Commonwealth had also suspended the country from the grouping.

Speaking on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he expected the conference, which ended yesterday, to outline conditions for Zimbabwe’s return in 2011.

Minister Mutasa, who is the Zanu PF National Secretary for Administration, said Zimbabwe was never expelled from the Commonwealth and when it feels like returning, it would do so on its own accord.

“We were not expelled from the Commonwealth,” said Minister Mutasa.

“We left on our own. If they say they want to offer us to return, they sound as if they expelled us from the Commonwealth. We do not need anybody’s advice. We did not ask anyone for help. They should leave us alone.”

Leaders of Commonwealth countries gathered for their biennial meeting in Trinidad and Tobago from Friday until yesterday.

President Mugabe said at the time fhe withdrawal that the Commonwealth was a "mere club" that had seen its day.

“The Commonwealth is a mere club,” President Mugabe said then, “but it has become like Animal Farm, where some members are more equal than others. How can [British Prime Minister at the time, Tony] Blair claim to regulate and direct events and still say all of us are equals?" he said.

The Commonwealth, which groups 53 countries, mostly former British colonies, has largely been dismissed for being an ineffective body through which Britain seeks to sustain its nostalgia on its long- dead British Empire.

Critics say since the empire collapsed, the Commonwealth has become irrelevant and does not benefit members.