Losing patience ... South Africa's Jacob Zuma with President Robert Mugabe
21/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has told South African counterpart Jacob Zuma to gag his outspoken subordinate Lindiwe Zulu who has continued to irritate the Zanu PF hierarchy publicly expressing concern about preparations this month’s polls.
Mugabe told a televised star rally in Gwanda, Matabeleland South province that poll preparations were in fact proceeding smoothly and called on his peers in both SADC and the African Union to stop pandering to the whims of the hostile West.
“As we go to elections we expect our friends of SADC, the African Union to assist us in this process by encouraging us and where they are able to do so, then materially also help us to fund the process,” Mugabe said.
“We do not expect SADC countries to be raising lies about us and telling others that the situation in Zimbabwe is not peaceful, that the ground is not even.”
Mugabe said not all countries in the region had problems with the manner in which his administration was managing the run-up to the July 31 harmonised elections.
The Zanu PF leader further shot down claims by Finance Minister Tendai Biti that the country was too broke to run the watershed election.
“We are happy that most SADC countries are encouraging us,” Mugabe said in his customarily long addresses, which went on for nearly two hours.
“We are happy also that the Peace and Security Council which met yesterday in Addis Ababa … to look at our election process, we are happy that they say the election process is proceeding peacefully and they are encouraging us to continue like that.
“We sent (Justice Minister Patrick) Chinamasa to inform them or about the situation here but there are NGOs zvimbasungata zvevasingade kuti tibudirire who had gone there to say ‘oh no, there is no money’! No! We are able to fund the process.
“We cannot fail to fund our election process. We may have difficulty in raising the money but we will raise the money right up to the end.”
Mugabe then turned on to Lindiwe Zulu, President Zuma’s international relations advisor and member of South African leader’s backroom facilitation staff.
“And may l say that persistent negative voice from South Africa, could it please be stopped and l appeal to President Zuma to stop this woman of theirs on speaking on Zimbabwe," he said.
"There is a facilitator, we were given a facilitator with one mouth and that is President Zuma himself. That is the only voice we want to hear.
“Yesterday it was (former) President Thabo Mbeki who was facilitator and only his voice spoke. No other voice spoke. I don’t want to go far today.”
Since Mugabe's acerbic comments about her some two weeks ago, Zulu has continued to make public comments on the situation in Zimbabwe, seemingly unnerved by the veteran leader’s apparent rancour towards her.
Speaking during the launch of his election campaign and manifesto in Harare a fortnight ago, Mugabe spitted venom, describing Zulu as “an idiotic street woman”.
But Mugabe’s opponents in MDC have praised Zulu’s conduct which they find helpful in stalling Mugabe’s bid to rig the vote.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), JACOB ZUMA, LINDIWE ZULU, ROBERT MUGABE, SADC
posted by MrK @ 3:46 PM
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