Maravi

(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Rein in Zulu: Zuma told
Sunday, 21 July 2013 00:00
Stanford Chiwanga in Gwanda

President Mugabe has appealed to his South African counterpart, President Jacob Zuma, to rein in his international relations advisor, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, over the negative and misleading pronouncements she continues to make on Zimbabwe’s preparations for the July 31 harmonised elections.

Addressing over 20 000 Zanu-PF supporters at a star rally here yesterday, Cde Mugabe said Harare recognises President Zuma in his personal capacity as the Sadc-appointed facilitator.

He said Ms Zulu, who was last week quoted in some sections of the media as saying the preparations “are not looking good”, did not have any role and authority when it came to Zimbabwe.

The President lauded the African Union Peace and Security Council, which met in Ethiopia last Friday, for recognising the progress made in the march to the elections.

“And may I say that persistent negative voice from South Africa. . . could it please be stopped. I appeal to President Zuma to stop this woman of theirs from speaking on Zimbabwe.

“We were given one facilitator with one mouth and that is President Zuma himself; that’s the voice, the only voice we want to hear. Yesterday, it was President Thabo Mbeki who was facilitator and only his voice spoke, no other voice spoke.”

President Mugabe commended the AU Peace and Security Council for its position regarding the July 31 poll.

“We are happy that the Peace and Security Council which met yesterday in Addis Ababa said the election process is proceeding peacefully and they are encouraging us to continue like that.

“We thank Minister (Patrick) Chinamasa for informing them about the situation here, but there are NGOs, zvimbwasungata zvevasingadi 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.”

Cde Mugabe also urged Sadc to assist Zimbabwe to hold successful elections.

“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, materially, also helping us to fund the process.

“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. We are happy that most Sadc countries are encouraging us.”

Cde Mugabe also appealed to the people of Zimbabwe to desist from violence and instead embrace tolerance and peace during the election period.

“We expect you to correct the mistake of 2008 and to vote correctly. Let me assure you that we will try as much as possible to encourage our security forces to maintain peace.

You, yourselves, must not expect the police to impose that security on you.

“You must always be aware that it is necessary to be peaceful and more so now as we go to elections. You should not be accused of using pressure on anyone or forcing anyone of wanting to fight anybody, no! Don’t use violence.

“Use your vote; let your vote (be) the force of your will. Your vote will do for you what anything else cannot do and that is to get the people you want to be in government and get those you don’t want to be in government out of government.

If you vote you will kick them out so use your vote to get them out not force.”

President Mugabe said the MDC formations opposed elections because they did not want to get out of Government.

“If I were to go right across the country and ask the people to raise their hands, those of them who still want the inclusive Government. . . I think you are all fed up; you want this creature to go.

“I, who has been the President of it, wanted it to go yesterday, the day before yesterday, the day before the day before yesterday. We would have had elections after 18 months but oh no, the others would say, ‘oh no we have not fixed this, there is still that’, giving reasons to stop the elections.

“Why? Because some people who have never been voted for, who were now Members of Parliament and others who were even more than that, Members of Parliament and ministers of Government feared that an election would mean the end of the enjoyment they were having.

“And also Tsvangirai and others wanted longer periods.
“They had never been in Parliament before, never been in Government before and it was their first time. Ah 18 months, no not enough, we must find excuses. Okay, we have done three years, oh not enough we are not ready yet.

“Three years, we are not ready yet, four years, we are not ready yet. The Constitution said Members of Parliament can only exist for five years; Parliament can only have a life of five years, no more. “That’s what our Constitution said and we had to obey the Constitution of the country. The five years ended on the 29th of June.” President Mugabe said he had proclaimed July 31 as the election day because he did not want to disobey the laws of the country.

“Our court said we must have a new Parliament by the end of July and the President must make a proclamation to that effect. So, I had to make the proclamation in compliance with the courts.

“Even the President must obey what the courts say and so I made the proclamation. The court did not say make the proclamation for July 31 to be the day of election; it said you must make a proclamation that elections are going to be held not later than July. I could have chosen July 1, July 10, July 15, but I thought to give ourselves more time I should choose the last day.

“So, I said let me choose July 31. If July had 32 or more days I would have gone for the last day to give ourselves more chance.
“But you know the MDC still says no I have rushed the country into an election. But we could not disobey. We cannot go without Parliament.

“We need Parliament; Government must have Parliament to make laws. The Executive must make programmes that are based on the laws that are made, to execute affairs.
“That’s why it’s called the Executive. Then of course our courts, the Judiciary that one remains. It is not given time; only the judges retire after some time. But the Judiciary goes on. It is not voted for. So, you can see the lawless nature of this group called the MDC; they want to govern without Parliament.”

Labels: JACOB ZUMA, LINDIWE ZULU, ROBERT MUGABE, SADC

posted by MrK @ 12:17 AM