22/12/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe put paid to any prospect of cooperation with ex-premier Morgan Tsvangirai Sunday, saying the opposition MDC-T leader and his party could “go to hell”.
Speaking in Bulawayo Sunday during the unveiling of the statue of the late vice president Joshua Nkomo who died in 1999, Mugabe appealed to disgruntled war veterans to return to Zanu PF.
“I am not talking about (Morgan) Tsvangirai and the MDC; those ones can go to hell. We say to those (war veterans) who are working with the enemy, can’t you realise the suffering that the people had to bear,” Mugabe said.
“The death and injuries visited upon them as they were in the struggle and you dare to work with the enemy against your own people? I am speaking about the stance of the opposition to be on this day running to Britain and America in order to stand against us.”
The Zanu PF leader insisted that he was not opposed to rival political parties.
“We don’t mind an opposition within the country. But an opposition that begs the enemy, the very country that oppressed us, that’s a bit too much. It’s treason; it’s treason of the worst kind,” he said.
Zanu PF accuses Tsvangirai of working with former colonial power, Britain to force regime change in Zimbabwe. The MDC-T leader denies the allegations.
Mugabe reached out to war veterans who left Zanu PF, urging them to re-join the party.
Former ZIPRA intelligence head Dumiso Dabengwa and disgruntled colleagues quit Zanu PF to revive PF Zapu ahead of the 2008 elections, apparently frustrated by Mugabe’s refusal to hand over power to a younger leader.
War veterans working with the opposition were disobeying Nkomo, Mugabe claimed.
“Yesterday he (Nkomo) was telling you to go to this area. So now that he is gone, you think as he is in the grave, he can now be disobeyed?
“So I am saying the war veterans, you fought one war against the enemy, whether you are Zipra or Zanla, come back and be where you belong, don’t get lost. Those (war veterans) are the ones who really make me cry because they were under us, under our command.
“They should never be disunited, they should be united, because the ideology that we based our struggle, whether we were friends with the Soviet Union or China it was the same. You settle your contradictions by sitting down and discussing.”
Dabengwa said he would consult with colleagues before responding to Mugabe’s appeal.
“I did not attend the event but some of us did and they will tell us what happened,” Dabengwa told the Bulawayo Chronicle.
“We cannot answer him (President) today. Remember, we did not leave Zanu PF as individuals but we left as a Zapu block. I therefore, cannot make that decision myself.”
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, ROBERT MUGABE
posted by MrK @ 5:41 PM
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