(NEWZIMBABWE) I promise you better conditions: Mugabe
Regional endorsement ... Regional leaders who attended Thursday's inaguration
22/08/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I Agencies
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said Thursday he would now turn his attention to addressing the country economic problems and delivering on his election promises following his inauguration before a capacity 60,000 crowd at the national sports stadium in Harare.
Festooned in a sash, garland and medals, the 89-year-old was sworn in for his seventh term as leader of the country by chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku during a ceremony also attended by several current and former regional leaders.
“I stand before you as now a sworn President of Zimbabwe,” he told he told cheering crowd.
“My mandate comes from the just-ended election in which I should say through my party, Zanu PF, you gave me and my party that mandate as the party won the elections resoundingly.”
Unlike previous low-key investitures, Thursday's event - replete with banners, flags and chants - carried strong echoes of Mugabe's inauguration as prime minister of a newly independent Zimbabwe in 1980.
Hints by the West that debilitating sanctions would likely be kept in place and a no-show by leaders from neighbouring countries - including President Jacob Zuma of regional power-broker South Africa - did little to dampen enthusiasm.
Neither did a boycott by opposition leader and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who insists the 31 July vote was stolen.
Mugabe was greeted in the stadium by thunderous cheers and whistling. On board a military truck he inspected assembled military personnel.
His address however, showed an awareness of the enormity of the task he faces following his landslide victory in the elections which also ended his coalition arrangement with Tsvangirai.
“There are key truths that come with that victory, which come with that honour,” he said.
“The peasant who cast his vote on July 31 created my victory and that made a portion of my presidency. I am at his service. I am his emissary and servant. He or she did not cast that precious vote in vain.
“The business person, he or she too voted for me, contributing to my presidency. He or she too has definite expectations founded on his or her role in society as a creator of work. So, all these and others who contributed to our victory have also expectations.
“What shall we do now to contribute towards their own lives? The farmer - small, medium, big - voted for my party, thereby assisting in my presidency. His vote was his input.
“I am the instrument of his dream, the self-employed man and woman all struggling on the margin of the former economy, in the SMEs, he or she has greater expectations. Great expectations from all of them. They have lives to build; they have children to look after, generations to take care of.
“The new cabinet is expected to move very swift in mobilising adequate resources for farmers and electricity to make a return of food sufficiency. (We must) think about all those demands on us. Let us therefore think of our obligations and ways and means to fulfil those expectations, to satisfy them.
“In Bulawayo, water must be re-supplied. We cannot have erratic water supplies in cities. Hospitals and clinics must have adequate drugs and equipment. Road maintenance equipment for the rural development agencies must be improved.
"The mining sector will be the centrepiece of our economic recovery and growth. It should generate growth spurts across sector; reignite that economic miracle which must now happen."
He added: "I promise you better conditions (but also) call upon you all to summon your goodwill to live the skills you now have; (and we created a lot of skills amongst us) those skills must now be put to use.”
The veteran leader rejected western criticism of his re-election but conceded that sanctions which had been eased to encourage the country to hold free and fair elections would now likely remain in place.
"We dismiss them as the vile ones whose moral turpitude we must mourn," he said venting against Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States.
"Most likely we shall remain under these sanctions for much longer (but) we continue to look East.”
Gates to the Chinese-built stadium opened shortly after dawn. The day had been declared a public holiday, helping boost attendance.
Banners around the oval stadium carried messages praising African leaders and denouncing Western governments accused of meddling in Zimbabwe's political affairs.
"Which African ever observed elections in Europe, America?" read one banner. "Africa has spoken, respect it's voice," said another.
The inauguration had been delayed after Tsvangirai challenged the poll results - which he denounced as "massive fraud" - in a petition to the Constitutional Court that was later withdrawn.
The Constitutional Court confirmed Mugabe as president and declared the elections "free, fair and credible", saying the results "reflected the free will of the people of Zimbabwe".
Eldred Masunungure, a political scientist from the University of Zimbabwe, said the event was at once Mugabe's victory lap and his "last supper".
"This inauguration is being projected as the crowning of a victory of a struggle for the past 13 years against big Western powers," he said.
There is however also an "unintended meaning", he said. "It can be read as a farewell event for Mugabe. It reminds one of Jesus's Last Supper."
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), GODFREY CHIDYAUSIKU, ROBERT MUGABE
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(NEWZIMBAWE, AFP) Thunderous cheers as Mugabe sworn in for another term
New five year term ... President Robert Mugabe is sworn into office on Thursday
22/08/2013 00:00:00
by AFP
VETERAN leader Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for another five-year term on Thursday before a stadium packed with tens of thousands of jubilant supporters.
Mugabe, 89, pledged "to observe, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe" in an oath administered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, extending his 33-year rule.
Supporters clad in clothes emblazoned with the image of the man who has lead their nation since independence in 1980 filled the 60 000-seater venue, a show of force after elections many say were rigged.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai insists the 31 July vote was stolen and his party boycotted the inauguration.
Tsvangirai's spokesperson said the opposition leader "can't attend a robber's party".
Former colonial power Britain has called for an "independent investigation" into the conduct of the election, which Mugabe officially won by a landslide.
Unlike previous low-key investitures, Thursday's event - replete with banners, flags and chants - carried strong echoes of Mugabe's inauguration as prime minister of a newly independent Zimbabwe in 1980.
A no-show by many neighbouring leaders - including President Jacob Zuma of regional power-broker South Africa - did little to dampen enthusiasm.
Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete, Namibia's Hifikepunye Pohamba and the Democratic Republic of Congo's Joseph Kabila were among those leaders who did attend.
Mugabe was greeted in the stadium by thunderous cheers and whistling when he arrived with his wife on board a military truck.
Gates to the Chinese-built stadium, the venue of Mugabe's inauguration as president in 1987, opened shortly after dawn.
The day was declared a public holiday, helping boost attendance.
"Mr Mugabe, you are one of a kind," sang a group of supporters slamming the sides of the minibus taking them to the stadium, while others waved fists as drivers honked their horns.
"It is a great day for Zimbabwe and the world will come to a standstill today," said Alfred Tome, the Harare provincial administrator and spokesperson for the organisers.
A concert will include artists from South Africa, Zambia and Jamaica - whose iconic Bob Marley played at Zimbabwe's independence event.
Banners around the oval stadium carried messages praising African leaders and denouncing western governments accused of meddling in Zimbabwe's political affairs.
"Which African ever observed elections in Europe, America?" read one banner. "Africa has spoken, respect its voice," said another.
The inauguration had been delayed after Tsvangirai challenged the poll results in a petition to the Constitutional Court that was later dropped.
The Constitutional Court confirmed Mugabe as president and declared the elections "free, fair and credible", saying the results "reflected the free will of the people of Zimbabwe."
Eldred Masunungure, a political scientist from the University of Zimbabwe, said the event was at once Mugabe's victory lap and his "last supper".
"This inauguration is being projected as the crowning of a victory of a struggle for the past 13 years against big Western powers," he said.
There is however also an "unintended meaning", he said. "It can be read as a farewell event for Mugabe. It reminds one of Jesus's Last Supper."
The electoral commission declared Mugabe winner with 61% of the vote, against Tsvangirai's 34.
The vote ended a shaky power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai four years ago to avoid a tip into all-out conflict following a bloody presidential run-off election.
Local observers have judged the elections flawed and Western powers have raised serious doubts over the vote.
But regional and continental groupings the Southern African Development Community and the African Union were less critical.
Tsvangirai condemned the election as "a farce" and "a massive fraud" and petitioned the court to overturn the result.
Among a series of complaints, he queried the suspiciously high number of voters who were turned away from polling stations in urban areas which are considered opposition strongholds.
He also charged that his party's supporters in rural areas were intimidated by Mugabe party backers into feigning illiteracy and voting in the presence of police and election officers.
But in a surprise U-turn on Friday, Tsvangirai withdrew his petition, saying he would not get a fair hearing.
However, the Constitutional Court went ahead and handed down a ruling on the case anyway.
Labels: GODFREY CHIDYAUSIKU, ROBERT MUGABE, SADC
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Supreme Court dismisses white farmers' application
By: TH-TZG
Posted: Friday, November 26, 2010 11:17 pm
THE Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has dismissed an application by white former commercial farmers who were challenging the constitutionality of Government’s compulsory acquisition of land under the land reform programme.
Nine members of the Commercial Farmers’ Union filed the application in which
they argued they were being discriminated against on the basis of race. They said
only white farmers were being prosecuted on land issues and were not being considered in the land redistribution programme.
It was argued that only land owned by whites was compulsorily acquired and they wanted leave to stay on the farms.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku dismissed the application with costs saying the applicants had failed to prove or cite any black farmers who were in breach of the same law.
"They cannot be heard to complain that only white commercial farmers are being prosecuted.
"What is the Attorney-General supposed to do if it is only white farmers who are breaking the law?
"It is an abuse of court process for the applicants to approach this court seeking an interdict against the AG in these circumstances," said the Chief Justice.
He said the farmers should simply obey the law by vacating acquired land.
"If they have any legal claim to the acquired land, or arising from the acquired land, they can launch proceedings after vacating the acquired land as is required by law.
"I, therefore, find that the applicants’ complaint has no substance," he said.
The court ruled that the Minister of Lands was the acquiring authority and had the legal power to issue permits and other relevant documents.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku emphasised that issuance of an offer letter, permit or lease was a clear expression by the acquiring authority of the decision as to who should possess or occupy the land.
The Chief Justice reiterated that the Supreme Court’s decision was final and was not bound or influenced by the Sadc Tribunal.
The issue of it being bound by the Sadc Tribunal or any other courts defeated the idea of it being the country’s highest court, he noted.
Although inadequate proof was proffered in court to buttress claims that the farmers’ movable equipment was acquired, the Chief Justice ruled that the seizure of such equipment — if it did occur — was unlawful and contrary to the Acquisition of Farm Equipment or Material Act.
The Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, the Justice Minister, the Police Commissioner-General, the Auditor-General, the Finance Minister, the AG and the chairman of the compensation committee were cited as respondents.
Labels: AFRIFORUM, GODFREY CHIDYAUSIKU, LAND REFORM, SUPREME COURT, WHITE FARMERS
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