President Robert Mugabe who has been under siege from protesters calling on his to step down over the past six weeks yesterday said protests don’t pay.
“I call for peace and unity among Zimbabweans. Let us remain united in defence of our sovereignty, in defence of what our national heroes fought for,” he told thousands of Zimbabweans who gathered at the Heroes Acre.
“We should remain united, remain cognisant of the fact that without unity we cannot make much progress. There will be divisions, quarrelling, fighting, violence and that is why things like protests don’t pay because usually they end up being violent protests.
“Zvinobatsirei kuti muende mumugwagwa mune chinangwa chekuti muratidze kuti munogona kukanda matombo? Kupotsera matombo? Munogona kurova mapurisa nematombo? Tinenge tisingade izvozvo. Kunorova mashops evanhu, mabusiness edu atinawo? Kazhinji ndizvo zvinoitika izvozvo.
“Mota dzinorohwa nematombo sekunge vanhu vasati vasanduka, tinodarirei? Kana iri demonstration yabvumirwa nemapurisa, ngaiitwe nemutowo kwawo, vanhu vakanyarara. Kwete senge sezvana Mawarire, zvekuti aah, vanhu mukai muende mumugwagwa muchiita violence. Hatizvide.”
Mugabe was making reference to Evans Mawarire who rose to fame through his social media protests which culminated in the national shutdown last month.
Below is Mugabe’s speech in full.
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