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Mugabe and political prostitutes

President Robert Mugabe blasted his lieutenants for vote buying at the youth conference but also warned the youth leaders that they did not serve to be leaders if they could be bought. “You are not political prostitutes, are you?” he asked.  ‘’I know there have been hitches, ndinoziva zvangu kuti vakuru vamwe vakamboedza apa nepapa, some monies and so on. Get away from that! Mukaita tsika yekujaira kupihwa mari and you want to act nekuti ndatopihwa mari kana ndisina kupihwa mari hapana chandinoita, you are spoiled already. ’To me you don’t deserve to be a youth leader at all. If you allow other people to buy you and if you have voted because ndakapihwa mari nangana kuti ndivhote nepapa nemutowo uyu ende ukavhotawo nemutowo iwowo nekuti wapihwa mari, goodness me, you are rubbish. ’You are just rubbish, dirty rubbish as the person who has given you money both of you. The giver and the given are alike but we know, you have emerged, most of you are not like that but some are like that we know and kumusoro kwedu kune vane tsika iyoyo, vanonotsvaga mari yekuti vatenge kuti vadiwe, kutenga kuti udiwe. You are not political prostitutes, are you? Some people will want to make you political prostitutes.’’

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This post was last modified on August 15, 2014 2:51 pm

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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