Mugabe, Jonathan Moyo rap the West

President Robert Mugabe and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo both rapped the West to trying to topple the Zimbabwean government with Mugabe accusing the West of waging a racist campaign to undermine his government.

He said the West was resisting the completion of the independence process began in 1980 in order to protect their kith and kin.

“They don’t want us to be economically independent. They want us to be beggars. .coming to them every day with a bowl asking for help. No. .We have our resources here. They belong to us and we are taking and giving them to our people,“ he said.

Moyo castigated United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner for his “shockingly scandalous claims” that the US was working with some Southern African countries to topple Mugabe.

“He said the fact that Mr. Kansteiner had no qualms about making such an outrageous statement implicating `our very friendly neighbours demonstrates that either he is hopelessly incompetent and immature or the Bush Government is very contemptuous of South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana.”

Full cable:

Viewing cable 02HARARE1925, MEDIA REPORT MUGABE ATTACKS WEST; HARARE

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001925

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA

NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

LONDON FOR GURNEY

PARIS FOR NEARY

NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI

SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT MUGABE ATTACKS WEST; HARARE

¶1.   The August 23rd edition of the government-

controlled daily “Herald” gave prominent coverage to

the Government of Zimbabwe’s reaction to recent US

criticism of the Mugabe regime. Under headline

“President raps West” the paper ran two, page-one,

above-the-fold stories detailing GoZ rejection of US

criticism. Copies of the stories have been faxed to

AF/S and AF/PD. Excerpts follow.

¶2.   “President Mugabe yesterday accused the United

States, Britain and white members of the Commonwealth

of conducting a racist campaign to undermine the

Zimbabwean government. `Today, Britain, Australia,

New Zealand. . .what color are they? They are white

and are the ones leading the fight against Zimbabwe.’

The President said these countries were resisting the

completion of the independence process began in 1980

in order to protect their kith and kin. . . They

don’t want us to be economically independent. They

want us to be beggars. . .coming to them everyday with

a bowl asking for help. No. . .we have our resources

here. They belong to us and we are taking and giving

them to our people. . . The people of Zimbabwe are

the only makers of the leadership, the only makers of

our government. We are not made as a government in

Washington. Let Mr. Bush know that. . . .”

¶3.   Under the sub-head “Demand Explanation from US,

State Urged” the “Herald” also published Information

Minister Jonathan Moyo’s reaction to A/S Kansteiner’s

August 20 press briefing. Excerpts follow.

“ZANU PF yesterday urged the government to

demand an explanation from the U.S. over its

announcement that it was working with SADC

countries to topple President Mugabe. In a

statement, the party’s deputy secretary for

information and publicity Professor Jonathan

Moyo said the claims by the U.S. constituted a

clear threat to regional peace, stability,

solidarity and good neighborliness. `The widely-

publicized and shockingly scandalous claims by

the American Assistant Secretary of State (for

African Affairs), Walter Kansteiner, that the U.

¶S. is working with `South Africans, Botswanas

(sic) and Mozambicans’ to topple President

Mugabe have let the cat out of the bag. Now we

know. As ZANU PF, we call on the government to

demand a full explanation and get to the bottom

of the matter given the seriousness of the

claims and their grave implications,’ said Prof

Moyo.

“He said the fact that Mr. Kansteiner had no

qualms about making such an outrageous statement

implicating `our very friendly neighbors

demonstrates that either he is hopelessly

incompetent and immature or the Bush Government

is very contemptuous of South Africa, Mozambique

and Botswana. `We have the highest respect for

the national leadership in South Africa,

Mozambique, Botswana and we have no doubt

whatsoever that they are not among the type of

people who can be used for imperialist and

racist objectives in the pursuit of an American

foreign policy that has clearly gone mad.’ On

Mr. Kansteiner’s nonsense that the Bush

government does not see President Mugabe as

democratically-elected,” Prof. Moyo said it was

a fact that the whole world including Americans

knew that President George Bush was not

democratically-elected as he was chosen by a

partisan Republican appointed court which gave

him victory in a controversial 5-4 decision.

“It is therefore clear that, like his

Bushmaster, Kansteiner lives in the bush of

racist fantasies and delusions that have nothing

to do with democracy or democratic elections.

For these reasons we are outraged by the cowboy

tactics that Bush’s men are trying to introduce

into our country and our region.

“Prof Moyo said the Bush government needed to be

told in the strongest possible terms that just

like Zimbabweans will never ever entertain

America’s puppets disguised as human rights

activists or democrats, southern Africa would

not tolerate the same. `Each time America

preaches about democracy and human rights,

Africans are reminded of the racist brutality

that the people of color have endured slavery

days but particularly under the Bush Government

following the tragic events of September 11 now

being used as a cover to assault and dehumanize

Africans and others.”

SULLIVAN

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