“It’s a long, long journey I have walked. A journey with its own joys, own grief, its own pleasures, its own sorrows. When I look back I ask; Lord, why were these taken before me? I can’t answer that,” he said, striking a sombre tone.
“But I think I sometimes hear a silent voice saying each and every man and each woman has a mission to fulfill in this world,” Mugabe added, leaning against a lectern a security aide had animatedly told an official was a little low.
“You have a mandate, that mandate might run a short time. Other mandates run long. But your mandate I have allowed to run as long as you live,” he said, channeling the ‘silent voice.’
“And, therefore, the mission which I have is the mission which has to do with the interest, needs, demands of those who have given you the position – elected you,” Mugabe paused, before continuing: “I accept the mission.”
Mugabe said if he eventually retires, his successor would have to be one committed to maintaining his policies.
At the end of his speech, Mugabe proceeded to cut each of the four massive cakes presented to him by some Zimbabwean brands.
One, baked by Lobel’s one of the biggest bread manufacturers in the country, was a version of the Matopos Hills.
The second, presented by Zimoco, Zimbabwe’s main Mercedes Benz dealership, depicted Mugabe’s presidential Mercedes limousine and motorcade.
The third, an ice cream cake traditionally handed over by the country’s biggest dairy firm Dairibord, was personally handed over by managing director Anthony Mandiwanza.
The fourth had a Zimbabwe flag design.- The Source
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