Mugabe tells West to keep its rotten aid if it is tied to accepting gays

President Robert Mugabe has told the West to keep its rotten aid if it is being given on the basis that Zimbabwe must first accept gay marriages.

Speaking at his 92^nd birthday party at the weekend, Mugabe, who has bashed gays for two decades and has not changed his stance despite the legalisation of gay marriages in countries like the United States, urged youths to protect the moral dignity of African people despite pressures coming from the West as a result of globalisation.

“Let our youths champion high moral standards in their conduct of various responsibilities at all levels. Never ever accept that our society can condone marriages of man-to-man or woman-to-woman, the so-called gays. No. They have no place in our society and they should not worry us about our own ideas on this matter,” Mugabe said.

Homosexuality is legalised in Zimbabwe’s powerful neighbour South Africa though some gays continue to be persecuted in their communities.

Mugabe said aid should not be tied to his country’s accepting gay marriages because if that is the case, the West can keep it.

“If aid, as I understand, is to be given on the basis that we accept the principle of gay marriages, then let that aid stay where it is. We don’t want it. It’s rotten aid, filthy aid and we won’t have anything to do with it and it should not come to our country anyway,” he told thousands of party supporters who converged at the national shrine, the Great Zimbabwe, for his birthday party.

Zimbabwe is currently facing one of its worst droughts and requires massive food aid.

Mugabe’s government has assured the nation that no one will starve though Vice-President Emmerson admitted in Parliament last week that the government was broke.