Top stories for July 16-20

Mugabe says Zimbabwe is going to wage an economic revolution– President Robert Mugabe today said Zimbabwe was going to wage an economic revolution using its natural resources to transform the gains of the liberation struggle into tangible wealth for the people. “We will be talking about how we can, together, once again, help each other now in our socio-economic programmes — another revolution to develop our countries so the fruits of what we fought for together can be yielded by yet another struggle, joint struggle, but this time a peace and economic struggle that we shall be waging with our natural resources so we can produce the necessary wealth for our people,” he told a visiting Chinese delegation. “Our relations with China are historical relations, they are revolutionary relations. We related to China for a long, long time during our struggle before our independence. We do not forget that and the Chinese people are our greatest friends in the international arena. We regard them really as part of us. So, when we get the people from China coming here they are coming to a country they helped to liberate. This is also part of their own world, part of their own country. So we are very happy.” Guo Jin Long who led the Chinese delegation said: “Strengthening the solidarity and cooperation relations with African countries has been a cornerstone of China’s diplomatic strategy. As Mr Xi Jinping, our President puts it, China and African countries have always been a community of shared faith and we are brothers of shared faith.”

Mugabe chides Britain

President Robert Mugabe today chided the British government for deliberately lying that there were no human rights in Zimbabwe because it now wanted to cooperate with the Zimbabwean government to take back failed asylum seekers. “Nhasi uno zvaita sei veBritain vave kuti ah vanhu venyu tave kuda kuti vadzoke tibatsirei tivape matsamba ekudzokesa. Ko makambovatora se? Vakatorwaka vachiuya nechichemo chekuti tiri kudzvanyirirwa. Ko mave kuda kuvadzosa zvekare kuhudzvanyiriri hwavaMugabe?” Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain have been strained for more than adecade following Britain’s push on the European Union to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe allegedly for human rights violations. The European Union lifted most of the sanctions this year leaving only two people, Mugabe and his wife and the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

Tsvangirai hits back at Mugabe
President Robert Mugabe should focus on reviving the country’s economy instead of focusing on Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s sex life, Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said in a statement today. Mugabe lashed out at Tsvangirai yesterday at the burial of national hero Major-general Eliah Bandama saying the MDC leader should make up his mind whether he wanted to be a polygamist or not and should not play around with too many women. “Watora uyu musikana wasiya, woenda pane uyo, woenda pane uyo. You have not taught yourself discipline. Havapere vakanaka, vazhinji, ukangotarisa vese vese. Just settle on one and that’s it. So, have some discipline. Aaah ndange ndotaura so, uyu ndiye anongonyorwa mumapepa bhururu wangu. Vamwe tave kutomunzwirawo tsitsi kuti aiwa zvanyanya,” he said. Tamborinyoka said it was imprudent and an African for Mugabe to talk about Tsvangirai in that way at a funeral. He said Tsvangirai had publicly apologised for his waywardness. Besides, he was single at the time. “The MDC President’s main worry at the moment is about a nation in crisis and the sooner Mr. Mugabe regards the crisis facing the nation as a matter of priority, the better for everyone. Government workers have no pay, the country is facing a serious liquidity crunch, Zimbabwe has an unserviced debt of over $10 billion but all the President of the country has on his mind is Morgan Tsvangirai,” Tamborinyoka said. Hevsaid Mugabe’s diatribe was an attempt to divert national attention from the huge crisis facing the nation and his failure to come up with a solution. “Zimbabweans refuse to be needlessly side-tracked and all the President should do is tell the nation how he is going to solve the multi-layered crisis facing the people of Zimbabwe. Listening to the Mr Mugabe yesterday, one would have thought that it was Morgan Tsvangirai who had died! It is both immoral and unAfrican to attack people at a funeral; a funeral they would not even have attended.”

Mugabe certain ZimAsset will bring about recovery
President Robert Mugabe today assured the nation that his government’s economic blueprint for the years 2013 to 2018, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset), will bring about the much-needed economic recovery. Speaking at a prize giving ceremony for security forces, Mugabe said: “Let me assure our people that the country’s economy is on recovery path. Government is going to employ several measures aimed at achieving desired results. ZimAsset will have all government and quasi-government institutions formulate their strategic action plans to be supervised through the Integrated Results-Based Management. IRBM is a strategic management tool aimed at effectively eradicating mal-performance. It focuses on enhancing commitment and duty consciousness in all government work forces. The implementation of IRBM should effectively bring about the desired success of our economic turnaround.” Reports say that the government needs US$27 billion to implement ZimAsset an amount that the government does not have at the moment as it is going through a liquidity crisis. But studies have shown that Zimbabwe has the fastest growth potential in Africa.

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