What you may have missed August 26-31

Ignoramus- President Robert Mugabe today said working with former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai required “real patience and endurance” because he was an ignoramus who was woefully unaware of his ignorance. “You are better off with an ignorant person who is aware, conscious of his ignorance, who accepts that he is ignorant, but if you are ignorant of your ignorance then it’s a big problem,” he said.

Disneyland In Africa

Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi today disclosed plans for a $300 million theme park near Victoria Falls, which he described as a “Disneyland in Africa,” complete with entertainment facilities, banks, casinos, and other amenities. “We have reserved 1 200 hectares of land closer to Victoria Falls international airport to do hotels and convention centres. We want to create a free zone with a banking centre where even people who do not necessarily live in Zimbabwe can open bank accounts,” he said.

Duped!

President Robert Mugabe ordered 300 giraffes, zebras and other animals to be transported from a private conservancy to the national park to impress visitors to the World Tourism Organisation summit reports said today. According to the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, 151 wildebeests, 100 impalas, 60 zebras, 25 eland and ten giraffes from the Save Valley Conservancy in Masvingo province were transported to Victoria Falls ahead of the summit.

UN defends Zimbabwe

The 180-member United Nations World Tourism Organization today re-elected Taleb Rifai of Jordan for a second four-year term as its secretary general at the end of the summit in the Zambian town of Livingstone, across the border from Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls resort. Rifai brushed aside criticism the six-day meeting gave legitimacy to President Robert Mugabe’s government saying the summit gave Zimbabweans optimism and was not an opportunity to discuss what he called “grand issues”.

Mugabe blames UK for Vic Falls bomb alarm

President Robert Mugabe today accused Western countries of spreading a false bomb alarm at Victoria Falls in a bid to sabotage the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia at the resort. “There was posted on the internet from London, that a bomb had been planted somewhere here for you to be frightened so you could disperse and then it will be said the meeting failed,” he said. “We are not terrorists. We do not kill people here. We seek no harm to others, we seek friendship and cooperation; we seek peace and not war in Africa. We seek good neighbourliness and respect for each other’s territorial integrity.”

Statement ‘mischievous’: Mbeki

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki today said statements attributed to him about Zimbabwe’s election and land reform policy were “mischievous”. They were intended to “communicate falsehoods to achieve particular political outcomes”, Mbeki’s spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said. “With regard to Zimbabwe’s land reform process, former president Mbeki said that though SADC agreed with the Zimbabwean government about the imperative for land reform, it did not agree with the manner in which the process was carried out. He added that this agreement notwithstanding, the land reform process in Zimbabwe has proved successful.”

New Dawn shuts down gold mine

Toronto-listed New Dawn Mining today announced that it was shutting down its 85 percent-owned Dalny Mine near Kadoma because the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority cut power to the project over problems with bill payments. The mine had outstanding trade payables of about $3 million. New Dawn said increasing power and staff costs, harsh royalty regime and an illegal strike contributed to the decision and the company also lays some of the blame for the shutdown on the African nation’s indigenisation policy.

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