Published by the government of Zimbabwe
17 June 2008
President Mugabe has warned MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and senior opposition officials that the Government will hold them responsible for the orgy of organised violence that has rocked some parts of the country and would soon invoke measures to curtail it.
Addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters at Siakobvu Business Centre in Kariba and Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma, President Mugabe said the Government had noted with grave concern the organised violence against people, especially Zanu-PF supporters, through the burning of houses and kidnappings, among other heinous crimes.
Government, he said, would soon invoke what is known in law as "vicarious responsibilities and liabilities" against MDC-T leaders and senior party officials saying the terror attacks were premeditated and organised, exposing them to liabilities.
"Zvino chitema chakaipisa cheMDC mweya wehuSatani wekupisa dzimba dzevanhu. Zvino zvikarega kumira watichanenera ndiTsvangirai nevamwe vake.
"These cases of arson, kidnappings and violence on people coming from the MDC have shown a definite pattern which we read across the country. There is a definite plan of violence, an organised system of violence aimed at disturbing law and order. Let them be warned that we will invoke what is known as vicarious responsibility and liability which means we will hold them responsible for the violence across the country," he explained.
This invocation, he said, was only applied in special circumstances that threaten to disturb peace.
President Mugabe explained that normally parents are not held responsible for the misdeeds of their children, but when their operations show an organised streak then people are left with no choice but suspect complicity by the parents.
"This wave of violence has to stop and Government would not allow people to suffer and for people to wantonly disturb law and order . . . we cannot allow it to continue."
Cde Mugabe made the remarks after he was briefed about the violence being perpetrated by MDC-T supporters in Mola communal lands where they have reportedly barricaded roads using logs and have gone on a spree of arson that has displaced people and left others injured.
Three people have since been arrested in connection with the disturbances while some MDC-T supporters have left the opposition party to rejoin Zanu-PF.
Mr Fanta Masaka said he rejoined the ruling party after realising that MDC-T had nothing to offer.
He said people should not vote with their stomachs and desire for such niceties as sugar because they did not match the heritage that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF has bequeathed to them through land redistribution and indigenisation programmes.
Turning to the forthcoming run-off, President Mugabe said he was chosen by the people at the 2004 Zanu-PF congress and he accepted to return the people’s trust.
MDC-T, he said, dithered on whether to participate in the election while waiting for a signal from their masters in the West.
"VeMDC vakamboti hatidi, voti tinoda kunge musikana ari kunyengwa. Tsvangirai pazvakabuda kuti hapana ahwina akabva atizira kuBotswana uko akazongodzoka anzi naAmbassador wekuAmerica (James McGee) dzokera tikachiona chichidzoka chichimhanya. Akakumbira armoured car kubva kuBotswana namaguards asi vakati kwete kana uri murombo tinogona chete kukutengera ticket rendege rekuti udzoke kumusha ndokudzoka kwaakazoita," said the President amid laughter from the crowd.
President Mugabe said Zimbabwe was under threat from Western imperialist forces fronted by MDC-T and people need not look further than events after the March 29 elections when whites thought the opposition had won.
He said most farmers who lost their land and had gone to neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, had returned to reclaim their land.
Cde Mugabe declared that the land would not be returned to the whites as long as war veterans and other progressive thinking Zimbabweans in the country were still alive.
He said Anglo-Saxon interests vested in MDC-T were also evidenced by US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who parroted claims by MDC-T that they had won the presidential elections before the official announcement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
"Kamusikana kekuAmerica kakauya kachiti Tsvangirai ahwina vanofanira kutonga. Isu tikati ibva kuno. Kakanga kava kuzviramba kakadzokera kwavo."
He said Anglo-Saxons were working together to destabilise Zimbabwe by imposing sanctions in the vain hope that people would revolt against Government and vote for the puppet MDC-T to further the regime change agenda.
President Mugabe said Zimbabwe had minerals like platinum, chrome, nickel, which were complemented by the recent discovery of uranium that he said Government would soon look into ways of fostering co-operation and assistance from China and other countries in harnessing the resource for energy development.
He said there was wealth in the land as evidenced by the returns that resettled farmers have yielded saying the whites tried to hoodwink Zimbabweans into thinking that there was no wealth in farming by putting on shorts and dressing shabbily.
He said chiefs should identify people who need land and forward their names to Government.
Government, he said, had to put in place measures to empower people and ensure the availability of basic commodities and clothes at reasonable prices through the establishment of people’s shops.
He urged people to vote for him, saying voting for him was voting for Zanu-PF which has a history of liberating the country and working to uplift and empower people.
President Mugabe said Government was committed to improving the lives of people in the Zambezi Valley, where people survive through hunting and fishing.
The First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, Politburo members Cde Nathan Shamuyarira, Cde Ignatius Chombo, Central Committee members from Mashonaland West, provincial chairman Cde John Mafa, Chief Mola and other traditional leaders attended the rally.
Addressing a capacity crowd at another rally at Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma later in the day, Cde Mugabe said people should understand that when they vote for MDC-T they would be voting against themselves and selling out the country’s heritage.
"Tinozviziva kuti kune nzara nekushaikwa kwezvatinoshandisa asi mungatengesa nyika nekuti mashaya?
"Imi mukati nyika yarwadza mukati ngativhotere ichi chibato makatengesa nyika masikati machena.
"We are lucky midzimu yakaramba kuti nyika iende. The vote was not disastrous (after March 29) but we are saying don’t vote against yourselves, vote for your country, your legacy and your heritage that you would bequeath to the future generations."
Cde Mugabe said celebrations by whites after the premature announce-
ment by the MDC-T should inspire people to be strong in defending the country’s sovereignty.
"We need to be strong, to know that this is our country, Zimbabwe. We have nowhere else to go.
"The whites have a lot of places to go. The Anglo-Saxon world is very large and Zimbabwe is small but endowed with riches, underground, on its land we have to utilise, our forests with its birds, animals and everything that is found in it.
"The country also has the people, sons and daughters, which is our first resources for developing the country," he said.
He said people should know that the land in the country is sacred and should never be sold.
"Ivhu iri ratinaro rinoyera, haritengeswe, tinoripfumbudza richisara riripo, haritakurwe.
"Mabhunu havafaniri kukanganisa pakati pedu asi vakauya kuti vashande pamwe nesu for the good of our people then we would accept them."
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of course the oppostion has "regime change agenda" thats what opposition parties do!
LOL, he's really grasping at straws now eh!
I keep seeing accusations that the MDC is somehow sponsored or controlled by the west. Yet, no evidence is ever provided to support such a claim. Would any Mugabe supporter care to provide such evidence? I won't hold my breath.
Pat, if you want evidence it is right in these posts. Why is every white person's post on this site anti Mugabe? And why do people like 'Indie' and 'beefree' who are not Zimbabweans have SO much to say about Zimbabwe? It occupies all their time. Why is Zimbabwe of so much interest to the western media and yet there are worse things happening in the world as we speak? Any why is Mugabe/ZANU PF prepared to go to war? Most Zimbabwean's know that Mugabe is RIGHT and the only reason this mdc gets some support is because of the… [Read Full Text]
You just won't shut up about sanctions will you Kuba., even after we have proven time and time again that they don't exist.
Look at how many black people are anti-Mugabe on this site. You only see the whites because you're a sad little racist.
To liars and the ignorant sanctions don't exist to everyone else here's the truth:
by Tadie Chisango - 2007
"Western Sanctions, the MDC's complicity and the Economy:
Enumerating the economic sanctions and documenting their direct effects in total on Zimbabwe is not an easy task, practically. The difficulty of this task should not necessarily mean that there are no sanctions on Zimbabwe, however. What is possible, and that other writers before me have tried to do is to demonstrate that there are definitely some economic sanctions by the West targeted upon the entirety of Zimbabwe, not only Zanu PF officials,… [Read Full Text]
Why didn't you just post the link and we could have read the rest of this guff?
Notice the word, "Opinion", I suggest we read it in it's entirity and contemplate what the author DOESN'T say rather than what he says.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/opinion258.16231.html
See all comments (43).
"He said there was wealth in the land as evidenced by the returns that resettled farmers have yielded saying the whites tried to hoodwink Zimbabweans into thinking that there was no wealth in farming by putting on shorts and dressing shabbily." Please! Is this some sign of senility or is he getting really desperate to think of something new to say?