PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabwe will not take any lectures on democracy from the British government and claimed the former colonial power was looking for new ways to regain control in the country.

Mugabe was speaking at a children’s party in Harare which he traditionally hosts ahead of the country’s independence celebrations.

"(They (the British government) used to suppress us and when we fought we were fighting for democracy, they cannot teach us democracy, it is us who taught them democracy, they should shut their stupid mouths," he said.

"That is why we say let the outsiders keep out and not interfere with our domestic affairs, we are an independent people, all our children are independent and we do not need anyone to tell us what to do and least of all those we pushed out.”

Zimbabwe will mark 31 years of independence from British colonial rule on Monday with the main celebrations set for the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

Organisers said all political party regalia had been banned from the event.

MDC-T spokesman, Nelson Chamisa also confirmed that his party would attend the festivities.

"For us those are platforms to build not destroy, to unite and not divide, most importantly it is an emphasis of our being in our diversity as a people,” Chamisa said.

"Zimbabweans have to work very hard to give meaning to our hard won independence as a people. Real change should be seen in people's everyday life so that independence is honoured and celebrated and not cursed and condemned.”

Meanwhile, Mugabe said it was indigenous Zimbabweans who had brought independence to the country and not the British.

Mugabe told the youths – who were drawn from the country’s ten political provinces to be on guard, claiming former colonial masters were keen to regain control of the country’s resources.

"Those who colonised us yesterday are looking for ways to come back not through the political route as before but through the economic and social routes,” he said.

"They will come by taking control of our resources, taking control of our institutions and swaying the minds of our people, when they are in that kind of control then our minds will be controlled.”