Mugabe calls on exiles to return

Mugabe calls on exiles to return

MUGABE speaks at the National Sports Stadium during Zimbabwe's 24th Independence Anniversary on Sunday

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By Staff Reporter

ROBERT Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, marked the country's 24th anniversary of independence on Sunday with a grim refusal to acknowledge any change in political direction toward relieving the economic and humanitarian disaster enveloping the once-prosperous nation.

Instead, he delivered a call to Zimbabwean exiles to return home and reject Western values. He said the West was waging a "bloodthirsty" onslaught to "recolonise" the country, and even suggested that traditional medicine could be used to deal with the crisis.

Diverting from his written speech and speaking off-the-cuff in the vernacular, Shona, he indicated some acknowledgement of the national crisis, including the exodus of an officially estimated 3.5 million, mostly to South Africa and Britain.

"Some of our people are running away to wash the bodies of elderly people in England," he said, referring to the large numbers of Zimbabweans there who work as carers for the elderly. He added: "Yet we are giving farms to people here. What are you running away for? Zimbabwe's problems can only be solved by Zimbabweans, not by foreigners," he said. "We have got medicine to sort out our problems, we have got traditional healers."

Turning to familiar territory, Mugabe ranted at America and Britain, claiming that the two countries wanted to recolonise Zimbabwe. He said Zimbabweans should close ranks to thwart the 'onslaught'.

"Zimbabwe will never be a colony again, never, never, never," he said during his 30-minute speech before a near-capacity crowd in the 60 000-seat National Sports Stadium on the capital's outskirts. Most in the crowd came to watch the football game between giants Dynamos and Highlanders (Dynamos won 2-1).

"We will not compromise our principles of freedom and national sovereignty, no matter who gets upset," he said in an address that was interspersed with derogatory references to Tony Blair, the British prime minister, and George Bush, the American president.

"Tony Blair thinks he owns Zimbabwe," he said amid a constant loud hubbub from a disinterested audience that at times drowned out his speech. "We are asking, didn't he do geography at school? We belong to Africa."

His address came as the country entered a quarter century under his rule with the country devastated by economic collapse, subjected to international isolation, with half its 12 million population starving, and in the grip of violent political repression meant to crush his opponents and to ensure he stays in power.

He attempted to put a positive spin on the crisis, asserting that inflation - running at over 600% - was "slowly beginning to decline," and read out a long list of promises to improve conditions, from housing to health care.

He declared that "affordable anti-retroviral drugs (for HIV/Aids sufferers) are now available in our hospitals," contradicting a report today in the state-controlled Sunday Mail which quoted health ministry officials and Aids activists as saying that the drugs for the widely publicised campaign "have not even arrived yet."

Mugabe rejected outside intervention by organisations like the United Nations, declaring that "we will never allow our membership of these organisations to be used against our interests." The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it had received invitations from the government for two "senior officials" of the party to attend.

Paul Themba Nyathi, the spokesperson for MDC, said Morgan Tsvangirai, the party leader, would not attend, but attempts were being made "to ensure the party is represented at the highest level." The stadium was dotted with posters that declared "Viva President Mugabe," and others that denounced foreign currency dealing and black market trading as "the axis of evil," a reference to the government's controversial crackdown on financial corruption.

"These fraudulent and dishonest people are the real enemies of our people," Mugabe said. "No person who robbed country this should be allowed to get away with it." Critics say that the "anti-corruption drive" which has brought down a clutch of major financial institutions, is being used to target figures within the ruling Zanu(PF) party who are seen as challenging Mugabe's authority.

There were significantly more people at the stadium than in previous years, but it was apparent that many were bused in for the event. Scores of buses, some with passengers on their roofs, were seen offloading people outside the stadium. - Sapa
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