Mugabe raps 'prostitute' Tsvangirai, says Brown needs 'medical correction'

ATTACK: Mugabe accused Tsvangirai of working with western powers to oust his government

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By Torby Chimhashu
Posted to the web: 11/12/2008 13:57:13
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe lashed out at opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday, calling him a “prostitute” before taking aim at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown whose head "must go for some medical correction”.

Addressing mourners at the burial of Elliot Manyika, a former cabinet minister who died in a road accident last Saturday, Mugabe was critical of the MDC leader’s recent foreign jaunts.

"Today you are in Senegal, tomorrow you are in that country. Ndochii ichocho? (What is that?) Chihure ichocho! (It's prostitution!).”

In a televised address, Mugabe took his customary swipe at Tsvangirai, accusing him of mobilising with leaders of western countries for a military invasion of Zimbabwe. Mugabe said the cholera outbreak that has killed close to a 1000 people was to be used as a pretext for such an attack.

"Shall we also say that [because] there is mad cow disease, there must be war, Britain must be invaded? Mr Brown, your head must go for some medical correction,” Mugabe said.

Tsvangirai, who remains in Botswana and says he will not travel to Zimbabwe without his passport which authorities refuse to issue, recently visited Morocco, France, Germany and Senegal rallying support for his stance to refuse to join a power sharing government before Mugabe agrees to what he says is an equitable allocation of cabinet portfolios.

A September 15 power sharing agreement could collapse if the stand-off over ministries is not quickly resolved.

Days after meeting Tsvangirai, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the time for dialogue in Zimbabwe was over.

"President Mugabe must go,” Sarkozy said. “There comes a time when a dictator does not want to hear, does not want to understand, and so my understanding is that heads of states and governments must end discussions. It is time to say to Mr Mugabe 'you have taken your people hostage. The people of Zimbabwe have the right to freedom, to security and to respect'.”

In Harare, Mugabe said Sarkozy was part of a plot with Brown and US President George Bush to overthrow his government militarily on the basis of a cholera epidemic. Mugabe claims the outbreak is under control, and the Western powers no longer have an excuse for an invasion.

He said: “Because of cholera, Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Bush want military intervention. Now that there is no cholera, there is no need for war. The cholera cause doesn’t exist any more.”

Tsvangirai’s MDC said in a statement on Thursday that it would not be stampeded into joining a government on terms that it is unhappy with.

“Either Zanu PF is killing the dialogue or has already killed it. We refuse to be cowed by wanton acts of terror into succumbing to a warped political settlement that is not in the best interest of the people of Zimbabwe,” a spokesman said.
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