What Mugabe said in birthday interview

What Mugabe said in birthday interview

• Mugabe says 'no vacancy' for his job

• Mugabe considers a 'dignified exit'

• Jethro Mpofu: Mugabe has chance for dignified exit

• Zanu PF sees no membership gain from MDC split

• MDC says Mugabe staged 'civilian coup'

• 'There are no vacancies', Mugabe tells party

• Mugabe won't quit 'if party is going to be in shambles'

• Chamisa: Mugabe's attempt to die in office to be resisted

• Mugabe to stay on until 2010 - spokesman

• Nkomo confirms Presidential ambitions

• Presidential aspirants wait like witches - Mugabe

• Is Zimbabwe headed for conflict?

• How Mugabe wants to be remembered

• Mugabe says succession debate 'nonsensical'

• Mugabe says Zanu PF will choose successor

• Mugabe: 'I want to rest'

• Mugabe: 'I'll retire when my term ends'

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe ave an interview to state television which was broadcast on Tuesday night. The following are excerpts of what he had to say:

By Staff Reporter

ON the debate around his succession:

"Obviously there will come a time when I will go. Of course they can debate (the succession) process, saying how do we do it and so on.

"But what it has done, goodness me, is to let out ambitious people going out in various directions and every individual on the upper echelon is now looking at himself, saying, wondering which position they will occupy.

"Even where they are not thinking of themselves being president they are thinking in terms of where they will be and who they should support and those who think they are most immediate are resorting to all kinds of frauds.

"I didn’t expect that, I thought they would say now look, as we look ahead, how do we do it. Should the President go, who really is the most deserving candidate? Who has the qualities that we require? But I suppose it’s too, too demanding a question, and the issue that arises or what it does is to invoke all kinds of ideas in the minds of people."

On his party's moves to shift presidential elections due next year to 2010 when the parliamentary elections are held:

"Now it would have been good to harmonise, for really to get just one election that is all encompassing but, of course, so many readings have been put onto it.

"Some say, ‘ah because the President wants to lengthen his term’, if I want to lengthen my term, I can stand next year, what prevents me from standing and beating? I can stand and then have another six years for that matter, handiti?

"What will the MDC do, you see? So it was not because the President wants to have another term; no, it was to be done to have a package yemaelections, which is one. In other words, we have presidential elections, parliamentary elections and local government elections."

On veteran nationalist leader, Edgar Tekere's biography which Mugabe sees as a hatchet job on him and Emerson Mnangagwa by supporters of Vice President Joice Mujuru:

"The machinery is not biographies, the people who vote for us are the ordinary people of Zimbabwe. We have a Congress that will decide, and it is those people who will decide and I thought this is the way we would go about things not the (Ibbo) Mandaza way, but yesuccession yes, they should go and talk about it, why not? But you do not talk about it in order to push President Mugabe out just now."

On greed among some of Zimbabwe's leaders:

"Hushefu hwedu, I just don’t know, sometimes huri inhuman, but not all mashefu are like that. Vamwe vanobatsira unonzwa vachiti ndakabatsirwa nangana, we have got to be human ka, we are people’s leaders not leaders unto themselves."

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