CHINHOYI — President Robert Mugabe is a complex character who purports to champion the interests of the poor people yet his government, through a raft of skewed laws and ruthless actions, has worsened the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, MDC leader Welshman Ncube has said.
Ncube, who is also Industry and Commerce minister, said this while responding to a question on how he viewed Mugabe’s leadership at the Chinhoyi Press Club at the weekend.
“No doubt he is a complex character. When you talk to Mugabe, you can hear in his mind he talks of the interests of the people,” he said.
“How then you reconcile what he says and what he and his Zanu PF party goes on to do, you then ask yourself ‘What is wrong with the man?’”
Ncube paid tribute to journalist-cum-author Heidi Holland for writing the autobiography Dinner with Mugabe. He described the book as an accurate and candid analysis of the 88-year-old ruler’s unpredictable character.
“At Independence in 1980, Mugabe emerged a hero, but turned tyrant after presiding over the impoverishment of the masses and ruining the country’s economy as he unleashed his dictatorship in the guise of “defending the revolution,”the minister said.
“History has already made judgment of President Mugabe and his legacy.
“No matter his sincerity or not in championing the cause of the people, the truth is that under his watch the people of Zimbabwe were impoverished.”
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He said although the land reform programme was irreversible, its implementation, just like the ongoing indigenisation crusade, was choatic.
“Only the tiniest minority has thrived under Mugabe’s rule,” Ncube said.
“He has prolonged his hold onto power using violence unleashed on innocent civilians by the army, police and other State security apparatus.
“The generals are the most serious threat to our sovereignty, constitution and the will of the people. “The army, police and CIO don’t respect the people, they say ‘You are only a democracy to the extent that you only vote Zanu PF’.
“The absence of the right of people to make political choices without fear is, at the moment, a disaster for the country.”
