President Robert Mugabe yesterday accused his coalition government partners of “selling” their country by conceding “too much” to the stringent conditions set by foreign investors wishing to invest into the country.
Addressing delegates at the official launch of the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Trust in Marange, Mugabe said some of his partners in the coalition government had a tendency of giving in too much after being pampered with accolades by foreign investors when they travelled outside the country.
“We have those who are saying what you are doing is not good. We need to give them the inward-looking ideology. There are areas which we should regard as sacred cows and these cows can only be milked by Zimbabweans,” said Mugabe.
In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who was equated to ex-South African President Nelson Mandela on his visit this week to Australia, Mugabe said: “You go to foreign countries and rub shoulders with whites, selling out your country. That’s being foolish. You have forgotten how this independence came about. They pamper you with all sorts of glowing accolades, describe you as an excellent leader and at times equate you to Mandela . You don’t see that you are being fooled and they do this to increase their capacity to fight your own people.”
“As African leaders we tried to help (slain Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi when he was slapped with sanctions during the Lockerbie bombing, but he later befriended whites which led to his downfall. We should be wary about this because Gaddafi was killed like a goat. He invited Britain, France and America to Tripoli and after they had observed how rich the country was, they hit back at him.”
Meanwhile, four diamond companies operating in Manicaland pledged $10 million each towards the Community Share Ownership Trust Fund. These are Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin, DMC and Sino-Zimbabwe.
