LILONGWE — Malawian diplomat Thoko Banda, who once reportedly described Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as an “idiot”, yesterday turned down his government’s plans to post him to Harare.
TimesLive
“I am sure there are other Malawians more amenable to serving at that particular post at this particular time,” Banda said in a statement.
Banda’s scathing insult of Zimbabwe’s long-serving Head of State was recalled by social media last week, shortly after he was named as Malawi’s high commissioner-designate to Zimbabwe.
Banda was widely quoted in 2006 as telling Germany’s The Foreigner magazine that “Zimbabwe has an idiot — I am sorry, I know you are recording – but they have an idiot for President. “This guy Robert Mugabe, I hope that he lives a long time, so that one day he can go before an international tribunal. He is a horrible man.”
Banda said in his statement yesterday that he had an “extensive history of effective human rights advocacy and I would never sell out my human rights commitments just for a position”.
Banda, who has served previously as a diplomat in Japan and Germany, said he was not consulted on his Harare appointment by President Peter Mutharika and was “surprised” to learn of it through the media.
Malawi’s Foreign Affairs minister George Chaponda refused to comment, telling AFP: “Ask Mr Banda himself.”
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Malawi and Zimbabwe, both members of the Southern African Development Community, have enjoyed cordial diplomatic relations in the past.
