OPPOSITION parties yesterday had a field day following President Robert Mugabe’s speech mix-up, saying the howler confirmed that age had long caught up with him.
by MOSES MATENGA
“It shows the man is old and I have always maintained that he belongs to an old people’s home,” People’s Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume said.
“The fact that they continue to parade him not only in Zimbabwe, but in the world is a shame.
“Reading a wrong speech days after reshuffling Cabinet shows that he might not even remember that he had done another reshuffle recently.”
Main opposition MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said: “It is a clear and unmitigated sign that he is too old and, therefore, no longer fit for purpose. This clearly goes to show that Robert Mugabe no longer has the requisite mental faculties that are needed for him to continue in office as the Head of State.”
Predictably, Gutu said the MDC-T was immediately calling for Mugabe’s resignation.
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“At the very advanced age of 91, it has been proved beyond a shadow of doubt that Mugabe is way past his prime in that he failed to recognise that he was delivering the wrong speech in Parliament today,” he said.
“Zimbabwe doesn’t deserve to be run by a nonagenarian President who, in fact, is long overdue for retirement.”
A reader commenting on the NewsDay website said: “He didn’t read the wrong speech. That’s the only speech he has. Poor old dude has run out of ideas. He will probably read the same speech at Sikhanyiso Ndlovu’s burial.”
National Constitutional Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku said this was evidence of a poor way of running government.
“Mugabe should go through the embarrassment of re-doing it (opening Parliament). While it is not a constitutional obligation for him to open Parliament, as was the case in the previous dispensation, the fact that Parliament made a resolution to call on him to preside over its opening means it becomes obligatory. We would want him to do it again.”
However, Zanu PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo downplayed the gaffe, saying even United States President Barack Obama also made similar mistakes.
“For the sake of perspective, even Obama the orator has read a wrong speech,” he wrote on Twitter.
