I’m still in charge, says President President Mugabe
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

Farirai Machivenyika Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said he is still fully in charge of affairs in both Zanu-PF and the government and dismissed media reports that the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe is now the power behind the throne.

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with ZBC on the programme, Reflections at 91, whose first part was screened yesterday to mark his 91st birthday, Cde Mugabe said the First Lady’s ascension to Zanu-PF Secretary of Women Affairs did not mean she was now the one in charge.

“She isn’t the power behind my throne, she has come into politics in her own right,” President Mugabe said. “She has just appeared on behalf of the women and the women asked her to go around addressing people and she agreed and went round, that’s all she did.”

President Mugabe said the manner in which the First Lady entered politics did not mean she was now driving State power, adding that the ruling party had vibrant structures that shared ideas.

“Why should they (media) think that because of what she has done she is now the power?” he said. “She hasn’t come yet into the real part of things. She has just attended one Politburo meeting, which she didn’t attend fully because she is not yet strong.

“Because of the dynamism with which she came out, it started giving people ideas with some saying she is now the power behind the party, she is now running what the President is doing. But we have the machinery of the party, we discuss, we decide and now that we have two vice presidents we share ideas.”

The First Lady led the exposure of the shenanigans by former Vice President Joice Mujuru and her cabal that were plotting to oust President Mugabe during her rallies which she undertook before the Zanu-PF 6th National People’s Congress in December last year after being nominated for the post of Secretary for Women’s Affairs.

Apart from unearthing the plot against the President, the First Lady also exposed Cde Mujuru’s illicit deals and corrupt activities.

Cde Mujuru and 16 other ministers and deputy ministers that were part of her cabal were eventually sacked from the government and also lost their seats in the Central Committee and subsequently the Politburo.

In the interview with ZBC, President Mugabe, who turned 91 last Saturday, also said he was not behind the First Lady’s entrance into politics.

“I’ve never sanctioned anyone, even my sisters, I used to tell them if you want politics don’t say I sent you,” he said. “I will not push anyone. She came to me and said the women want me to lead them and I said it’s up to you.”

President Mugabe said even before she came into mainstream politics, he always discussed political issues with the First Lady at home.

He said the ruling party hadn’t amended its constitution to remove the clause that a woman should occupy one of the vice presidency posts, but said the circumstances that preceded last year’s 6th National People’s Congress contributed to the failure to appoint a woman as vice president.

“I don’t think we’ve removed it (constitutional clause on women being vice president), but we’ve just ignored it,” President Mugabe said.

“We have appointed vice presidents and we have not appointed a woman because we want to rein in the situation, but it doesn’t mean in the future there will be no woman.”

Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko were appointed to the posts at the Congress.

The President said women were also free to contest for any post in the party, adding that government and the ruling party were committed to improving the plight of women as seen by the various policies adopted since independence.

President Mugabe said Cde Mujuru was hard done by her ambitions.

“The woman grew ambitious and did not want to bid her time to see the President either retire or die,” he said.

“The man has just won an election and you want to remove him, you think it’s that easy.

“I don’t know who fooled this woman, we are the ones who put her in that position, not that she qualified, there were men who were better qualified than her, but we wanted to groom her there.”

President Mugabe said the former vice president thought that because she had attained university education she was now fit to be a President.

“She went to university, now she has become a doctor and thought now I can be a president,” he said.

“It’s not those things that count, you must be a person with capacity and experience apart from that you must be disciplined and obedient.

“You follow procedures of the party, you don’t go against the rules of the party, you abide by the rules of the party, you respect the hierarchy and not plan a coup det at, worse still an assassination.”

President Mugabe said Zanu-PF had not yet finished addressing the issue of factionalism that came to the fore before the 6th National People’s Congress.

“No, there is lots of it,” he said. “We haven’t addressed factionalism as it had existed, they say there are those that belong to Mujuru, and those that belong to Minister Mnangagwa, when he was still a minister. Those from the Mnangagwa faction didn’t want to take over the presidency.

“Those that belonged to the Mujuru faction are the ones who went and slaughtered a chicken, sheep at the farm, symbolysing the death of Mugabe, his wife and Mnangagwa, just like what the Nigerians do, that’s how clever they are and paid for that nonsense.

“So they say they pray to God? So Cde Mugabe doesn’t have his God too? He also goes to church so that he can have a healthy life, so that there is peace and not people who want to kill others.”

On former secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa, President Mugabe scoffed at his attempts to form a party.

“He’s now old and my colleague from Makoni is now dragging his feet just like me. We hear they want to form their own party, they say they want to call it Zanu-PF First, just to retain the PF. Even the courts will throw away that nonsense,” President Mugabe said.

On the economy, President Mugabe said it was important that the country looks at Zim-Asset, the government’s economic blueprint, holistically.

“You must look at Zim-Asset as all embracing, it is not just industry, it is agriculture, infrastructure, mining,” he said. “It is the manufacturing sector that is letting us down and in a sense the mining sector which is not as controlled as it used to be.”

President Mugabe bemoaned the leakages in the mining industry and said government was particularly concerned with the diamond mining sector where it is working on re-aligning the sector so that government plays a major role.

“The diamond industry, we’re re-organising so that we have the State with one or two partners, that is how it is in South Africa and in Botswana,” he said.

“So, we’re re-organising that, but it will take us some time to be in full swing.”

President Mugabe said government had managed to obtain information on the diamond sector that had been hidden by the South African company De-Beers.

“We know of diamonds that had been discovered by De-Beers and they had taken it to Wits University and fortunately there are some people who’re clever who stole the papers and have given them to us, so now we have the papers,” President Mugabe said.

He said it was of paramount importance that indigenous people took control of their minerals in the same way they had re-possessed their land.

“Africans must take ownership of mining in the same way we’ve taken ownership of land and agriculture,” he said.

“So, you have to look at Zim-Asset from the point of view of multiple facets that we are pursuing to develop our economy and our people.”

President Mugabe said this year’s harvest could be lower than expected due to the prolonged dry spell in most parts of the country.

“We thought this year we would have a good season, but apparently our hopes are being dashed,” he said.

“February is usually a wet month, but now it’s not, it’s now sunshine.”

President Mugabe said concerted efforts should be made to ensure farmers ventured into wheat farming, taking advantage of the abundant water resources in the country.

On new farmers, he said productivity was low because some of them were given huge farms they were failing to fully utilise.

“The A2 farmers, I think the farms we gave to people are too large, they can’t manage them,” he said. “You find that most of them are just using one third of the land.”

President Mugabe attributed his long life to eating well and keeping himself in good physical condition through exercise.

 

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