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Zim will not rejoin Câwealth: President
Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWE will never compromise its hard-won
national independence by rejoining the Commonwealth, President Mugabe said
yesterday during festivities to mark 24 years of freedom.
He said the
country withdrew its membership of the Commonwealth after realising the Club was
used by some racist countries for their selfish policies that were clearly
detrimental to the countryâs interests.
"Our membership to other
organisations outside our continent and the United Nations will strictly be on
principles of equality and mutual respect. We will never allow our membership to
be used against our interests or those of our neighbours, allies and friends.
"We will never go back to the Commonwealth. We shall never go back to
that evil organisation. We locked the door that we used to get out," he said in
his off-the-cuff remarks to rapturous applause from the thousands of people who
thronged the National Sports Stadium to celebrate Independence Day.
Zimbabwe strongly disagreed with the imperial interests of Britain and
the United States, countries which, the President said, behaved as if they had
the mandate to police the world.
He said British Prime Minister Tony
Blair and US President George W. Bush viewed Africans as if Africans were there
to follow laws and directives dictated by the two Western leaders.
Mr
Blair and Mr Bush should understand their geography and understand that Africa
was for Africans and was a stand-alone continent, the President said.
He
said the Government would not entertain outside solutions to the challenges
facing the country. Solutions to the countryâs problems would never be sought
from "those who fought us yesterday and enslaved us", the President said.
Harbouring thoughts of Zimbabwe going back to colonial rule was a dream,
he said.
The President said it was sad that some people were running
away from the country to take up menial jobs in the United Kingdom.
He
said people who thought they had answers to the countryâs problems should bring
their ideas to the leadership so that they would be incorporated into national
policy issues.
"Do not go and find solutions from outside. All the
solutions and remedies are available locally," he said.
The President
said the ruling Zanu-PF refused to talk to MDC because of the opposition partyâs
double standards. The MDC, he said, at times claimed to be Zimbabwean but at the
same time ran around the world courting the imposition of sanctions against the
same people it purported to represent.
He said it was time the MDC
realised that Mr Blair and Mr Bush did not determine the voting patterns in
Zimbabwe. "Power does not come from Bush and Blair. It comes from the people.
Ivava vamunoona ava," he said referring to the crowd in the stadium.
"We
disagree with the MDC on that. Are they African in outlook, are they African in
political persuasion? Do they want Zimbabwean solutions to Zimbabwean problems?"
President Mugabe said the nation could not be held to ransom by the MDC.
"We cannot be sold like sheep to Bush and Blair," he said.
He
took a swipe at unethical business people contributing to the milking of the
national resources.
"Our economy has been badly bruised by some in our
midst given to greed and corrupt practices. The situation that has been
obtaining in the financial sector is simply disgusting and has required a very
robust response," he said.
The President singled out mining as the
sector worst hit by corrupt activities with serious lapses in integrity seen
over the past five years.
"For more than five years, our gold was being
smuggled out of the country through a well-organised racket of international
criminals," he said.
President Mugabe said these people were the real
enemies of the country and deserved to stay in prison. The dishonest elements
would be brought to book and no person who robs Zimbabwe would go scot-free.
"In the drive to end corruption, no one will be too big or too small.
The law is rough with criminals and we shall shed no tears for them," the
President said.
Zimbabwe was marking 24 years of independence with a
strong sense of unity and cohesion at home and a strong sense of place and
identity internationally, he said.
"We face the future with confidence,
hope and dignity. The last four years presented us a number of challenges and
real trials for our country," he said.
He said the period witnessed a
great breakthrough that arose from a firm and indomitable stand on matters of
national sovereignty and economic freedom.
The highest point of the
achievements was the repossession and control of land.
The liberation
struggle was fought to own and control the means of production, the land.
President Mugabe said the land reform exercise angered the British and
Americans, but Zimbabwe would never compromise on principles of freedom and
national sovereignty no matter who got upset.
"Zimbabwe is not for the
convenience and pleasure of any country, less still of adventurous, bloodthirsty
and domineering neo-colonialists.
"Zimbabwe will never be a colony
again. Never, never, ever," he said.
The President said the new Ministry
of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement would expedite the land delivery process
once other outstanding matters, which include the acquisition programme, were
resolved.
"Repossession of excess land from greedy multiple owners and
redistributing it to the needy and landless must be accelerated. Land must
genuinely and irreversibly change hands in favour of the formerly landless
indigenous population. It must never go back to the white settler community," he
said.
He said some grey areas of the land reform programme, including
land given to conservancies, should be resolved during the mop-up exercise.
The same would apply to agro-industrial concerns, particularly those
that belonged to owners and companies that continued to show contempt towards
blacks and the land policy.
"Such landowners must have their resistance
broken once and for all," he said.
President Mugabe said Government was
determined to tame inflation and to grow the economy, deriving support from
agriculture.
He said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe support for the
productive and export sectors was expected to increase output in the
manufacturing, agriculture, mining, tourism, construction and transport sectors.
"This positive outlook, which will benefit also from the deregulation of
the oil industry, is expected to lead to an improved GDP (gross domestic
product) out-turn, compared to the originally projected negative out-turn of 8,5
percent," he said.
President Mugabe said the tourism industry was
involved in a massive revival campaign to fight negative publicity by the
Western media.
The campaign has seen tourist arrivals from the Asian
market increasing by 40 percent to 40 791 in 2003 from 29 075 in 2002.
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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