Zimbabwe's Mugabe threatens U.S., UK firms over Western sanctions

[Vikrant]

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe threatened on Sunday to retaliate "tit for tat" against companies from Britain and the United States if these Western powers persisted in pressuring his government with sanctions and what he called "harassment".
Mugabe's latest verbal broadside against his main Western critics followed their questioning of his re-election in a July 31 vote that his rival Morgan Tsvangirai has denounced as a "coup by ballot" involving alleged widespread vote-rigging.

Mugabe, who at 89 is Africa's oldest leader, has rejected the fraud allegations and was sworn in on Thursday for a fresh five-year term in the southern African nation that he has ruled since its independence from Britain in 1980.

"They should not continue to harass us, the British and Americans," he told supporters at the funeral of an air force officer.

"We have not done anything to their companies here, the British have several companies in this country, and we have not imposed any controls, any sanctions against them, but time will come when we will say well, tit for tat, you hit me I hit you."

British companies in Zimbabwe include banking groups Standard Chartered Plc and Barclays Plc. These are already indigenizationthe target of a so-called "indigenisation" policy that requires they cede a majority stake to black Zimbabweans.

Mugabe and prominent members of his ZANU-PF party, which won a two-thirds majority in the July 31 election, are the targets of financial and travel sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. These were applied by Washington and Brussels to punish alleged election-rigging and abuses of power.

Britain said last week Mugabe's re-election could not be deemed credible without an independent investigation into allegations of voting irregularities.

U.S. officials also said the July 31 election was flawed and Washington had no plans to loosen sanctions until there were signs of change in the country.

In contrast, observers from the regional 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union broadly endorsed last month's Zimbabwean vote as free and peaceful and called on all parties to accept its results.

Mugabe still enjoys support in Africa for his role in the liberation guerrilla war that helped end white-minority rule in what was formerly Rhodesia, and led to its independence.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe threatens U.S., UK firms over Western sanctions | Reuters

 

[waltky]

Zimbabwe's Mugabe smoozin' with China's Xi...

Mugabe in China love-in to build on trade cooperation
Fri, Aug 29, 2014 - It is a mutual admiration society to which the West is definitely not invited.

The leaders of China and Zimbabwe whispered sweet nothings about shared history, common foes and future cooperation during a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this week. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) praised Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a “an old friend of the Chinese people whom we respect very much.” Mugabe, for his part, said he felt “very much at home.” The political love-in came as Mugabe, 90, makes his 13th trip to China in what critics describe as a desperate attempt to attract investment to rescue a sinking economy. China’s GDP of US$8.227 trillion in 2012 dwarfs Zimbabwe’s US$10.81 billion. For years Mugabe, accused by the West of electoral fraud and human rights violations, has been pushing a “look East” policy for business. Now, this appears to include persuading the population of Zimbabwe to become more familiar with Chinese culture.

An article last week by Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Lin Lin (林琳) in Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald newspaper said that a recent “Night of Beijing” performance in the capital, Harare, had “fascinated and left unforgettable memories in the hearts of an audience of [more than] 3,000.” The Chinese embassy and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp cohosted “the first-ever China-Zimbabwe quiz show to further increase the mutual knowledge and understanding between the two peoples,” Lin Lin wrote. And now a professional crew from China Central Television is in Zimbabwe to shoot a tourism promotion documentary that aims to “attract more Chinese people’s eyes to this wonderland.”

On Monday, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), greeted Mugabe and his wife, Grace, with full military honors. A band played the two national anthems as a 21-gun salute was fired and the two presidents inspected a military honor guard. Children held flowers and miniature flags of both countries to welcome the two leaders, who held a meeting behind closed doors that lasted for hours, the Herald reported. An unusually effusive Xi said: “I stand ready to work with you, your excellency, to comprehensively deepen our bilateral relationship and make sure the relationship will create benefits for people in both countries.”

Mugabe responded with thanks, saying: “We are prepared on our part to continue our historical relations and even build on them as we develop our economies and Zimbabwe will, naturally, as before, being a smaller country, be the beneficiary of this relationship, and so I want to assure you of our reciprocal undertaking, that we will do our best to reciprocate your friendship.” The two oversaw the signing of nine agreements, including documents on economic, trade and tourism cooperation, as well as emergency food donations and concessional loans from China to Zimbabwe. No values were given.

Mugabe in China love-in to build on trade cooperation - Taipei Times

 

[bianco]

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe tells whites to 8220 go back to England 8221

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe tells whites to “go back to England”

THE man who calls himself “the Hitler of our time” and once said he was better than Jesus Christ is back. And you won’t believe what he said this time.
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, long known for his outspoken rants, has told whites who are still in his country to “go back to England”, as he vowed that those removed from land redistributed to black Zimbabweans would never be allowed to return.
Mugabe was speaking during the installation of a chief in his rural Zvimba home area, according to All Africa.
“The West prefers a weak leader who, they hope, would allow the whites to come back,” he said, speaking in Shona.
“They think if they intimidate us we will be cowed and allow the whites to come back; that will never happen.

etc

Time for Whites to tell Mugabe and Zimbabwe to grow their own food and get their own money.
China is 'buying up'/'taking over' most of Africa, seemingly including Zimbabwe...so Whites should leave Black Africa to its own devices...and deal with 'Chafrica' going forward.
Let Chafrica find its own aid money and love from communist China.

 

[waltky]

Demonstrations now, civil war next?...

Thousands march for Mugabe as he raps 'treasonous' groups fighting to succeed him
Thursday 26th May, 2016 - Thousands of people marched through Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Wednesday in support of President Robert Mugabe as he denounced "treasonous" factions in his ZANU-PF party feuding over who should succeed the 92-year-old leader.

Mugabe is the only leader the southern African nation has known since independence from Britain in 1980. He has said he wants to live to 100 and remains fit, denying local media reports that he has prostate cancer. As senior members of ZANU-PF manoeuvre for advantage in a post-Mugabe era, two factions have emerged, one linked to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and one to Mugabe's wife Grace. "There should never be little groups to promote so and so. Those little groups are treasonous groups, they spoil the party," Mugabe told tens of thousands of faithful who gathered for a "One Million-Man" march in Harare. "Let us not hear discordant voices from whomsoever. All this thing about factions is new to us, it destabilises the party," said Mugabe, touting the march as a "great revolutionary act" by ZANU-PF youth.

First Lady Grace Mugabe told the crowd earlier that the veteran leader was irreplaceable and the unifying force in ZANU-PF who would continue to lead Zimbabwe even in death. Mugabe said local private media calling on him to step down should "go hang", adding that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) also wanted him to resign because they feared he would defeat them again in elections. MDC spokesman Obert Gutu said Wednesday's march was an attempt to paper over ZANU-PF's disintegration. "The majority of Zimbabweans are living in grinding poverty and are not happy. So ZANU-PF wants to divert people's attention from the collapsing economy and to massage Robert Mugabe's ego," he said. "If anything, Zimbabweans should march and demand Mugabe's immediate resignation from office."

Demonstrators were shipped in from all over Zimbabwe for the march, organised by the ZANU-PF's youth wing. They sang pro-Mugabe songs as they spilled out of buses in downtown Harare. Mugabe's supporters call him an African icon who stands up to the West. Critics say he has ruined a once promising economy with policies such as the seizure and redistribution of white-owned commercial farms, which devastated agriculture. "We are here to tell everyone that the youth league is 100 percent behind comrade Mugabe's leadership," said Prosper Machado, a youth leader from central Zimbabwe. "We are saying no to factionalism because President Mugabe is the only centre of power that we recognise. He is our candidate for 2018 (elections) and so there is no vacancy."

Thousands march for Mugabe as he raps 'treasonous' groups fighting to succeed him

 

[Ame®icano]

 

[Ame®icano]

 

[Ame®icano]

 

[Ame®icano]

 

[TheOldSchool]

Zimbabwe's Pre-Colonial History - Zimbabwe and Related Topics

 

[gt1085]

I Agree,Africa Should Expel all foreigners,European go there and just kill people,Yes Expelled From All Of Africa.After All It Is Their Land.

 

[waltky]

War veterans rise up against Mugabe...

Zimbabwe war veterans leaders boycott Mugabe heroes speech
August 8, 2016 - Leaders of Zimbabwean war veterans on Monday boycotted a speech by President Robert Mugabe to honor fighters of the country's independence war, widening a rift with Africa's oldest leader, whom the veterans have asked to step down.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) last month denounced Mugabe, 92, as a divisive dictator, in a jolting rebuke underlining mounting anger over economic woes. The ZNLWVA executive was absent from National Heroes Day celebrations in the capital to honor living and dead fighters of the 1970s liberation war against white minority rule. This is the first time leaders of the group have failed to attend the celebrations since ZNLWVA was formed in 1990. The group has anchored Mugabe's election campaigns since 2000, when the first major opposition to the president emerged with the formation in 1999 of the main opposition party Movement For Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Police in Zimbabwe's capital fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers protesting what they describe as police harassment.The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe.​

ZNLWVA secretary general Victor Matemadanda said his group had boycotted Monday's event because it had lost its meaning. "We said as an executive we have no reason to attend because it (National Heroes Day) is not intended to achieve the true goal to honor the war veterans," Matemadanda told Reuters. "We said because we are being persecuted continuously, there is no reason why we should go there. In fact if you go there, you will never know what they will think, maybe they will think of arresting us or other comrades who have not been arrested."

SALARIES DELAYED

Mugabe's government has arrested and charged war veterans' leaders in a crackdown against his formed allies. In his 50-minute speech, Mugabe did not mention the war veterans, but instead accused activist pastor Evan Mawarire of calling for violent anti-government protests. Mawarire's #ThisFlag movement last month led a protest over delayed salaries for public sector employees that closed businesses, government offices, schools and hospitals - the most significant popular defiance of the long-ruling Mugabe in a decade. "If protests are allowed, let them be peaceful not to be like the ones advocated by Mawarire," Mugabe said.

Police in Zimbabwe's capital fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers protesting what they describe as police harassment. The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe.​

Zimbabwe is struggling to pay salaries to soldiers, police and other public workers, which could stoke political tensions in a nation plagued by drought, a drop in mineral prices and chronic cash shortages - all factors behind unrest against Mugabe, the only leader independent Zimbabwe has known. Mugabe's government is drafting a Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bill, which will allow authorities to seize phones and laptops, seen as a bid to curb the use of social media to organize anti-government demonstrations. Information Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwandzira defended the bill saying it had been planned a long time ago and was similar to legislation in other countries.

Zimbabwe war veterans leaders boycott Mugabe heroes speech