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| National |
| Mugabe is African hero, says Bingu |
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by
Mzati Nkolokosa and Emmanuel Muwamba, 05 May 2006
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06:02:39
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President Bingu wa Mutharika on Thursday departed from his prepared speech and spent 20 minutes justifying why Midima Road was named after visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Mutharika described Mugabe as a true son of Africa and a hero who deserves honour “because of his relentless war against colonial domination not only in Zimbabwe but also throughout Africa and the entire developing world”.
Mutharika said Mugabe has fought colonialism in Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo.
But Mutharika did not say whether or not the current feud between the Zimbabwean president and the West is part of Mugabe’s fight against colonialism.
“We believe you deserve a lasting legacy here in Malawi,” said Mutharika asking: “Who else is more eligible to have this honour than Mugabe?”
Mutharika also said he might review street names in the country to prevent Malawi from honouring “thieves and killers” and Europeans who didn’t contribute to the development of Malawi.
“When are we going to end (sic) colonial names?” Asked Mutharika during the official opening of the 49-kilometre road.
“Some streets are named after people we don’t know. I will remove their names and give known names,” said Mutharika.
The Zimbabwean leader said he heard about opposition to his invitation to Malawi by both blacks and whites.
“These are voices of some blacks speaking for their white masters who forget that this Robert Mugabe is true 200 percent African. He does not belong to Europe or America. He does not desire to live in Europe. He loves his people,” said Mugabe referring to Zimbabweans, some of whom he recently destroyed their houses in a clean up campaign in Harare.
Mugabe, in his almost perfect English and poetic speech, praised the government of Malawi for constructing the K1.2 billion road using its own money saying this is what governments should be doing even if it means countries contributing towards regional roads.
The Zimbabwean leader is in the country on a four-day state visit which was objected to by civil society organisations, some of whom changed heart after meeting Mutharika at New State House in Lilongwe.
And in a turn of events programme manager of the Blantyre CCAP Synod Billy Mayaya, who spoke highly of Mugabe’s trip after meeting Mutharika last week, Thursday changed tune saying the Zimbabwean leader did not deserve the honour, citing serious human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
“My comment is that priority should be given to local heroes like Orton Chirwa and Aaron Gadama among others. We should not forget our Malawian heroes only to name roads after a foreigner,” said Mayaya.
When reminded that he spoke highly of Mugabe only last week, Mayaya said the President backtracked from his promise that he would grant them an audience with Mugabe.
“When we went to see the President, we had two options: either to demonstrate or engage in dialogue with Mugabe. We went for the latter but the President tricked us and there was no word from him on the dialogue with Mugabe on freedoms in Zimbabwe. He tricked the civil society,” said Mayaya.
Mayaya said the civil society was disjointed when they went to meet Mutharika and observed that they need to make advance preparations when accorded such opportunities in future.
A fortnight ago, the civil society threatened to stage demonstrations in protest against Mugabe’s visit because of his bad human rights record in his country. There was no single placard yesterday.
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