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| National |
| Mutharika asks donors to open up to Zimbabwe |
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by
George Ntonya, 05 May 2006
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06:07:37
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President Bingu wa Mutharika Wednesday night described visiting Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe as “a democrat in every sense of the word” and appealed to the international donor community to open up to Zimbabwe.
Mutharika was commenting on accusations by Mugabe’s critics, who say Zimbabwe is in a sorry state because of the octogenarian’s dictatorial tendencies.
The Malawi leader said his counterpart in Zimbabwe initiated Africa’s first known truly government of national unity (GNU) in the 1980s after that country’s liberation war and that he has continued working hard to ensure sovereignty of his countrymen.
“President Robert Gabriel Mugabe is a true democrat in every sense of the word,” Mutharika told guests—including Western diplomats—who attended a state banquet organised in honour of the Zimbabwean leader at the New State House in Lilongwe, a few hours after his arrival for a four-day state visit.
Mutharika said Zimbabwe is on its way to economic recovery because of sound policies Mugabe has put in place and that foreign investors have realised there is a lot of potential in that country.
“My appeal to the international donor community is that they should open up to Zimbabwe and open up very quickly to prevent many people, especially women, children, the elderly and the disabled [from] sinking further into poverty. The donors must realise that the Zimbabwe issue has a human face,” Mutharika said and pledged to put his weight behind Mugabe.
He also urged Sadc countries to rally behind Zimbabwe because “as a community, we are supposed to support one another in times of need”.
“I therefore appeal to all investors within Sadc to explore new investment opportunities that abound in Zimbabwe,” he said adding that at the political level, Sadc countries must remember that in a community, members are guided by the slogan: “all for one and one for all’.
In his speech at the banquet, Mugabe commended Malawi for supporting his government through a number of ways including bilateral trade agreements.
He admitted that Zimbabweans, like their Malawian counterparts, continue to walk in the dark of poverty and underdevelopment.
On the controversial land redistribution programme in his country, the main reason for his falling out with the Western world, Mugabe said although some white farmers lost their farms in the exercise, there are equally many others—“including the notorious Ian Smith”—who are still possessing large pockets of farmland.
He said the land reform programme has created new opportunities for other investors, including Zimbabweans of Malawian descent.
He urged Malawian investors to go into joint ventures with their Zimbabwean counterparts so that they can produce and process crops such as cotton and tobacco.
African countries, he added, must resist any attempts by the international donor community to re-colonise them “directly or indirectly”.
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