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Bob rules out regime change
 Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe ruled out any regime change in this southern African country as his ruling ZANU-PF party held a congress to renew the party's leadership. The 80-year-old head of state, who has led the southern African country downhill since independence in 1980, said the country had remained unified in the face of attempts by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to effect a regime change through the backing of "stooge parties". Mugabe accuses Blair's government of working with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to illegally remove Zimbabwe's current government from power. "Regime change in our country, regime change Mr (Tony) Blair? Who are you to talk of regime change in Zimbabwe?"
| "Who d'you think you are? Prime Minister of Great Britain!" |
Mugabe asked in his opening address to the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party congress. "Let there be regime change in Britain, we will not talk about it, but here, never ever. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans and only Zimbabweans can determine who shall rule them or not," he said to loud applause from party members.
| "And lemme make the point that we rule, we don't govern here! None 'o that velvet glove stuff for us, no war of words! Sticks and stones, that's the ticket!" |
The congress, held every five years, will see Mugabe re-elected to run the party until 2009 and is also set to elect a new vice president, widely held to be the likely successor to Mugabe when his current term expires in 2008.
| Or when he does, prior to that. He can't live forever. Can he? |
Vice President Joseph Msika scoffed at calls for Mugabe to step down from office saying he should continue to rule until he is "walking with the aid of a walking stick". "They say you should leave and give way to others. To us that is a luxury we cannot afford. We don't know whether God will give us another Mugabe or a traitor who will sell away our country," said Msika.
Mugabe predicted that the MDC would not last long, saying "unity... has continued to energise us even as our external and internal enemies have been vigorously seeking their dream of regime change. They come and go, these stooge parties, and just now the way is very clear to the extinction of yet another opposition party."
| And when they say extinction, they really mean it |
"We are proud that we are meeting as a united Zimbabwean party, leading a united Zimbabwean people that believe in themselves," Mugabe said. "Our enemies and detractors have failed to destroy this identity, even as they resort to various machinations, including the formation of stooge opposition parties," he charged.
| A united Zimbabwean people, following Bob right over the cliff |
He slammed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai over his European tour to rally support for the MDC saying he was wasting time there when he should be campaigning back home where he can be shot for next year's parliamentary elections. The five-day congress of ZANU-PF, which is being held in the capital Harare, is expected to choose a woman vice president for the first time in the country's 24-year history.
The congress comes a day after six senior ruling party officials were suspended and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo reprimanded for organising a meeting that allegedly aimed to scupper party efforts to elect Water Resources Minister Joyce Mujuru as vice president. "We wonder why some amongst us should seek to depart from agreed democratic positions allowing their ambitions to mislead them," Mugabe said.
| "If we want you to have a position, we give it to you. So shut up!" |
Posted by: Steve 2004-12-02 |
