Mugabe hailed as a 'hero'

2003-05-16 12:42

Alice - Controversial Eastern Cape mbongi Jongela Nojozi on Friday praised Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for "chasing whites" out of Zimbabwe.

Singing Mugabe's praises in front of hundreds of students, parents and academics at a Fort Hare graduation ceremony, Nojozi described Mugabe as an African hero for his land policy.

Mugabe, in South Africa to attend Walter Sisulu's funeral, flew down to the Eastern Cape from Johannesburg on Friday morning specially to attend the graduation.

He smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as Nojozi, dressed in furs and skins and wielding a spear, called on him to "please, please chase them from our land".

Nojozi last year headed a bid to rename the Eastern Cape, and has since then been under fire for alleged abuse of government vehicles.

He has also been involved in a brush with the Board of Sheriffs for allegedly interfering with an official in Fort Beaufort.

Mugabe was expected to meet Zimbabwean Presidential Scholarship Award students after the graduation ceremony.

There are about 500 Zimbabweans at Fort Hare, of whom about 400 are on presidential scholarships.

Seventy scholarship holders are to graduate on Friday, 22 with masters degrees and one with a doctorate.

Mugabe reportedly chartered a plane from Johannesburg to the former Ciskei's Bulembu Airport.

He was driven in a cavalcade from Bulumbu to Alice in a bullet-proof limousine.

- SAPA