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Mugabe: UK will never steal Zim
18/04/2008 15:43 - (SA)
Harare - In his first major address since last month's disputed elections Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe vowed on Friday that former colonial power Britain and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never "steal" his country.
Mugabe was addressing thousands of people attending a rally in a Harare stadium on the 28th anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence from Britain. It has been three weeks since the elections but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has yet to release the results of the presidential poll.
Speaking for over an hour, mostly off the cuff, the 84-year-old leader warned: "You want the British to come back again? You saw what they did when they heard that the MDC was winning.
"The whites in the UK, Australia and South Africa started coming in and some are still here in the hotels," he said, apparently referring to white farmers who were evicted from their land by ruling party members and cronies since 2000.
"That (land being returned to white farmers) will never ever happen," he vowed. "Down with the British. Down with thieves who want to steal our country."
'More subtle tactics'
"Beware. Be vigilant in the face of the vicious machinations of Britain and its other allies," Mugabe said. "Yesterday they ruled by brute force. Today they have perfected their tactics to be more subtle. They are literally buying people to turn against the government. We are being bought like sheep because they have money and because we are suffering."
Some white farmers, Mugabe alleged, had erected checkpoints on the land where they used to farm, "provoking" the so-called war veterans.
Groups of war veterans have chased dozens of white farmers off their land and beaten up and chased away scores of black farm workers since the elections.
The Zimbabwean president also thanked southern African leaders and South Africa in particular for the role it has played since the elections.
The few passages in English included thanks to southern African leaders "for clearly articulating our case over the ... elections."
SA's 'special role'
"I want to thank South Africa in a special way for the role it has played in brokering our dialogue."
Mugabe's defiant address came a day before ZEC undertakes a partial recount of the votes cast in the March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims he defeated Mugabe squarely. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party claims neither Tsvangirai nor Mugabe won outright and that a runoff is required. An independent electoral observation NGO also predicted neither took more than 50% at the first round but had Tsvangirai very close.
The MDC opposes both the run-off and recount.
Tsvangirai claimed in a BBC interview on Thursday the two parties had been close to a deal that would have ended Mugabe's autocratic and economically disastrous rule a few days after the election but that some "establishment" elements scuppered it.
Men, youths beaten up
Earlier Zimbabwean soldiers went house to house in the low-income Harare suburb of Glenview, beating up men and youths, in what one witness claimed was revenge for an assault on a soldier living in the area earlier in the week. On the streets the police presence was heavy.
Several newspapers have reported that hardliners in the security forces opposed Mugabe stepping down and are now effectively running the country.
A ship carrying arms from China destined for Zimbabwe has been sitting outside South Africa's Durban harbour for days.
Dock workers have refused to off-load the shipment saying that they disagree ideologically with a government decision to allow the arms be transported by road through South Africa to Zimbabwe. -Sapa-dpa and AP
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