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President blasts Makoni
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
February 22, 2008

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802220218.html

President Mugabe has described Dr Simba Makoni, who broke away from Zanu-PF to challenge him in the March 29 presidential election, as a "political prostitute".

In an interview with ZBC-News last night on the occasion of his 84th birthday, Cde Mugabe said Dr Makoni's method of seeking the highest office in the land was "absolutely disgraceful" because he neither has a party nor the support of the people.

"What has happened now is absolutely disgraceful. I didn't think kuti Makoni after all the experience could behave like the way he did and in a naïve way too yekungosadharara kuti ndinonzi Simba Makoni. Haana kana party, asi vanhu 'huyai kwandiri mundide ndinoshamisa, I am like a magnet, come to me and I am there to lead you.' No! You go to the people and the people find you, hausadharare apa uchitsvaga vanhu.

"So I have compared him to a prostitute, a prostitute could have stood also achiti ini ndine vangu varume vamwe varimuMDC vamwe varimuZanu-PF, hapana party isina varume vangu inini, saka neniwo ndoenda kunomination. But you see a prostitute could have done better than Makoni because she has clients," Cde Mugabe said.

However, President Mugabe said people were free to leave Zanu-PF if their views were not in tandem with those of the majority because the party gives priority to the wishes of the majority.

"We had even the Makonis for so many years, the Jonathans (Moyo). After being with us and having absorbed our own experience as a party and surely a bit of our history, then they decide to part ways with us, some of them who became deviant.

"But the party is a people's party and it must encompass all levels. This is what kills some parties; they think they exist for intellectuals. We want people to be educated, of course, but not everybody can have a degree. The process of running a country or a party or any other organisation is a process of accepting ideas and rejecting others. If you arrive at a stage when the majority are agreeing that the direction of the party should be this way, you will be lucky, very lucky that you are unanimous. In that view, you will always get dissenting views of a few who see things otherwise.

"It's not a bad thing to differ objectively, but when you differ subjectively so say 'aah what this man says I will never accept', you are being subjective. Once you become subjective and take yourself as the opinion maker, as the key person in making opinion, then you are already dangerous not just to others, but to yourself and you become self-opinionated. In some cases, it's ambition, in a revolution we must always guard against those who think they should be leaders. So you will get these rebels because they don't see things as you see them," Cde Mugabe said.

Asked whether the party leadership saw things the same way, President Mugabe said there were some who wanted freedom to make money through "any means, good or bad", while others "think we should not continue like this, we need Europeans, why should we take the farms, why should we be hostile to the British?"

However, Cde Mugabe said those who hold such views never raise them in the party's highest policy-making body outside congress, the Politburo.

"So we go by the views of the majority in the Politburo."

The President bemoaned corruption, which he said was endemic at the top, calling for the entrenchment of values and morals among youths.

"This is where we tend to fail not just here in Zimbabwe, but in Africa as a whole and perhaps in the world as a whole. The amount of corruption and the most intelligently executed corrupt activities are those you find in the financial sector. Clever people, young people play around with the figures."

He lamented the fact that some farmers were abusing the free farms, subsidised fuel and loans Government was providing.

On the inter-party talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC, Cde Mugabe said Government had not broken any promises.

He was responding to criticism from some quarters that the announcement of March 29 as the election date could jeopardise the talks and throw off the rails South Africa's mediation.

But Cde Mugabe said initially Government wanted to delay the elections until 2010 and get the opportunity to harmonise without cutting short the tenure of the current Parliament.

The proposal was abandoned after some people felt the President wanted to extend his term, he said.

He said a decision was taken then that "we are going to elections in 2008 and if my party asks me to stand, I will stand".

Zanu-PF's decision to request Cde Mugabe to stand for another term was the source of the grumblings over the election date, he said, adding that some thought he would retire.

"Akanga avaudza kuti ndachembera ndiani? South Africa knew it and South Africa had actually opposed our intended extension (of his term to 2010)."

Cde Mugabe said the MDC's areas of concern had been taken into consideration during the talks, resulting in amendments to such laws as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Public Order and Security Act.

"We have not broken any promises there. People wanted us to postpone elections for their own benefit. You take advantage of their (the opposition) being in disarray, the more they are in disarray the better for you."

Asked what sort of relationship he had with South African President Thabo Mbeki who some say regards him as a "father figure", which could have an influence on his mediation, President Mugabe said they were "comrades-in-arms" and respected each other.

Cde Mugabe said the Zanu-PF election campaign would focus on resisting the British regime change agenda as long as they continued on that path.

This week British Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown revealed that London had increased funding for the opposition to £3,3 million.

He predicted a Zanu-PF victory in the elections and put to rest the regime change agenda.

"I do hope the humble pies -- and they will be big ones -- that we will deliver for the edification of the opposition will be eaten and eaten satisfactorily."

Turning to the economy, the President said inflation was the biggest problem causing untold suffering to Zimbabweans.

"It means purely we have got to enhance production, make the goods available as cheap as possible. But we need to work with people who also understand that."

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