Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday morning laid his cards on the table for a sustained union government, warning that no oppressors’ hands would be entertained in Zimbabwe’s self determination.

Addressing an august gathering of mainly Southern African leaders and heads of international bodies shortly after signing a historic power sharing ceremony in Harare during which he shook the hands of opposition leader Morgan Tvsangirai to signal the end of years of bitter rivalry between government forces and opposition elements, Mugabe described the event as ‘very important and historic.’

“And as we move forward from now on, certain salient principles have to guide us” he said, explaining that if the new found “unity is going to last, those salient principles must be observed along the way. Zimbabwe is a sovereign state and only the people of Zimbabwe have the right, fundamental right to govern it. They alone, if democracy we’ve talked about is to mean anything, they alone will set up governments, they alone will change those governments. No one else has the right to decide on regime change in our country. It is the right of our people. So that principle must remain uppermost in our thinking, in our actions and in our planning. We are a sovereign people with the right of self determination.”

As Mugabe spoke, Tvsangirai, now Prime Minister and who had moments earlier espoused a new hope for Zimbabwe in philosophical rhetoric and to wild cheers from the august gathering, twitched in his seat as other dignitaries sat tight and appeared to overly concentrate on Mugabe’s message.

The older Mugabe previously referred plainly to Tvsangirai as a stooge of Western powers who were funding his political activities to destabilize Zimbabwe, a charge the accused has repeatedly denied.

Robert Mugabe has long and persistently blamed the United States and Britain, whom he described as oppressors, as being responsible for Zimbabwe’s woes, and he lost not time to press home his conviction.

“The problem we have had is the problem that has been created by a former colonial power wanting to continue, to continue to interfere in our domestic affairs and wanting to continue to have a share of our natural resources. And this is what we have resisted. We have said the land, Zimbabwe’s land, belongs to Zimbabweans and as we proceeded to acquire that land and to apportion it to Zimbabweans, our erstwhile colonial masters said no.”

“And what did they try to do? They interfered with our processes, wanted to reverse them and they still want to reverse them. They spoke of regime change and you heard them. They spoke of regime change and they still speak of it. They imposed sanctions. We had not attacked Britain, we had not done anything to Britain. We had not attacked the Americans, we had not offended them in any way. Why, why, why the hand of the British? Why, why, why the hand of the Americans here? Let us ask that. Let us not ignore the truth as we move forward, we must accept reality.”

Mugabe was profusely grateful however, to what he called frontline states particularly in the Southern African block, for supporting Zimbabwe’s struggles for liberation and making ‘enormous sacrifices’, assuring that their cooperation and support is still welcome.

In the words of Mugabe, “The enemy did not just point his guns at us, the Zimbabweans. No! He aimed his guns also at our neighbours. Botswana was attacked, Zambia was attacked and Tanzania also was attacked”.

Political differences between the government and opposition, combined with trade sanctions have left Zimbabwe’s economy very fragile, with inflation at a staggering 11,000,000 percent and still worsening.

South African President Thabo Mbeki paid tribute to negotiators and facilitators of the agreement just moments before it was signed by the parties.


Story by Isaac Yeboah