News / Local
'Bulawayo is infested with snakes' - Mugabe angers residents
27 Apr 2012 at 07:11hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday evening said Bulawayo is infested with snakes that should be immediately removed a statement that has evoked Gukurahundi memories and angered residents.
During that dark era, Mugabe routinely branded his political rival the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo a snake.
In politics, a snake is equated to an enemy.
Said Mugabe soon after arriving a Joshua Mqabuko International Airport said "Now is the time to remove all the snakes on our way and ensure that Bulawayo and the whole of Matabeleland is vibrant," he said. "When that day comes let us do it..." said Mugabe who is in the city for the Trade Fair.
This has angered several people.
"I found his remarks as an insult to Gukurahundi victims and people of Matabeleland in general. That statement means a lot in politics.
"So he wants to remove them how?" asked Richard Moyo.
Moyo said Mugabe used to call Nkomo a snake and he (Nkomo) was always under constant harassment by Mugabe's people.
In his biography, The Story of My Life, Nkomo wrote; "Speaking of my party, he (Mugabe) said: 'Zapu and its leader Dr. Joshua Nkomo are like a cobra in the house. The only way to deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head.'
" During Independence celebrations in Harare, Mugabe called for peace and he comes to Bulawayo to call us snakes. This could mean one thing…send soldiers to remove the snakes," said a resident.
Mugabe, 88 hinted that he is not ready to step aside saying "I am a living voice of those that have gone. I will not go until all the power to manage industries and the mines are in the hands once again of the people of Zimbabwe."
Human rights groups say more than 20 000 civilians were killed in the Matebeleland and Midlands regions in the early 1980s when then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe dispatched a crack army unit trained by North Korea to put down what was said to be a dissident menace.
Mugabe has not apologised for the killings, only describing them as a moment of madness. Again the findings of a commission he appointed to probe the killings were never maade public. Neither were its recommendations acted upon.
During that dark era, Mugabe routinely branded his political rival the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo a snake.
In politics, a snake is equated to an enemy.
Said Mugabe soon after arriving a Joshua Mqabuko International Airport said "Now is the time to remove all the snakes on our way and ensure that Bulawayo and the whole of Matabeleland is vibrant," he said. "When that day comes let us do it..." said Mugabe who is in the city for the Trade Fair.
This has angered several people.
"I found his remarks as an insult to Gukurahundi victims and people of Matabeleland in general. That statement means a lot in politics.
"So he wants to remove them how?" asked Richard Moyo.
In his biography, The Story of My Life, Nkomo wrote; "Speaking of my party, he (Mugabe) said: 'Zapu and its leader Dr. Joshua Nkomo are like a cobra in the house. The only way to deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head.'
" During Independence celebrations in Harare, Mugabe called for peace and he comes to Bulawayo to call us snakes. This could mean one thing…send soldiers to remove the snakes," said a resident.
Mugabe, 88 hinted that he is not ready to step aside saying "I am a living voice of those that have gone. I will not go until all the power to manage industries and the mines are in the hands once again of the people of Zimbabwe."
Human rights groups say more than 20 000 civilians were killed in the Matebeleland and Midlands regions in the early 1980s when then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe dispatched a crack army unit trained by North Korea to put down what was said to be a dissident menace.
Mugabe has not apologised for the killings, only describing them as a moment of madness. Again the findings of a commission he appointed to probe the killings were never maade public. Neither were its recommendations acted upon.
Source - Byo24News
