News / National
Robert Mugabe speaks on gays
28 May 2012 at 10:34hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has scoffed at calls for the inclusion of so-called gay rights in the country's constitution,
saying such lobbying was misplaced, not only in Zimbabwe but also in the rest of Africa.
Addressing participants at the high-level meeting of the Global Power Women Network Africa in Harare on Thursday, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said women were the ones who bear children.
The meeting was organised in collaboration with the African Union and UNAIDS.
"She, and she alone, has the womb. I do not know what others in the gay world believe in. We do not believe in that in Africa," he said.
"The task to bear a child is for the women. It does not belong to men.
"Even in the Bible, it tells us that God created Adam and, so, the Lord Almighty gave him a different species, and that was a species with a womb, a woman.
"If all women in the world stop bearing children, we will be extinguished. Men are not women and we, as men, have our own ways of looking at women."
Mugabe said it was unfortunate that some African customs made women seem inferior. Zimbabwe has, however, gone an extra mile to change the status quo by enacting various laws that recognise the role of women in society, he said.
The President said women can now share and inherit property in terms of property rights enshrined in the constitution.
Mugabe bemoaned the increase in the abuse of the girl child.
"When the police give us reports regarding crime, we hear that in Mashonaland West, Matabeleland, etc, men are raping a girl child as young as three or four years old.
"We must say thank you to women in Zimbabwe for all they have done during our hard times due to the economic sanctions imposed on us by Europe and America which have affected families.
"We respect them and certainly wish them to have better treatment from us, politically."
President Mugabe hoped for equal parliamentary representation.
"The problem will be how to get that 50-50 representation as parties are sceptical to have candidates along that basis. The men will say we cannot have these women. Affirmative action will be the answer because squaring it up in constituencies . . . women will lose."
saying such lobbying was misplaced, not only in Zimbabwe but also in the rest of Africa.
Addressing participants at the high-level meeting of the Global Power Women Network Africa in Harare on Thursday, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said women were the ones who bear children.
The meeting was organised in collaboration with the African Union and UNAIDS.
"She, and she alone, has the womb. I do not know what others in the gay world believe in. We do not believe in that in Africa," he said.
"The task to bear a child is for the women. It does not belong to men.
"Even in the Bible, it tells us that God created Adam and, so, the Lord Almighty gave him a different species, and that was a species with a womb, a woman.
"If all women in the world stop bearing children, we will be extinguished. Men are not women and we, as men, have our own ways of looking at women."
Mugabe said it was unfortunate that some African customs made women seem inferior. Zimbabwe has, however, gone an extra mile to change the status quo by enacting various laws that recognise the role of women in society, he said.
The President said women can now share and inherit property in terms of property rights enshrined in the constitution.
Mugabe bemoaned the increase in the abuse of the girl child.
"When the police give us reports regarding crime, we hear that in Mashonaland West, Matabeleland, etc, men are raping a girl child as young as three or four years old.
"We must say thank you to women in Zimbabwe for all they have done during our hard times due to the economic sanctions imposed on us by Europe and America which have affected families.
"We respect them and certainly wish them to have better treatment from us, politically."
President Mugabe hoped for equal parliamentary representation.
"The problem will be how to get that 50-50 representation as parties are sceptical to have candidates along that basis. The men will say we cannot have these women. Affirmative action will be the answer because squaring it up in constituencies . . . women will lose."
Source - sundaymail
