Pleas for Mugabe to slow down on foreign trips

Samuel Sipepa MDC Renewal Team interim chairperson yesterday pleaded with African Union  and Sadc leader President Robert Mugabe to slow down on his international business trips, saying the frequent journeys were humiliating Zimbabwe and the region,  plunging it further into economic chaos.

Addressing journalists in Harare, Nkomo said the two regional bodies should scale down the 91-year-old politician's engagements to enable him attend to domestic problems.

Mugabe has been on endless trips in the last six months that have seen him flying to Zambia, South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Russia, Botswana, Namibia, Ethiopia, Japan and Singapore, among other countries.

Most opposition parties have accused Mugabe of concentrating on costly foreign travels while Zimbabwe was burning.

Nkomo's call came shortly after MDC Renewal Team secretary-general Tendai Biti told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that he was ready to confront Mugabe and ask him to step down and concentrate on his farming business.