News / National
'I don't fear Mujuru,' says Mugabe
16 Sep 2015 at 09:34hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe says he does not fear a political challenge from Joice Mujuru because he has dispensed with trickier political opposition in the past.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on the occasion of the official opening of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament yesterday, President Mugabe said Mujuru's political star was being exaggerated by newspapers.
The Zanu-PF leader said there was a tendency by the private media to "give me sins I haven't committed, offences I haven't committed, actions I haven't done and thoughts I haven't entertained in my mind."
Much of this false reporting, he said, now centred on his alleged fear of Mujuru who was jettisoned by Zanu-PF in December last year for plotting to topple him.
The President told MPs and diplomats: "Even my thinking, you get told I fear Mujuru. She ruined her political career on her own, she went against party regulations and we kicked her out Now she's being elevated to a higher pedestal. What has she achieved?
If she wants to dabble in politics, let her But now she's being pitted against Mugabe. Mujuru fighting against this fist really? Ian Smith tried it where is he?
"You really want me to roll up my sleeves and punch Mujuru, deliver a punch my sister Sabina called the 'jaw crusher'? I don't have time to waste fighting her. Let her keep her jaw and chew on groundnuts nicely"
President Mugabe said his government wanted newspapers to enjoy "freedom... to make money*, but warned there was gross abuse of privilege by sections of die media.
"You might not share my politics and I might not share your politics, but it doesn't mean we're enemies. You may criticise me where I go wrong, sure, but., tell the truth and don't live on lies. This stuff about Mugabe fearing so and so, is that factual news? Do you live on that? Formulating stories so that people can fight each other? That's very poor journalism," he said.
"You're thinking everyday how you can excite people who read so that they can buy your paper. No) The journalism we're experiencing isn't the journalism we expect If Ave begin to take control now, rigid control, people shouldn't then cry fbuL The lies are just too much."
The President also condemned corruption, saying people should not abuse the authority they are entrusted with to enrich themselves.
He said: "We find ourselves in the private sector, you own a company. We find ourselves in government, in a particular ministry, local government in councils. Do we realise that we're in those situations of power in order for us to fend for others and not just for us?
"Sure, for us in the first place, but the jobs we're doing must benefit others as well. Do we have die integrity, the virtue of honesty, the virtue of love, the virtue of recognising that those I work for are also sons of die soil like me, I dare not cheat them, I dare not steal from them, I dare not rob them or break into their houses?"
He described corruption as a brutal practice and bemoaned the increase in the number of people abusing their positions for selfish reasons.
"Stealing from others is equally brutal; corruption is equally brutal even those who are educated, the accountants using the pen to steal. What's happening to our country? You start a bank and people put their money and they deposit, they save with your bank and you don't hesitate to take that money and make it yours, parcelling it out to your friends and relatives? What do you think the people will say when tomorrow they want their money and you can't give it to them?"
Isolating former PSMAS boss Cuthbert Dube as an example after his monthly salary of $500,000 sparked a national outcry which eventually cost him his job, President Mugabe condemned top managers at various institutions especially public enterprises that are paying themselves obscene salaries at the expense of the public they should save.
He also condemned land barons that have duped unsuspecting members of the public through illegally selling state land adding that the government was now putting measures to restore sanity in the provision of housing.
Turning to the increase in the prevalence of cases of sexual abuse of women, President Mugabe said the government was seriously considering castration as a punishment for men who perpetrate die crime
He said: "What sort of men have we become, raping our babies in some cases your own? What has entered this house of freedom, die Zimbabwe house of freedom? We're saying to our own people, we in government let's teach our men how to behave and have good character?'
To laughter, he added: "We've said to the police arrest them, but it seems not to be working so what shall we do to them? They don't heed the chiefs, the government or die police. They've remained defiant so what shall we do to them? In Sharia law, they say if you steal, the hand must go. So if you rape what must go?
"You might take it (castration) as a laughing matter, but we're considering it seriously. Don't say Mugabe is becoming cruel because we want to protect our women, so men, take care."
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on the occasion of the official opening of the Third Session of the Eighth Parliament yesterday, President Mugabe said Mujuru's political star was being exaggerated by newspapers.
The Zanu-PF leader said there was a tendency by the private media to "give me sins I haven't committed, offences I haven't committed, actions I haven't done and thoughts I haven't entertained in my mind."
Much of this false reporting, he said, now centred on his alleged fear of Mujuru who was jettisoned by Zanu-PF in December last year for plotting to topple him.
The President told MPs and diplomats: "Even my thinking, you get told I fear Mujuru. She ruined her political career on her own, she went against party regulations and we kicked her out Now she's being elevated to a higher pedestal. What has she achieved?
If she wants to dabble in politics, let her But now she's being pitted against Mugabe. Mujuru fighting against this fist really? Ian Smith tried it where is he?
"You really want me to roll up my sleeves and punch Mujuru, deliver a punch my sister Sabina called the 'jaw crusher'? I don't have time to waste fighting her. Let her keep her jaw and chew on groundnuts nicely"
President Mugabe said his government wanted newspapers to enjoy "freedom... to make money*, but warned there was gross abuse of privilege by sections of die media.
"You might not share my politics and I might not share your politics, but it doesn't mean we're enemies. You may criticise me where I go wrong, sure, but., tell the truth and don't live on lies. This stuff about Mugabe fearing so and so, is that factual news? Do you live on that? Formulating stories so that people can fight each other? That's very poor journalism," he said.
"You're thinking everyday how you can excite people who read so that they can buy your paper. No) The journalism we're experiencing isn't the journalism we expect If Ave begin to take control now, rigid control, people shouldn't then cry fbuL The lies are just too much."
The President also condemned corruption, saying people should not abuse the authority they are entrusted with to enrich themselves.
He said: "We find ourselves in the private sector, you own a company. We find ourselves in government, in a particular ministry, local government in councils. Do we realise that we're in those situations of power in order for us to fend for others and not just for us?
"Sure, for us in the first place, but the jobs we're doing must benefit others as well. Do we have die integrity, the virtue of honesty, the virtue of love, the virtue of recognising that those I work for are also sons of die soil like me, I dare not cheat them, I dare not steal from them, I dare not rob them or break into their houses?"
He described corruption as a brutal practice and bemoaned the increase in the number of people abusing their positions for selfish reasons.
"Stealing from others is equally brutal; corruption is equally brutal even those who are educated, the accountants using the pen to steal. What's happening to our country? You start a bank and people put their money and they deposit, they save with your bank and you don't hesitate to take that money and make it yours, parcelling it out to your friends and relatives? What do you think the people will say when tomorrow they want their money and you can't give it to them?"
Isolating former PSMAS boss Cuthbert Dube as an example after his monthly salary of $500,000 sparked a national outcry which eventually cost him his job, President Mugabe condemned top managers at various institutions especially public enterprises that are paying themselves obscene salaries at the expense of the public they should save.
He also condemned land barons that have duped unsuspecting members of the public through illegally selling state land adding that the government was now putting measures to restore sanity in the provision of housing.
Turning to the increase in the prevalence of cases of sexual abuse of women, President Mugabe said the government was seriously considering castration as a punishment for men who perpetrate die crime
He said: "What sort of men have we become, raping our babies in some cases your own? What has entered this house of freedom, die Zimbabwe house of freedom? We're saying to our own people, we in government let's teach our men how to behave and have good character?'
To laughter, he added: "We've said to the police arrest them, but it seems not to be working so what shall we do to them? They don't heed the chiefs, the government or die police. They've remained defiant so what shall we do to them? In Sharia law, they say if you steal, the hand must go. So if you rape what must go?
"You might take it (castration) as a laughing matter, but we're considering it seriously. Don't say Mugabe is becoming cruel because we want to protect our women, so men, take care."
Source - chronicle
