'Avoid succession Prophets,' says Mugabe

PRESIDENT Mugabe has lashed out at politicians who waste money consulting prophets to advance their political ambitions.

He said given the high level of literacy in the country, it was mind-boggling how educated people fell prey to tricks of the so-called prophets.

The President made the remarks at the burial of Don Kwaedza Muvuti at the National Heroes' Acre yesterday.

"Some people are going to these prophets to find out whether they will remain in the same positions or they will be promoted to senior positions," he said.

"With the elections coming the prophets are already preparing. I don't know whether they will buy the buckets beforehand.

"People go there, and get false prophecies,  . . .some go there and are told, you are going to be the next vice-president. Others go there and are told, you will be the next President. . oh…oh…" said Mugabe. What is that, you Christian, son of God, tell me.

"You beat your chest saying you will be the next leader of Zanu-PF, oooh, what kind of people are we? What does our education tell us?

"Others will say, aah, who do you think you are, I will remove you from the top. Hardly a week will pass before you are removed from that position, you then shiver , I am dying, am I dying?"

The President continued: "Most of the times we don't remember, we are reminded, those that go to church, the pastors remind us, they must be good Christians who love God, not those who use the church to get rich. To cheat people.

"I hear that in some churches buckets are always full. I then ask what is filling the buckets when our people are crying every day, they say they don't have money.

"But if a pastor comes to you and tells you no one among you knows when God is coming, no one is poor you are all going to be rich, even the rich ones, you believe him. They are lying to you.

"First make yourself rich, not to bring a bucket for the congregants to fill up. We are educated people who can read the Bible and interpret it on our own. We are educated but we fill those buckets with money."

President Mugabe said Muvuti was a selfless cadre who worked tirelessly for the party since the liberation struggle.

"All of us who are here have come to pay our last respects to one of us, Don Muvuti," he said. "Most people didn't know him but some of us knew him  as one of us who was working with us. He was not pompous. He did not have ambitions that other people have.

"They say where I come from, those are my people, some might be the party cadres, but they are not my people. Don Muvuti was not one of them. He would sit at the party headquarters quietly holding a pen, writing.

"We want to have everything that he was writing to be sent to the Department of Information and be kept at the Chitepo library to be read by future generations.