Grace Mugabe castigates Britain, US hypocrisy on skulls, Cecil the lion

THE First Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday castigated Britain and the United States' hypocritical behaviour, saying the two Western countries are taking the killing of Cecil the Lion to be more important than the horrendous murders they committed in Zimbabwe.

Speaking in Binga during a tour of projects in the area, Mugabe said while Zimbabweans should jealously guard their wildlife and natural resources, the West should respect that the country was a sovereign State, able to shape its own destiny.

Cecil the Lion was killed last month by an American dentist Walter James Palmer at Hwange National Park and the illegal act drew worldwide outrage.

"These are hypocrites, crying about Cecil, a lion," Mugabe said. "Does a lion have equal rights with me? In the 1890s those who rebelled against the white settler regime like Mbuya Nehanda, Mashayamombe, Sekuru Kaguvi were beheaded and their skulls were taken to Britain.

"What kind of behaviour is that? It is disgusting that you come and behead someone and make his head a trophy, going with it to show the Queen just like what they did to our Cecil (the Lion)."

She added: "Yes, we want to protect our wildlife, but its baffling they start talking about Cecil's head without talking about the skulls of our ancestors which they took."

Britain is displaying skulls of some of Zimbabwe's heroes and heroines of the First Chimurenga in their museums as symbols of colonial conquest and has since invited Zimbabwe to repatriate the remains.

This drew the ire of President Mugabe who this week said the government would collect the skulls begrudgingly and bury them at the country's sacred shrines.

The First Lady said the West would never dictate anything to Zimbabwe again as the country was a sovereign State.

"Their first offence to us is taking the skulls and Cecil the Lion later because they consider us as empty headed people," she said. "We love our animals and we don't like those who come to kill them, but what is more important: a person or an animal?

"They came to hunt people, now they are hunting our animals. We don't want people who underestimate us to that extent. They should know that when they are here they are visitors and can't rule or dictate anything to us."

No human being, Mugabe said, was more important than the other.

"We didn't get Independence to walk with them in the pavements and share toilets," she said. "That's nothing to us. We need land to call our own. Let's jealously guard our Independence such that the colonisers will never come and take our land again. This is our heritage and no one is superior to the other."

Mugabe said the MDC-T's dream of reversing the gains of the liberation struggle would never succeed.

Meanwhile, the First Lady yesterday donated thousands of tonnes of food and goods to Binga villagers saying the gesture was an expression of her love for them.

Mugabe, who was accompanied by members of Zanu-PF Women's League among other delegates, presented the goodies in front of thousands of villagers at Bulawayo Kraal Primary School.

The First Lady, who was making her first visit to the government irrigation project — Bulawayo Kraal —since taking over its supervision last month, donated 10,000 pairs of shoes, 20 tonnes of soap, 20,000 litres of cooking oil, 30 tonnes of mealie meal, 20 tonnes of rice, 10 tonnes of clothes and grocery hampers for traditional leaders and the elderly.

"We thought we couldn't come empty handed and have brought to you these few things just to thank you for coming. More will be coming your way as this is just a demonstration of what is to come," she said as she presented the donations.

The goods will be distributed by the local leadership.

Mugabe appealed for sanity in the distribution of the goods.

"I appeal to our youths to help us distribute these things. Please, my wish is that we let the elderly and deserving people get their allocations first before anyone. We know there is a tendency for nepotism in these instances and that should not happen," she said.

As she presented the donations, Mugabe bemoaned the state of the textile industry saying importation of second hand clothes had killed the industry. "I personally don't like second hand clothes because besides destroying our economy, they come with diseases," she said.

The goods were distributed according to wards.

The district has 25 wards and has a population of about 40,000 people.