MDC Statement on Mugabe Kalanga remarks

Mugabe's statements about Kalangas are nauseatingly tribalistic, divisive and extremely hurtful. From the estimated 3.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa as a result of his government's failures, it is a shame that he chooses to single out Kalangas as being responsible for crime when he does not have proof to back it up. To have a whole President of a country spew such bigotry against a particular tribe is unfortunate to say the least.

One of the major duties of a State President is to uphold the national constitution. Mugabe does not need to be reminded of this basic role as President of Zimbabwe. The preamble of the constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe starts with the following statement "We the people of Zimbabwe, United in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equity, and our heroic resistance to colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression…".

He further does not need to be reminded that this nation-state is made up of diverse ethnic, linguistic, religion, regional and cultural groupings. All Zimbabweans, including Kalangas pay taxes where he personally draws a salary and allowance and a very heavy medical care and unprofitable travel bill. He is number one civil servant who must respect citizens for the sacrifices that they made to the liberation of the country and its continued sustenance. We all came into this world empty handed and will likewise return empty handed. Ill-gotten wealth and power must not intoxicate to a point of forgetting one's duties and accountability to the people he is supposed to serve. In a normal democracy, the tribalistic statements he uttered yesterday and in the past would have led to censure and recall.

Mugabe must be reminded that he and his party are the prime culprits in the mass exodus of Zimbabweans from the southern parts of this country  a result of a genocidal wave which he says was a 'moment of madness' and has the liberty of scornfully laughing at the survivors and victims of that political misadventure. As we speak, there are, thousands of children of bona fide citizens massacred by the regime, who are not documented in Zimbabwe as a result of that 'moment of madness'. Some of the people who are in South Africa left this country as a result of the same moment of madness and find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

If he was prudent president Mugabe would have been worrying about leaving behind a respectable legacy and a 'united nation'. Sadly, he has made it his personal business to endow this nation-state with abject poverty, emasculated and economically strangulated citizens. He clearly does not want to be written in the annals of history as a nation-builder but a merchant of divisive politics which saw the birth of ZANU-PF and the betrayal of the revolution. This would have been a golden opportunity to correct that mistake, but he has constantly and consistently squandered it.

As MDC we will continue to fight for a better for all and remain genuine in our call for the eradication of all forms of discrimination including gender, sex, race, tribe, place of origin and religion in order to build a free and fair Zimbabwe.