Mugabe, Tsvangirai at national shrine
2010-01-19 13:00
President Mugabe briefly returned from his annual leave to bury the
widow of veteran nationalist Leopold Takawira who was declared a national hero
and interred at the national shrine in Harare yesterday.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai made his second official
appearance at the Heroes Acre and was accompanied by his two deputies, Arthur
Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe. Mugabe’s two deputies, Joyce Mujuru and John
Nkomo also attended to complete a rare public appearance of the country’s entire
top executive.
Mugabe, who made an unusual departure from his traditional attack
of Britain and the West, took most of his speech to recall the works of the late
Amai Sunny Ntombiyelanga Takawira and to relive the life of her husband, the
legendary Takawira who died in prison in colonial Rhodesia.
His speech would however have been incomplete without mention of
the ‘white outsiders’ and Zimbabwe’s sovereignty.
Mugabe said ‘outsiders’ were welcome in Zimbabwe only if they were
coming to partner Zimbabweans in the exploitation of the country’s resources for
the benefit of Zimbabweans.
“The destiny of our country is in our own hands. Outsiders, yes we
need, but only to the extent that they want to partner us in exploiting the
country’s resources for the development of Zimbabwe and its people.
“Our country’s interests come first and Zimbabweans must be
prepared to defend those interests. The country’s sovereignty is non-negotiable,
and the unity of our people remains paramount in all our endeavours.
Ministers and officials from Tsvangirai and Mutambara’s parties
made conspicuous appearance leaving analysts wondering if Mugabe and his two
protagonists had finally agreed on the contentious criteria for choosing
national heroes.
The former opposition leaders had always complained about Mugabe
using his party’s supreme governing body, the politburo, to unilaterally decide
on who was to be declared a national hero.
This had been presented as one of the
reasons why Tsvangirai’s attendance at the national shrine was not always
guaranteed.
- SAPA