With military officials to his right and government officials to his left, Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, addressed the nation on live television this evening. “Military officials share their concerns about Zimbabwe with me in good faith,” he said, adding that criticisms against the ruling ZANU-PF party by high officials gave way to the current political situation inescable.
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“We are a nation born out of a protracted struggle for national independence,” Mugabe said, adding that the goals and ideals of the struggle against “those who occupied and oppressed us” continue to “guide” our “collective legacy across generations and times.”
He went on to say that that ZANU-PF was failing in its own rules and regulations and that the era of arbitrary decision-making must be “put behind.” The party's official congress will take place next month and Mugabe announced that he would preside over it.
“We all embrace a new ethos,” he said.
As to the political turmoil facing the country over the past few days, Mugabe emphasized that the military command element remained “respectful, faithful to the constitution.” He added that he was happy that “throughout the short period, the pillars of state remained functional.”
Mugabe reiterated that that Zimbabwean government remains “committed to promote social, material conditions of people” and as of tonight the entire nation “gets refocused, as we put shoulder to the wheel.” He went on to exhort his compatriots to move forward, “reminding ourselves of our wartime mantra.”
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After having been imprisoned for over a decade by colonial forces, as well as being prohibited from attending the funeral of his three-year-old son, Michael Nhamodzenyika, Mugabe helped lead the Chimurenga Bush War from Mozambique to oust former president Ian Smith and his white minority government.
He'd come under fire from western countries for reclaiming land to distribute more equitably among his compatriots.
In an article published in the Daily Telegraphy newspaper, British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson, decried former Prime Minister Tony Blair's "betrayal" of the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement, which, in recognizing Zimbabwe's independence and plans to redistribute land, promised a white farmers compensation package to be paid by Britain.
By 2013, despite the British government's “shameful part,” Boris wrote, in withholding the white farmer's compensation, Mugabe had lived up to his end of the bargain, expropriating or confirming for redistribution most of their land. The United States had imposed a credit freeze on Zimbabwe way back in 2001. The European Union followed suit in 2002 by imposing sanctions in the form of an asset freeze and travel ban. The measures led to a major trade deficit and adversely affected the country's healthcare system.redistribution.