It’s ‘mine,’ Mugabe says
President Robert Mugabe declared that “Zimbabwe is mine,” saying that only Zimbabweans can remove him from power and that no African nation was brave enough to wrest it from him.
“I will never, never sell my country. I will never, never, never surrender,” Mugabe told members of his ZANU-PF party. “Zimbabwe is mine. I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British.”
He was cheered by flag-waving supporters at an annual three-day convention in the town of Bindura, 60 miles northeast of Harare, the capital.
Mugabe, 84, has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from Britain and refused to leave office after disputed elections in March.
The U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs said this week that questions about how much longer Zimbabwe could withstand hunger, disease and political stalemate before disintegrating ignored that “there is a complete collapse right now.”
“We think that the person who has ruined the country . . . that he needs to step down,” Jendayi Frazer said.
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