President Robert Mugabe granted an interview to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour today – his first interview with a Western news agency in years. Mugabe spoke to Amanpour while he was in New York attending the UN General Assembly meeting. The interview yielded many choice soundbites. Here are a few of my favorites:
He denied that Zimbabwe is in economic shambles, saying it grew enough food last year to feed all its people. Which is interesting because the World Food Program is busily feeding 1.8 million people in Zimbabwe and Malawi is busily selling maize to Zimbabwe because it needs to import food to feed its citizens.
In refuting criticisms leveled against his government’s policies by Bishop Desmond Tutu, Mugabe said “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, the little man.” Hmmm. The Nobel Peace Prize committee might refute that assertion.
“Elections don’t go all that smoothly all the time in many countries,” he said. “Look what happens elsewhere. They didn’t go smoothly here, look at what happened during the first term of Bush.” Ok. Valid that elections don’t always go smoothly. However, if you are going to point specifically at the Bush/Gore contest as your comparative example, you might want to think again; because even though many of us were pretty darn unhappy with how things went down, there are some very stark differences between Zimbabwe in 2008 and the US in 2000.
First, not going “smoothly” is probably a pretty good description of events in the US whereas it masterfully understates events in Zimbabwe. In the time between the actual vote and the final determination of who won, people were not killed, tortured and sexually assaulted in the US in an attempt to create an atmosphere of political intimidation.
Second, our political stand off was resolved by the US Supreme Court and ended with a peaceful transfer of power (whether we wanted it or not). In Zimbabwe, Mugabe had his arm twisted into a power sharing agreement and then signed that agreement with his fingers crossed behind his back.
Now I’m not ever going to say that things are all sweetness and light and wonderful in the US, but I do think Mugabe could have come up with a slightly better comparison if he wanted to make a point that elections don’t always go “smoothly.”
You can watch the interview here and respond in our comments section with your favorite moments.
Well, sounds like the guy's got nothing, and he knows it. So all he can do now is lie, smile and hope people don't check their facts.
Well, sounds like the guy’s got nothing, and he knows it. So all he can do now is lie, smile and hope people don’t check their facts.
I have lived in this country for the last 4 decades. The place is a disaster zone.
I have personally seen the the results of the leadership of this man. I have seen the torture victims and the people that are struggling to find the most basic food that is required to survive.
We no longer produce the food that we require for the population and have not done so for many years. The number of people that are been fed is greater than what has been stated in the article above.
If you enter the supermarkets you will find all that you need but at 4 to 7 times the price in South Africa. When the minimum wage is less then 40 USD a month, it is not possible for the general laborer to do much more then buy food.
The man is lying ( this is normal) and at the same time blaming all others for the problems that exist in the country to keep the attention of himself and his cronies.
I have lived in this country for the last 4 decades. The place is a disaster zone.
I have personally seen the the results of the leadership of this man. I have seen the torture victims and the people that are struggling to find the most basic food that is required to survive.
We no longer produce the food that we require for the population and have not done so for many years. The number of people that are been fed is greater than what has been stated in the article above.
If you enter the supermarkets you will find all that you need but at 4 to 7 times the price in South Africa. When the minimum wage is less then 40 USD a month, it is not possible for the general laborer to do much more then buy food.
The man is lying ( this is normal) and at the same time blaming all others for the problems that exist in the country to keep the attention of himself and his cronies.
Robert Mugabe is a snail of Africa, my heart really goes when I think of those poor Zimbabweans. I am Zimbabwean living in England and I used to live in Harare, I must say that my country has been ruined by world's biggest terrorist which is Mugabe, look at the exchange rate, poverty, economic conditions of Zimbabwe. When I think about it my heart really goes, I wonder why Mugabe does not let citizens of Zimbabwe decide the future of the country and also Mugabe must realize that he is in power since last 30 years his mind is getting old and he cannot think the same as young generation can think, so he must resign for the better of Zimbabweans. Cheers
Robert Mugabe is a snail of Africa, my heart really goes when I think of those poor Zimbabweans. I am Zimbabwean living in England and I used to live in Harare, I must say that my country has been ruined by world’s biggest terrorist which is Mugabe, look at the exchange rate, poverty, economic conditions of Zimbabwe. When I think about it my heart really goes, I wonder why Mugabe does not let citizens of Zimbabwe decide the future of the country and also Mugabe must realize that he is in power since last 30 years his mind is getting old and he cannot think the same as young generation can think, so he must resign for the better of Zimbabweans. Cheers
@ eric i dnt thnk u knw wat u sayng.1stly hw do u xpect theppl 2 hev ol e basic needs they want yet the development has been slowed down by the so called SANCTIONS.growing food for the whole nation is our wish and our goal as a nation but how can we archieve it yet there is global warming causing continous droughts not only in Zimbabwe but other countries as well.Who caused the global warming?!??thats the question to ask.wel mostly the western world.
@ jonathan f are a TRULY ZIMBABWEAN so why did you leave the country.if he is a terrorist so why did he even sacrifice his own life to liberate the country.the guy spent eleven years of his life in jail yet you do not appreciate.the guy has struggled for this country to be better at this day.you want zimbabwe to be better than it is today yet you are not here to develop it.you are developing some other nation.zimbabweans have to go back to the colonial era because that is where the young ones want it to go