SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
The African Union will convene a summit on the Zimbabwe election on Friday, after the continental leadership bloc was petitioned by the MDC formations.
This was revealed by Robert Mugabe at a rally in Marondera on Monday, where he vowed that the elections will take place despite the AU summit outcome or the MDCs’ objections.
“They (the MDCs) have taken the matter to the AU, which used to be our OAU (Organisation of African Unity), so we have sent (Justice Minister Patrick) Chinamasa to be prepared on the 19th of July. They want to postpone elections, but that will never happen with the absolute deceitful British who are supporting that,” Mugabe said.
He said: “The MDCs are afraid of their deeds which they showed in the past five years. Some of them had lost their constituencies, but we allowed them into the transitional government that we thought would last for 18 months. They kept on saying they wanted reforms first, but now they have taken the matter to the AU.”
Mugabe went on to voice his usual anti-British rhetoric, dismissing the possibility of what he called a ‘British-sponsored transition’. ZANU PF has insisted for years that the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is sponsored by the British, who he accuses of using the opposition party has ‘puppets’ for regime change.
“You can do whatever you want. Your nonsensical talk about transition in Zimbabwe — there can never be any transition from the rule of our people to any other. There will be no change to the powers we gave to the people in 1980. There will never be that nonsensical transition. Keep it to yourself. Filthy aggressors, leave us alone,” Mugabe said.
Meanwhile, an African Union (AU) observer delegation will be in Zimbabwe 10 days before the July 31st poll. The AU said last week that former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo will lead a team of 60 AU monitors to Zimbabwe for the election. In a statement, the AU said the monitors — drawn from African NGOs and member countries — will work with nine observers already on the ground.
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