Mugabe's 'undiplomatic angry outbursts against other world leaders killed Zim', says MujuJoice Mujuru
Joice Mujuru
Cape Town – Former Zimbabwean vice president Joice Mujuru has reportedly taken a swipe at her former boss President Robert Mugabe, saying that he was responsible for all the problems currently faced by Zimbabwe.
According to The Standard, Mujuru, who was now the opposition National People's Party (NPP) leader, said that Mugabe's "undiplomatic angry outbursts against other world leaders", had resulted in the southern African country being isolated from the rest of the world.
Mujuru said this during a campaign rally in Gutu over the weekend.
Zimbabwe was set to hold its presidential elections in 2018.
"We have leadership bankruptcy in Zimbabwe. This is the biggest problem in Zimbabwe… The words that you speak will make your neighbours want to come and build with you but if they hear that the words that you say are not for progress they will leave you. They will leave you to where we are now as a country, to where Mugabe and his party Zanu-PF have taken us to," Mujuru was quoted as saying.
Mugabe, 93, has on several occasions blasted the West, accusing its leaders of seeking to provoke "illegal regime change" by crippling his country economically.
The EU imposed sanction on Mugabe more than a decade ago in protest against rights abuses and flawed democratic processes.
The nonagenarian has led Zimbabwe since 1980 when the country attained its independence from Britain.
A New Zimbabwe.com report said that Mujuru also distanced herself from the past atrocities, which she claimed were committed by Mugabe's government and the ruling Zanu-PF that she was once part of.
Mujuru was kicked out of the ruling party after Mugabe's wife Grace, launched a campaign against her, accusing her of instigating factional fighting and plotting to topple the veteran leader.
Mujuru, however, denied the charges.
President Robert Mugabe
Mugabe's daughter, priest, appointed to censorship board
Harare - President Robert Mugabe’s only daughter Bona has been appointed to the country’s Censorship Board, which determines which parts of steamy films the people of Zimbabwe can watch and which they can’t.
To help her in this task is Mugabe’s longstanding friend and confidante, Father Fidelis Mukonori, who is a Roman Catholic priest, and former education minister Aeneas Chigwedere, who was sued by his son two years ago for allegedly practising witchcraft and “possessing goblins”.
Another well-known name on the board is Charity Charamba, the police spokesperson.
Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo said while Zimbabwe’s constitution guaranteed freedom of expression, the Censorship Act gave powers to the board “to ensure that these freedoms are reasonably limited so that they do not infringe on other people’s rights”.
“In today’s environment where there is heightened scrutiny by members of the public, internet and social media use, you are going to be faced by many challenges in administering the act,” Chombo said, in quotes carried by the official Herald.
The new board will hold office for five years. Chigwedere, the new chairperson, will replace Heyi Malaba who is 96. Malaba’s board famously demanded heavy editing of Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie based on the EL James novel. Some movie theatres refused to screen the edited version.
Zimbabwe’s pole dancers, known for their risqué performances, are also monitored by the board. Probably the most famous of them, Bev Sibanda, was fined $100 three years ago for breaching the Censorship Act after photos of one dance session were deemed by the censorship board to be “indecent”.
But with elections a year way, there will be fears that the new-look Censorship Board will also be used to clamp down on Zimbabwe’s vibrant social media, which doesn’t spare Mugabe and his government from robust criticism.
A report by the state broadcaster, the ZBC, gave a hint of that when it said: “The new board of censors… will have a mammoth task in carrying out its mandate as there has been rampant abuse of social media while also taking into consideration that general elections are set for next year.”
SOURCE:news24.com
