Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday called for unity with the opposition as he led tens of thousands of mourners in paying tribute to the country’s late vice president, Simon Vengesayi Muzenda.
Muzenda, who was buried in a state funeral broadcast live on national television, died on Saturday aged 80, after being hospitalised for months for diabetes and hypertension.
”Unity of our nation is vital … unity in a directed manner towards the attainment of certain goals, on the basis of certain fundamentals,” said Mugabe.
In his salutations, Mugabe recognised the presence at the Harare ceremony of over a dozen opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmakers, city mayors and municipal councillors.
”To our friends from the MDC who are here, we say to them, you are welcome, you are Zimbabweans,” Mugabe said in a sharp contrast to his usual reference to opposition members as puppets of Britain.
”We are sons of the soil together, and sons of the soil should behave like sons of the soil, [and] not rise against each other,” he said.
Differences could always be resolved internally, and not in ”[Britain’s Prime Minister Tony] Blair’s home”, he added.
Mugabe, who has previously accused the MDC of being bankrolled by the former colonial power Britain, has recently toned down his vitriol against the party that has posed the most serious challenge to his political career in independent Zimbabwe.
Wednesday was the second time he spoke of unity. In August he told the opposition to repent if they wanted to seek unity with his government.
Muzenda was buried with full military honours including a 19-gun salute and a fly-past by MIG-23 fighters over his grave at the country’s shrine, set aside for heroes of the country’s war of independence.
The government declared three days of national mourning starting on Wednesday.
Flags have flown at half-mast since Muzenda’s death, while most regularly scheduled programmes on national television and radio have been replaced by special shows dedicated to the veteran nationalist and Mugabe ally.
The funeral was attended by vice presidents of Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Tanzania.
South Africa and Zambia were represented by Cabinet ministers. — Sapa-AFP