Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party called South African cleric Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu a ”sellout” on Tuesday, for saying that Zimbabwe made a mockery of African democracy.
The Nobel Peace laureate made the remarks in a weekend newspaper article, prompting senior Zanu-PF officials to respond with a stinging rebuke.
Calling him a ”vassal of imperialism”, according to The Herald newspaper, Zanu-PF administration secretary Didymus Mutasa told Zimbabwean reporters: ”Archbishop Desmond Tutu should be mindful that worse democracies exist in Africa than in Zimbabwe.
”If he were to put his clerical mind on this, and pray to the real God and not to his false gods [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair and [United States President] George Bush he would know that the democracy we have in Zimbabwe is second to none as it was secured through precious blood.”
Describing Tutu as ”an embittered little man,” Mutasa went on to claim that Tutu ”prayed for white minority interests”.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s presidential spokesperson George Charamba, commenting on the likelihood of a fact-finding mission by South African opposition leader Tony Leon said, ”Tony Leon coming here? What do we need racists for? We ousted them a long time ago and they have no constituency here.” – Sapa