Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday opened a road named after him in Malawi, accusing those who criticise his human rights record of “speaking for their white masters”.
Cheered on amid heavy security, Mugabe cut a ribbon and unveiled a plaque to open the newly constructed road between Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre and the Mozambican border.
“It is a great honour to be recognised by the government and the people of Malawi in this sentimental way … [by having] a strategic road named after me,” the long-time leader told hundreds of onlookers and heavily armed police.
Malawian rights groups on Wednesday slammed the proposed naming of the road, which links Blantyre with the tea-growing region of Malanje in the south-east, after Mugabe, whose country is in the throes of an economic meltdown.
He lashed out at critics and rights groups who had protested to “naming a road after this hideous character called Robert Mugabe”. In making such criticisms, “blacks were speaking for their white masters”, he said
“How hideous he may be … Mugabe is 200% African, he does not belong in Europe, he is not British, he is not American,” he told the crowd, referring to himself in the third person.
“He is a true son of African soil and does not desire to live in Europe,” said Mugabe, who turned 82 earlier this year. He has been in power in Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980.
The Zimbabwean leader stressed that the new road was built by Malawians and not by the European Union, which funds most of Malawi’s road-development projects.
“Let us make sacrifices by setting aside money to build our infrastructure. It will go a long way in helping the economy to develop,” said Mugabe, whose own country is facing galloping inflation of over 900%.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, who invited Mugabe on the four-day state visit, said his country had honoured a “true son and true African hero”.
“Who else is more eligible to have this honour of a highway than Mugabe? If we cannot honour Mugabe, who are we to honour … Europeans we don’t know?” Mutharika asked.
He said his Zimbabwean counterpart deserved a “lasting legacy in Malawi” for his relentless war against colonial domination, not only in Zimbabwe, but elsewhere in Africa and the developing world. — AFP