African men are extravagant: President

He said while women worried more about taking their children to school, most African men were preoccupied with buying flashy cars and fancy suits. Contributing to the discussion at the Comesa Summit, President Mugabe said women in Africa were good at organising themselves into groups to form small to medium scale enterprises. “While it’s true that there is extravagance in Africa in utilising resources, it’s the male species that is extravagant.

“Females are absolutely careful. If they (women) were men, we would have long industrialised,” said the President to applause from the delegates.

He said during drought and economic challenges “women always make sure they provide for their families, but men are different”. President Mugabe said he would have been disappointed if the summit, whose theme is “Enhancing IntraComesa Trade Through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development” ended without discussing ways to assist women technically and financially to improve their businesses.

He said the summit should find ways of linking up women who would have formed small to medium scale enterprises with big businesses and also ensure that their finances were safe.

“We men are very bad. We buy Mercedes Benz, suits, shining portfolios and compete to see who has the most recent model of a car,” said President Mugabe.

“Women don’t speak that language. They ask themselves, are my children going to school?”

The President bemoaned the culture by most men of trying to get rich quick. He said it was not surprising that most businesses owned by men crumbled within a short space of time while others were forced into liquidation. “So, when we talk about extravagance, let us say African men, our own species, maybe that’s how we were born,” said President Mugabe.

“We don’t want to work together. At home we have educated men, but they would rather work for Europeans rather than come together and form their own mining companies so that we don’t repatriate our resources. I wish the culture women have could be the culture that men have.”

President Mugabe informed the summit that he brought Small to Medium Scale Enterprises and Cooperatives Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni so that she could benefit from the deliberations at the meeting.