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Harare Bureau
President Mugabe has dismissed claims that he has powers to manipulate elections saying he is subject to the laws of the country like anyone else.
The President said this at a Press conference at State House in Harare yesterday attended by local and international journalists ahead of the elections today.
Responding to questions from the journalists, President Mugabe dispelled the accusations that have been levelled against him and his party that they were manipulating the electoral processes.
“I don’t have the power. Are you giving me the power now? If you give me the power, I will say no I don’t need it. I have the law in my country. It is the law that manipulates us all. I don’t control the electoral process, I comply with and obey the electoral law and I move in accordance with the demands of the electoral process that is moving in accordance with the law as set.
“That is the electoral law. I am very obedient. I am a lawyer myself, I am also a person who believes in order. I have been brought up obeying father and mother, obeying systems, obeying customs, obeying elders and that’s it,” he said.
The President said even when they did not agree with views by some observers that the 2008 elections were marred by violence, they had nonetheless agreed to form a coalition with the MDC formations to enable the holding of new elections. “We accepted when Africa said we should redo the elections, that was obedient to the views of others and compliance with the thinking of others which the majority think, we should redo our elections and we agreed to redo them.
We together sat here to establish an inclusive Government, we agreed to work together and we were working together right to the end and we were not law breakers,” he said.
Cde Mugabe thanked all the political parties for the peaceful campaigns but reserved particular praise for Zanu-PF candidates and wished them well in the polls. “On behalf of my own party I would want to take this opportunity to thank all members, leading members of my party for the very important and very energy sapping exercise that they undertook in organising our campaign.
“I believe we ran a successful campaign. I believe the campaign also showed us that the people still support the principles of Zanu-PF and believe in Zanu-PF. I want therefore as I thank them to wish all those who are candidates every success,” he said.
He also commended the MDC formations.
“I would also want to thank other parties big and small, the MDCs and their leaders for what was a joint exercise, a joint appeal to our nation for peace, for a fair and violence free campaign.
“There might have been a few incidents here and there but those of you who were with us from the beginning of the campaign to this day you will have noticed that our meetings, the interactions, were very peaceful indeed and we owe this to the decision we undertook all of us to emphasise the need for a peaceful process, all of us the principals, the three principals, it’s not just the President alone.
It’s the President, Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister (Arthur) Mutambara and even the Cabinet.
“So we went out and told the people that this is a national election, a national election which is really an opportunity for our people to go out and cast their vote for the party of their own liking and I am glad this has paid dividends and we do hope that we remain this way even after the elections,” President Mugabe said.
The President acknowledged that there had been a few challenges in the run up to the elections but said he hoped everything would go on smoothly today.
“There have been a few hitches here and there but one of the hitches was the delay in the delivering of voter registers and we got them late. I suppose this had to do with the printing and whatever other hitches those who handled the printing exercise and the distribution of it had to overcome.
That has been overcome now so I am told and all stations and all those who should have the registers now have them and we do hope that as the voting starts tomorrow, these registers would be at all stations and will enable the process to start and start being regulated and regulated in the normal way,” he said.
Cde Mugabe also said he would hand over power if he were to lose the elections.
“That’s a normal thing if you go into a process and join in a competition well there are only two outcomes, win or lose. You can’t be both, you either win or lose. If you lose then you must surrender to those who have won. If you win then those who have lost must also surrender to you, this is it, we will do so yeah, comply with the rules,” President Mugabe said.
He expressed confidence that Zanu-PF will win the elections and said the new Government’s policies would be underpinned by the indigenisation and empowerment policies with particular attention to resuscitating the manufacturing sector.
Cde Mugabe said Zimbabwe was open to restoring normal relations with the West if sanctions imposed on the country are lifted.
He said the stand-off between Zimbabwe and the West only arose after Britain, the country’s former colonial master, reneged on an independence pledge to fund land reform, forcing his government to go it alone and acquire the farms from white farmers.
“We are not there to make enemies, we are there to make friends and if the British people are open to friendship, we do not hate them, we actually like them. We have said that,” he said.
“So there it is, yes sure we will have that friendly disposition, that readiness to work together with those that imposed sanctions on us yesterday provided they remove the sanctions of course. So we are not a hostile people, never!”
Asked about his opinion on threats by Western countries not to endorse today’s poll as free and fair, President Mugabe said their opinion on Zimbabwe was warped.
“Well, first their creed is not our creed. What they believe in is not always what we believe in, their judgment of us is always the judgment of a superior who would want to impose his authority on you. That is what we fought. We are a revolutionary country, a revolutionary people and we have our own decisions, we can make our own decisions.
“We are masters of our own destiny. We do not listen to Europe and say what Europe says is what we do, quite the contrary because we know from experience that what they say is almost what we would never say nor want to hear so we would say well keep your own views to yourselves if you do not like our elections, if you do not want the result of our elections, then it is up to you, we will go ahead sanctions or no sanctions but do not interfere in our own country.
“If they want to be friendly, we are open, we have never said they were enemies, it is they who have made us enemies not the opposite,” said President Mugabe. — Harare Bureau/New Ziana
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