President Mugabe’s famous quotes

President Robert Mugabe fought to liberate Zimbabwe as well as oppressed Africans from a brutal and racist white rule and here are some of his views on Africa and fellow African leaders.“Nkrumah was a great African personality whose ideology must be preached to Africans irrespective of one’s political ideology.

After 44 years when Nkrumah called for a united government, some African leaders are still calling for a gradual approach.

The time for a union government is now,” he said in 2001 while addressing a mini-rally at Old Polo Ground ( Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum), Ghana.

President Mugabe on the bombing of Libya by Nato “They seek to kill Gaddafi. They have in fact deliberately killed some of his children. Now when they do that deliberately, it is exactly what the Taliban and Al-Qaeda do – what is the difference in terms of what they [Nato] are doing?

That’s why I say Nato is now a terrorist organisation as well. If it defies international law it has no rules and goes out blatantly wanting to kill – that’s brazen murder, assassination, who then can respect it as a law-abiding organisation?”

President Mugabe on failure by African leaders to honour Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, for his role in liberating the continent.

“I want to say, when all honour has been showered on heroes in Africa, the man who has been humiliated is Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. “There we are, liberation movements, there we were – depending on the resources in Tanzania. But there has been nothing said about this man and his country at the OAU (Organisation of African Unity). (Kwame) Nkrumah (of Ghana), yes, he had that support”,” he said in 2014.

President Robert Mugabe in 2012 hailed former Zambian president, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, saying it was his inspiration and that of other statesmen like Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana that yielded in the liberation of the African continent.

“This is our great man (Dr Kaunda), greater than no one else in this region, together with the likes of Julius Nyerere.

“They are the greatest of us all. We all followed, (Nelson) Mandela followed and (Sam) Nujoma of Namibia followed the footsteps of these men. So it is your duty not to suppress your great men, let us raise them, and not just sing praises to the likes of Napoleon.”

President Mugabe in 2013 called for a “president for a United States of Africa”.”We need a president for Africa, that is what we are going to discuss at the AU summit. Africa is not a united continent.

“We are not at the stage our founding fathers wanted us to be when the organ was formed. We have groomed ourselves into that kind of understanding and I think our elections are going to be very friendly in the sense that there will be a political fight, but it will be a fight in the knowledge that we belong to each other,” he said.

President Mugabe in his acceptance speech as chair of the African Union (AU), said: “African resources should belong to Africa and to no one else, except to those we invite as friends. Friends we shall have, yes, but imperialists and colonialists no more.”

President Mugabe shrugging off concerns rein as African Union chairman would harm relations between the pan-African bloc and the West.

“What the West will say or do is not my business. My business is to ensure the decisions we take here are implemented. My concern is on uplifting the life of our people, giving them something that will raise their standard of living. For more than 10 years I have been under sanctions, my country has been sanctions.

“If they want to continue it’s up to them but these sanctions are wrong. If Europe comes in the spirit to cooperate and not the spirit to control us and control our ways, they will be very welcome,” he said.

President Mugabe on Rhodes. “We in Zimbabwe did not know about Rhodes until South Africa said they had someone called Rhodes in Cape Town who was prime minister of the Cape, and who in that mischievous way wanted our country Zimbabwe under his control.

“But not just his control. So, well, you may have this statue, because that’s where he began. But he came to us and wanted to be buried and we have him down below in the Matopas because that is where he wanted to die. He was a strange man .So we are looking after the corpse and you have the statue. I don’t know what you think we should do. Dig him up? Perhaps his spirit might rise again, what shall we do?”

President Mugabe on Cde Mandela: “Mr Nelson Mandela’s renowned and illustrious political life will forever remain a beacon of excellence. Not only was he a great champion of the emancipation of the oppressed, but he also was a humble and compassionate leader who showed selfless dedication to the service of his people. He will forever remain in our minds as an unflinching fighter for justice.” President Mugabe on Southern Africa dependence on foreign aid “Our continued over-reliance on the goodwill of our co-operation partners compromises our ownership of SADC,” he told the meeting. Our region has abundant resources which instead of being sold in raw form at very low prices must be exploited … to add value to the products which we export,” he said.

On African infrastructure and value addition: “We need to continue, and perhaps redouble, our current collective efforts in this sector. The road and power projects that we are developing are a positive step in our quest to improve African infrastructure. If the present practice of exporting our minerals in their semi or raw form continues, Africa will continue to have people without employment, who languish in extreme poverty,” President Mugabe said. President Mugabe on xenophobic attacks in South Africa: “… We abhor the incidents that happened in Durban where some five or six Africans were burnt to death deliberately by some members of the South African Zulu community. We understand it was a protest against the influx into South Africa by citizens of neighbouring countries.

“The act of treating other Africans in that horrible way can never be condoned by anyone and whether these are followers of Zulu king Zwelithini or the followers of some other misled members of the South African community, we say on our own behalf and on behalf of SADC as indeed the African Union, that must never happen again, South Africa or any other country.”

President Mugabe on the United States and Britain and its allies for trying to control Zimbabwe and her resources: “Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies. “Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources.