- Efforts to persuade Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika to stop naming Midima Road after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe who is expected to arrive in the country this Wednesday will not materialise because government cannot withdraw his invitation letter, The Chronicle has learnt.
Sources say Mutharika personally invited Mugabe to ask him not to engage in verbal war with the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (US) who Mugabe accuses of dictating matters in his ‘sovereign’ Zimbabwe.
At one time, Mugabe described the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a slave girl, a remark that did not go down well at Capital Hill in US and the diplomatic world.
“It would have been very easy for government to stop him from coming if he had asked to come to Malawi, but because he was invited, government cannot write another letter cancelling the invitation,” said the source. Foreign affairs minister Davis Katsonga confirmed that the government invited Mugabe.
Katsonga said Malawi has all reasons to honour Mugabe because, he said he is a freedom fighter.
“Mugabe…is a fighter of Zimbabwe freedom. Mugabe is a true son of Zimbabwe although he can have his weaknesses just as Kamuzu was. Kamuzu was not perfect at all, he was not! And that cannot stop us from honouring him. Above all, his country is keeping over four hundred thousand Malawians. We can feel the social turmoil that can befall us if we frustrate Mugabe, we cannot allow that to happen to Malawians apparently residing in Zimbabwe,” said Katsonga.
Katsonga said there is nothing wrong for Malawi and Zimbabwe to hold bilateral talks.
Minister of Information and Tourism Patricia Kaliati, said reasons advanced by civil society pressing government to cancel Mugabe’s invitation because of his alleged human rights abuses in his country are irrelevant to Malawi’s situation because, she said, Malawi and Zimbabwe are in the same region and shares a lot in common including culture and traditions.
“We are not restricted from associating with any country or any person because with Zimbabwe, we are neighbours and share a lot in common and there is no way Malawi can shun Zimbabwe, why? You never know, may be Malawi can help Zimbabwe to get in good terms with Britain and other countries. It is possible Malawi can play a role by persuading Mugabe in a way to think of reviving his country’s relationship with other countries,” said Kaliati.
Mugabe is accused of forcibly taking land from white farmers to give to his supporters, a move experts say has worsened food and economic crisis in the once bread basket of the Sadc region.
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