President Robert Mugabe says he will not handpick his successor, pointing out that evidence on the ground indicated that the majority of Zimbabweans did not feel there was an acceptable candidate at present.
In a wide-ranging interview with the ZBC-TV ahead of his 93rd birthday, President Mugabe also spoke about his US counterpart Mr Donald Trump, saying while he was surprised that the Republican won last year’s elections, he had hoped Democrat rival Mrs Hillary Clinton would lose because of her leading role in getting Washington to put sanctions on Zimbabwe.
President Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924 and his 2017 official birthday celebrations will be held in Matobo, Matabeleland South on 25 February.
In his traditional birthday interview — which will be broadcast on ZBC-TV today and tomorrow — President Mugabe brushed off calls by people like South African opposition leader Mr Julius Malema for him to step down.
President Mugabe said: “Do you listen to anything from Malema? Who is Malema? The call to step down must come from my party; my party at Congress; my party at Central Committee. (In such circumstances) I will step down.
“But then what do you see? It’s the opposite. They want me to stand for elections, they want me to stand for elections everywhere in the party . . . Of course if I feel that I can’t do it anymore, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now I think I can’t say so . . .The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement; (a) successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am.”
The President was asked if he was grooming a successor and he responded: “A successor is groomed by the people. Those around you can get the confidence of the people as they operate around you, and gain the confidence of the people, you see,” said the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
President Mugabe also said Zanu-PF was always primed to win at the polls, adding that he said he was not losing sleep over the talk of a grand coalition (between his former Vice President Joice Mujuru and opposition icon Morgan Tsivangirai) as it amounted to an amalgamation of weaknesses.
Turning to ‘prophets’ who prophesy his death, President Mugabe said: “So-called prophets, why don’t you say prophets of doom? They are prophets of doom who prophesy what really are their wishes. They turn their wishes into prophesies, or dreams perhaps, but hardly any (prophecies).
Turning to Mr Trump, President Mugabe said the world should wait and see how his policies unfolded.
“I was surprised by his election, but I didn’t like Madam Clinton to win either. You see, I knew she could slap sanctions on us as a legacy. Indeed (former US president Barrack) Obama did that just before he left. Why did he have to do it?… Why didn’t he leave it to the incoming incumbent to make his own decision? We are just now under sanctions imposed not by Donald Trump, but by Obama. What arrogance is that?
“I don’t know. Give him time. He might come up with better policies,” said the President; adding that Mr Trump might even re-look the sanctions on Zimbabwe.
