{"id":9578,"date":"2013-08-23T09:30:15","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=9578"},"modified":"2013-08-23T09:30:15","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T09:30:15","slug":"mugabes-inauguration-a-victory-against-big-western-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=9578","title":{"rendered":"Mugabe’s inauguration ‘a victory against big Western powers’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Flag-waving<\/a>
Flag-waving Mugabe supporters on 13 August 2013 in Harare (AFP file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Reagan Mashavave<\/p>\n

Veteran Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hit out at “vile” Western critics as he was sworn in for another five-year term Thursday in a stadium packed with jubilant supporters.<\/p>\n

Festooned in a sash, garland and medals, the 89-year-old dismissed accusations the July 31 election that returned him to power was rigged and vowed to rejuvenate the foreign-dominated banking and mining sectors.<\/p>\n

Mugabe’s 33-year rule since Zimbabwe’s independence has been marked a drive to transfer foreign-owned and white-owned assets, including farms, to blacks.<\/p>\n

“I promise you better conditions,” he told the 60,000 capacity crowd of supporters at a stadium in Harare.<\/p>\n

“The mining sector will be the centrepiece of our economic recovery and growth. It should generate growth spurts across sector, reignite that economic miracle which must now happen.”<\/p>\n

Mugabe’s inner circle has faced decades of international sanctions over rights abuses, and the veteran leader said he expected the punitive measures to continue.<\/p>\n

“Most likely we shall remain under these sanctions for much longer.”<\/p>\n

“We continue to look East,” Mugabe said lampooning, Western countries which have called into question the legitimacy of his election victory.<\/p>\n

“We dismiss them as the vile ones whose moral turpitude we must mourn,” he said venting against Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n

Former colonial power Britain called Thursday for an “independent investigation” into the conduct of the election, which Mugabe officially won by a landslide.<\/p>\n

Unlike previous low-key investitures, Thursday’s event — replete with banners, flags and chants — carried strong echoes of Mugabe’s inauguration as prime minister of a newly independent Zimbabwe in 1980.<\/p>\n

A no-show by many leaders from neighbouring countries — including President Jacob Zuma of regional power-broker South Africa — did little to dampen enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Neither did a boycott by opposition leader and former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who insists the July 31 vote was stolen.<\/p>\n

Mugabe was greeted in the stadium by thunderous cheers and whistling. On board a military truck he inspected assembled military personnel.<\/p>\n

Gates to the Chinese-built stadium, the venue of Mugabe’s inauguration as president in 1987, opened shortly after dawn.<\/p>\n

The day was declared a public holiday, helping boost attendance.<\/p>\n

“Mr Mugabe, you are one of a kind,” sang a group of supporters slamming the sides of the minibus taking them to the stadium, while others waved fists as drivers honked their horns.<\/p>\n

“It is a great day for Zimbabwe and the world will come to a standstill today,” said Alfred Tome, the Harare provincial administrator and spokesman for the organisers.<\/p>\n

A concert will include artists from South Africa, Zambia and Jamaica –whose iconic singer Bob Marley played at Zimbabwe’s independence event.<\/p>\n

Banners around the oval stadium carried messages praising African leaders and denouncing Western governments accused of meddling in Zimbabwe’s political affairs.<\/p>\n

“Which African ever observed elections in Europe, America?” read one banner. “Africa has spoken, respect it’s voice,” said another.<\/p>\n

The inauguration had been delayed after Tsvangirai challenged the poll results — which he denounced as “massive fraud” — in a petition to the Constitutional Court that was later withdrawn.<\/p>\n

Among a series of complaints, Tsvangirai queried the suspiciously high number of voters who were turned away from polling stations in urban areas, which are considered opposition strongholds.<\/p>\n

He also charged that his party’s supporters in rural areas were intimidated by Mugabe party backers into feigning illiteracy and voting in the presence of police and election officers.<\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court confirmed Mugabe as president and declared the elections “free, fair and credible”, saying the results “reflected the free will of the people of Zimbabwe”.<\/p>\n

‘Farewell event for Mugabe’<\/h4>\n

Eldred Masunungure, a political scientist from the University of Zimbabwe, said the event was at once Mugabe’s victory lap and his “last supper”.<\/p>\n

“This inauguration is being projected as the crowning of a victory of a struggle for the past 13 years against big Western powers,” he said.<\/p>\n

There is however also an “unintended meaning”, he said. “It can be read as a farewell event for Mugabe. It reminds one of Jesus’s Last Supper.”<\/p>\n

The electoral commission declared Mugabe winner with 61 percent of the vote, against 34 percent for former prime minister Tsvangirai.<\/p>\n

The vote ended a shaky power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai four years ago to avoid a tip into all-out conflict following a bloody presidential run-off election in 2008.<\/p>\n

Local observers judged the elections flawed and Western powers have raised serious doubts over the vote.<\/p>\n

But regional groupings the Southern African Development Community and the African Union were less critical. – AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Reagan Mashavave Veteran Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hit out at “vile” Western critics as he was sworn in for another five-year term Thursday in a stadium packed with jubilant supporters. Festooned in a sash, garland and medals, the 89-year-old dismissed accusations the July 31 election that returned him to power was rigged and vowed … Continue reading “Mugabe’s inauguration ‘a victory against big Western powers’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,123],"tags":[144,5451,2457,179,4720],"class_list":["post-9578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world","tag-china","tag-east","tag-inauguration","tag-robert-mugabe","tag-west"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Mugabe_supporters_13Aug2013.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9580,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9578\/revisions\/9580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}