White Zimbabwe Cabinet Minister Bemoans Racism

By Staff Reporter

Zimbabwe’s only white cabinet minister, Senator David Coltart has accused his black colleagues in cabinet of promoting racism by making ‘shocking’ comments about whites even in his presence during cabinet meetings.

The Education, Sport and Culture Minister posted a message on his Facebook wall saying “It is wrong to paint any race or ethnic group with a single broad brush because there are remarkable white people out there who are deeply committed to the concept of a multi-racial, truly democratic Zimbabwe.”

Coltart said “I am constantly amazed by the frequency with which a broad brush is used, so often in a deeply offensive manner in Zimbabwe. I think in Cabinet, sometimes, colleagues forget that I am there because the comments made by some about whites in general, are on occasions shocking.”

On Friday The Patriot newspaper owned by Zanu PF loyalist Supa Mandiwanzira claimed that racism by whites has endured three decades in the country and that Zimbabweans have been giving each other “plastic smiles” that tried to conceal the deeply-rooted brutality of past white rule.