Mugabe to retire after elections: Tsvangirai

By Richard Chidza

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe is tired and will go into retirement after the next elections, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said. 

Tsvangirai said this yesterday while addressing family and friends gathered at the memorial service of co-Home Affairs minister Theresa Makone and his personal advisor’s daughter Nyarai who died in an apparent suicide last December.

“Let us go and vote. Those that are tired will go and rest; into retirement while the younger ones will take over,” Tsvangirai said in apparent reference to Mugabe. The Prime Minister said Zimbabwe has a bright future only if the next elections expected in July are peaceful.

“The way we are going to conduct the next elections will determine whether this country will go forward or backwards. We want peace and Mugabe called for peaceful elections yesterday and I want to support that.

“The future of this country is bright. Each time we identify a problem and seek solutions to it; that is an opportunity to move forward,” Tsvangirai said.

MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti who also spoke at the memorial service said the past 24 months saw many cadres die, but they would not question God’s wisdom.

“When I wake up every morning I can smell the aroma of change. It is all we can do for those that have left us including Nyarai, John Makumbe, Tichaona Mudzingwa, Seiso Moyo, Simangaliso Chikadaya and others.

“Zimbabweans have been fighting a holy war but it is coming to an end; we can see Canaan,” Biti said.

Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans to embrace different diseases and love their children suffering from such conditions as Bi-polar and epilepsy.

“It is time to accept our situation if we have one in the family. In the 1920s, tradition dictated that if twins are born one of them had to be killed. My father was a twin and one of them had to be killed.

“We do not need to do that now. People can live with conditions such as Epilepsy. My grandfather Chibwe, suffered from the disease (Epilepsy) and because tradition dictated that such people be burnt alive in a hut, that had to be done,” the Premier revealed.

Nyarai suffered from clinical depression for almost 10 years according to family members. Earlier this week an exhibition was held to showcase Nyarai’s works of art at which the Makones launched a benefit fund for parents and children suffering from Bi-polar disorder. Daily News