First Lady, Grace Mugabe Remarks On #Shutdown Zimbabwe

First Lady, Grace Mugabe reportedly said yesterday she feared Zimbabwe could slip into ruckus similar to the uprisings that toppled dictators in North Africa.

Grace told a Zanu PF Harare inter-district meeting that Zimbabweans must learn from countries such as Libya and Iraq and stop entertaining forces that might lead to chaos. Libya and Egypt were part of the countries affected by the so-called Arab Spring, a period of a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests that ignited civil unrest in many countries to force their leaders out of power.

Pastor Evan Mawarire, #This Flag founder  has called for another round of stayaways on Wednesday and Thursday to force President Mugabe’s government to address their demands. The First Lady was at pains to persuade Zanu PF members not to join the protests.

She said that people were lied to that Iraqi’s Saddam Hussein was bad and had weapons of mass destruction and now there was no peace in that country anymore also former British Prime Minister Tony Blair must go for trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the chaos that erupted in Iraq after the death of Hussein. Ironically, some Zimbabweans feel her husband should be dragged to the ICC for his role in the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.

”Let us not be hoodwinked by our detractors because we know there are some governments that don’t like us and they will give money to sponsor a stay away, If we embark on a stay-way they would be busy manufacturing and their economies prospering yet things will halt in our country. If we calculate how much we lost through the stay away you will be surprised how much we lost,” she said.

She added that they should not allow people who want to destroy them to come between them and do things without applying their minds fully. She is happy that a lot of people just stayed in their houses without engaging in violence.

Grace defended the government’s decision to ban the importation of certain goods arguing the country could not continue being a consumer economy saying small to medium enterprises should be fully supported and that Zimbabwe needs to jump start the manufacturing sector so that they manage to create employment and build the economy.

”We cannot be a consumer economy, no, we cannot be buying from other countries to promote their economies, People should understand that. This ban is the only way we can create employment. We need the manufacturing sector to be working. We cannot allow Zimbabwe to be a supermarket economy,” she said.

Grace also admitted that Zanu PF erred by allowing houses to be demolished. In Harare alone, hundreds of houses were demolished by Harare City Council. Last year Mugabe ordered the demolition of houses along Airport road. But Grace said all that was irrational.

She added that such issues are clear example that people are sleeping on duty. There are people sleeping on duty.

”We know most Councillors in Harare are MDC-T but why do we let (demolitions) to happen. We should take blame, I am also a builder and I cannot have a property I sweated for being demolished by a bulldozer. Are we building or destroying the party. We don’t want to pain each other to such levels,” said Grace.

Grace urged Local Government minister, Saviour Kasukuwere to take heed and ensure that demolitions were not done again and described demolitions as unfair especially considering that the majority of people were struggling to build the houses.