The New Age Africa
Robert Mugabe to black Zimbabwe citizens – You Will Appreciate Me More When I Am Gone
#Zimababwe ‘s President Robert Mugabe chants Zanu PF slogans with supporters gathered at the Harare International Conference Centre in Harare, Wednesday May 3, 2000. Mugabe launched the Zanu PF’s election manifesto which bears the slogan “Land is the Economy and the Economy is Land”. (AP Photo/Christine Nesbitt)
My fellow Zimbabweans, I am writing this letter and hope that all of you will read it and share it.
My days on this earth are numbered, but I know that once I am gone, you and your children will never forget about me.
I want you to understand that the reason I have stayed long in power, 36 years on, is because I want to empower all of you my fellow black Zimbabweans. No other president in the entire continent of Africa has done what I have done for you, but you continue to take me for granted.
Do you know that in the whole of Africa, Zimbabweans are the only blacks who own their land? We are the only blacks who own and run means of production, we own our own companies, our own land. That is the true meaning of independence. Political and economic independence.
I have fought tooth and nail my entire political life to ensure that all of you have both political and economic independence. I don’t hate white people, no, not at all. What I hate is their thinking that they are better than us, that they can just come to our country and take our resources and our land, and tell us what to do. To that I say no.Today, I am happy that almost all the land is in black hands.
It is up to you to use the education I gave you to develop the land so it is productive so you can feed yourself. One thing I am proud of is that I worked hard to ensure our natural resources and our land was given back to its rightful owners: you the black people of Zimbabwe.
Go to other countries in Africa. Right here just across he Limpopo, in South Africa, Mandela sold out and gave all the land and economy to the whites. The blacks in South Africa will be slaves to white South Africans forever. As long as land is not in the hands of its rightful owners, the Africans, the black man will continue to suffer in his own land.
The real wealth is now in your hands, I wrestled it away from the white people who came to steal it from you. Yes, the world was angry at me and punished the whole country with sanctions, but I don’t care because I know I was doing the right thing. I was empowering my people. You.
Take care of the land and the industries I have you.
I did my part, the ball is now in your court. Do your part.
You will remember me and appreciate me for what I have done for you when I am gone.
Your president and leader
Africa for Africans.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe