President Mugabe Tells Zuma to Silence his Advisors

{{Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has made an impassioned plea to his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma to silence a diplomat who has been vocal about the chaotic preparations for the country’s July 31 elections.}}

President Mugabe told a campaign rally Saturday that President Zuma must emulate his predecessor Thabo Mbeki who never criticised Zimbabwe in public during his tenure as a facilitator in talks between the country’s three major political parties.

The 89-year-old leader was angered by President Zuma’s international affairs advisor Lindiwe Zulu’s remarks last week that Zimbabwe’s election preparations were in disarray.

“May South Africa stop its negative voice; I appeal to Zuma to stop this woman from speaking on Zimbabwe,” President Mugabe said.

“We were given one facilitator with one mouth and that is President Zuma himself; that’s the voice, the only voice we want to hear.

“Yesterday, it was Thabo Mbeki who was facilitator and only his voice spoke, no other voice spoke.”

At the launch of his Zanu-PF party’s election manifesto a fortnight ago, President Mugabe described Ms Zulu as a loud mouthed street woman.

President Zuma is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitator on Zimbabwe and he has been pushing an election roadmap for the country that was rejected by Zanu-PF.

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