Robert Mugabe tells opponent: ‘Go hang yourself’

Supporters of presidentelect Robert Mugabe sing and dance during a Heroes Day celebration in Harare. Picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

In his first public speech since the 31 July poll which he officially won by more than one million votes, Mr Mugabe said yesterday: “Whoever is unhappy with the result, that’s your problem. Hang yourself if you want to. We don’t care.”

The long-time leader was speaking to crowds in the capital, Harare, celebrating National Heroes’ Day, which honours those who died in the 1970s war for independence.

He added: “We are delivering democracy on a platter. We say take it or leave it.”

On Friday Mr Tsvangirai launched a court challenge to the election results, citing multiple cases of vote-buying, bribery, electoral roll manipulation – and the 200,000 voters “assisted” to cast their ballots because they were allegedly illiterate, elderly or blind. The case will be heard over the next two weeks.

The UK, United States and the European Union say the polls were not credible, but Mr Mugabe has been bolstered by the approval of the African Union, the regional SADC bloc and allies China and North Korea.

In a vitriolic attack on Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party, Mr Mugabe said: “Even when they die, the dogs won’t even bother to sniff at their corpses.”

Militias loyal to Mr Mugabe killed more than 200 opposition supporters during the last elections in 2008, when Mr Tsvangirai won the first round.

The MDC boycotted yesterday’s celebrations, which were held at the National Heroes Acre, where Zanu-PF dignitaries – and Mr Mugabe’s first wife, Sally – are buried.

Mr Mugabe can only be sworn in for his seventh term in office after the election challenge is heard. But the Constitutional Court is heavily biased and is unlikely to order a rerun.

Mr Mugabe, 89, has been in power in Zimbabwe since 1980 and is believed to be suffering from advanced prostate cancer.

Yesterday he began his 45-minute speech haltingly but soon picked up and appeared to speak with relish.

In his speech, he thanked his security forces for their “hard work”. The MDC says hordes of police recruits were bussed into at least 28 constituencies to vote on polling day.

Mr Mugabe refused to reform the security sector ahead of the poll despite his obligations under a coalition agreement negotiated by SADC and signed after the 2008 election. The heads of the police and army had vowed not to serve under Mr Tsvangirai if he won.

One banner displayed at the event at the North Korean-built Heroes’ Acre shrine showed the party’s clenched fist salute and declared: “July 31. The day we buried imperialism.”

More than 30 MDC supporters are reported to have fled their homes in rural Muzarabani, 105 miles north of Harare, since the election, after being targeted by Zanu-PF supporters. Yesterday the MDC leader called for calm, saying Zimbabwe was “a nation in mourning”.

In a statement published in the local paper Newsday, Mr Tsvangirai said most Zimbabweans were “still shocked at the brazen manner in which their vote was stolen”. He added: “We must all remain calm as we celebrate Heroes’ Day. I know that we will always be a heroic people.”

Mr Mugabe’s former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, yesterday accused Britain and white backers of the MDC of planning to “foment violence and chaos” in the country. However, there have been no public protests so far.

State media this weekend also launched a new attack on the MDC leader, publishing private text messages allegedly sent by his second wife of less than a year, Elizabeth Macheka, to a former lover in January. The correspondence appears to show the pair have rekindled a relationship. A spokesman for the MDC said Mr Mugabe was trying to divert attention from the stolen election result.