Robert Mugabe Quotes

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Robert Mugabe Quotes

This is a verified list of Robert Mugabe's quotes on Gukurahundi, succession, homosexuality and life.

On Homosexuality

"Homosexuals are worse than dogs and pigs; dogs and pigs will never engage in homosexual madness; even insects won’t do it."

- Mugabe after his government shut down a book exhibition by Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe at the Harare International Book Fair in 1995.[1]

We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no. They are worse than dogs and pigs. I keep pigs and the male pig knows the female one.

– ZDC radio interview, 2015[2]

We equally reject attempts to prescribe ‘new rights’ that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs. We are not gays!

– UN General Assembly, 2015[2]

On Succession

"I have people in mind who would want to be. But I have looked at them. I have not come to any conclusion as to which one, really, should be. I leave it to the choice of people. Perhaps when we get close to the election I will have some in mind."

- BBC documentary: Robert Mugabe @ 90 (2014)[3]

"Grooming a successor, is it an inheritance? In a democratic party, you don’t want leaders appointed that way. They have to be appointed properly by the people."

-TV interview, 2016[2]

"They want me to stand for elections; they want me to stand for elections everywhere in the party. The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, successor, who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am. The people, you know, would want to judge everyone else on the basis of President Mugabe as the criteria.

- 93rd birthday ZBC Interview, February 2017 [4]

On Britain

"What has happened to Britain? They have grown small in mind, small in intellect, that wisdom which the likes of Churchill had, where is it? You can’t see it at all. You can’t see it in people now with gay habits – shame on them. I pity the one lady I admire, the Queen, that she is in these circumstances. I’m sure down deep she must be groaning (at) the loss of values in Britain. They’ve gone to the dogs. No respect, gone.

- BBC documentary: Robert Mugabe @ 90- 2014[3]

Britain is a very cold, uninhabitable country with small houses.

Mutare rally, 2013[2]

We are still exchanging blows with the British government. They are using gay gangsters. Each time I pass through London, the gangster regime of Blair ‘expresses its dismay’.

– Reference to an incident in which human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell attempted a citizens’ arrest on Mugabe during a visit to London in October 1999[2]

On Imperialism

We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood … So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe.

– Earth Summit, South Africa, 2002

On Gukurahundi

"It was a moment of madness."

- Mugabe speaking during the burial of Joshua Nkomo in 1999[1]

On Politics

"The military has no right you know, to be interfering with the political processes. Theirs is to support. They can give their own views within the constitution and according to the principle that politics shall always lead the gun and not the gun politics. That will be a coup. The gun should not lead politics but politics the gun that is the principle."

-Mugabe addressing Zanu PF's Women's League 2017[5]

"Our votes must go together with our guns. After all, any vote we shall have shall have been the product of the gun. The gun which produces the vote should remain its security officer – its guarantor. The people’s votes and the people’s guns are always inseparable twins."

-Mugabe in Geneva 1976[6]

"As you and I are able to judge, the people no longer appreciate empty slogans and hollow speeches. They want us to talk about things that are meant to improve or sustain lives."

-Mugabe 1992[6]

On Women

"Whenever I think of the virtues and the indomitable spirit that epitomizes the African woman, I am reminded of the heroines across the African continent, who stood up against the forces of colonialism and occupation."

-Speaking at the 25th AU Summit in 2014[7]

On Death Rumours

"I have died many times. That’s where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once. I have died and resurrected and I don’t know how many times I will die and resurrect."

-Mugabe on rumours of his death in 2012[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mugabe’s Quotable Quotes, The Zimbabwe Independent, Published: September 6, 2019, Retrieved: March 16, 2021
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Robert Mugabe’s most famous quotes, Al Jazeera, Published: September 6, 2019, Retrieved: March 16, 2021
  3. 3.0 3.1 Zvamaida Murwira, President speaks on succession, The Herald, Published: April 21, 2014, Retrieved: March 16, 2021
  4. Alan Cowell, Robert Mugabe, Strongman Who Cried, ‘Zimbabwe Is Mine,’ Dies at 95, New York Times, Published: September 6, 2019, Retrieved: MArch 16, 2021
  5. No place for army in politics, President Mugabe declares, The Chronicle, Published: July 28, 2017, Retrieved: March 16, 2021
  6. 6.0 6.1 Percy Zvomuya, Have Mugabe’s own words come back to haunt him?, Al Jazeera, Published:November 16, 2017, Retrieved: March 16, 2021
  7. Women are special breed, there’s no task which women cannot do - President Robert Mugabe, African Union, Published: June 14, 2015, Retrieved: March 16, 2021

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