Mugabe in anti-West, anti-gay rant at inauguration

Mugabe took his oath of office before ZANU PF loyalist Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

The main opposition party, the MDC-T, boycotted what it termed “a robber’s party” after Mugabe rigged his way to victory

SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa said after dispensing with the rituals of assuming office, Mugabe went on to address his favourite topic – attacking the west for what he called their dishonesty and refusal to accept the outcome of the July 31st poll.

“SADC, COMESA, the African Union, the ACP, the United Nations as well as many nations of good will have praised the elections here,” Mugabe said.

“We welcome this positive spirit, this encouragement which should see us do even better, move forward faster as a nation. But like in all elections, there will always be bad losers, real spoilers, it is a price we pay for electoral democracy, isn’t it?

“For those old western countries who happen to hold a different negative view of our electoral process and outcome, well there is not much we can do about them. We dismiss them as the vile ones whose moral turpitude we must mourn.”

Mugabe further stated that Zim elections are meant for “Zimbabwean voting citizens”, and not the west.

More than a million eligible Zimbabweans failed to vote in the recent polls, among many other irregularities. Civic groups and the MDC parties have dismissed the poll as having been rigged and therefore illegitimate.

But African countries have said these are not enough to completely discredit Mugabe’s victory and endorsed the poll as free and credible, although they carefully avoided using the word ‘fair’.

Mugabe also reserved part of his speech to attack Zimbabwe’s gay community, calling homosexuality a “filthy, filthy disease, punished in the bible.”

During the election campaign season, Mugabe continuously uttered hate-filled statements against homosexuals, whom he said should be beheaded.

The bash saw free fizzy drinks and food from fast food outlet Chicken Inn being distributed, with the crowd also receiving T-shirts emblazoned with Mugabe praise messages.

There were also promises that the current water problems bedevilling most of the country’s major cities would end with the announcement of a new cabinet.

Despite ZANU PF having been in power since 1980, with Mugabe at the helm, nothing has been done to address the perennial water shortages in Bulawayo, with basic infrastructure collapsing across the country.

A banner at the stadium clearly spelt out the hard line stance that Mugabe is going to continue to take against the west.

"It's Africa versus Europe with Zimbabwe as the new battlefront". – SW Radio Africa