Kudos for Robert Mugabe on Africa Day

Son of African soil...Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe

AFRICANS across the continent celebrated Africa Day with nostalgia for the continent's great leaders past and present who have stood eyeball to eyeball with the West in defence of their people's right to self-determination.
Among that rare breeed of leaders signled out was Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe whom, the people said was being targetted for refusing to be a western lackey.
South Africa's Limpopo province Premier Cassel Mathale was quoted by News24 warning African leaders to protect themselves from Western politicians "who view the continent as a tool to perpetuate imperialist agendas".
Mathale, who was addressing delegates during the Africa Day celebrations held in Bela Bela on Wednesday, applauded Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi as leaders who fought against Western oppression.

"In this regard, we salute Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Agostinho Neto, Eduardo Mondlane, Ahmed Ban Bela, Modibo Keita, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Seretse Kgama, Kenneth Kaunda, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Goven Mbeki, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Krumah, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere, Amilcar Cabral, Colonel Gaddafi and Kgotsikgolo Moshoeshoe, among others," he said.

Mathale said it was unfortunate that some of these leaders were assassinated by Western-sponsored forces.
The people of Ghana where President Mugabe lived during the first years of the struggle for independence and later married local woman Sarah Heyfron, strongly believe the veteran politician is the best leader in Africa with some tellling local radio station Voice of the People that he was sent by the Almighty to lead Africa.
This came to light when Radio Vop correspondent visited some parts of Ghana a few days before the Africa Day holiday on May 25.
The Ghanaians did not hide their love for Mugabe who turned 87 in February.
Villagers in the Kokbite Village located about 30 kilometres outside the Ghana capital Accra told Radio Vop that Mugabe is misunderstood.
"People don't understand that man," said Annan Bedi, who works at the AB's Royal Hotel in the Kokbite Village.
"He challenges the white man, he is a strong man, just recently he went to Rome and we heard they wanted to block him but they failed."
The villagers said those who say he must go should think twice because Africa still needs him.
"You think we are happy here in Ghana? Look at the poverty that we have here but when you are coming from outside you think everything is alright because you just go to Accra and never visit other areas," said Annas Kuffour, a cook at the AB's Royal Hotel adding that he wishes Mugabe was the President of Africa.
"He is a great man, greater than Gabriel Haile Selassie, I have travelled and worked in many African countries including Libya and I can tell you I know what I am talking about."
Asked why they love Mugabe with such passion. One female villager who works at another beach-side hotel retorted: "He is our son-in-law, he married here in Ghana."
In Cape Coast, a town located in the centre of Ghana, where the late Zimbabwean first lady, Sally Mugabe, was born are of the opinion that Mugabe is a victim of international pressure.
"He is doing what he is doing because he is under pressure from the west.
"They know he is telling the truth about what they did in Africa and would want to silence him with sanctions," said a resident of the Cape Coast.
The Cape Coast is a historic slave trade exit point. This is where Africans who were taken into Europe as slaves were shipped into Europe.
"The whites were cruel and when they come back to Africa they pretend as if they love Africans yet all they want is our resources.
"They killed us and this Cape Coast Castle bears all the evidence," said another resident showing a group of African journalists who were in Ghana for an investigative journalism workshop being run by an international broadcaster whose broadcasts have helped propel uprisings around the world particularly in Egypt, Tunisia and the Arab North.
The Ghanaians are not alone in believing that Mugabe is the best leader in Africa. Many Africans who have refused to be swayed by Western propaganda also hail President Mugabe as the best leader in Africa.