Mugabe to Root Out Gays
Zimbabwe
Standard, July 2, 2002
P O Box 661730, Kopje, Harare, Zimbabwe
Fax: 263 4 773941
Email: clive@zimind.samara.co.zw
http://allafrica.com/stories/200207020677.html
By Walter Marwizi
President Robert Mugabe, embarrassed by allegations of homosexuality
levelled at members of his administration, has ordered a witch hunt to flush
out gays and lesbians in his government, The Standard has learnt.
Official sources told The Standard last week that Mugabe, who caused
outrage among homosexuals worldwide—including gay rights activist Peter
Tatchell—by describing them as "worse than dogs and pigs", issued
the order for the crackdown on "sexual perverts" two weeks ago.
"The president made it clear that the world would see him as a
hypocrite if he attacked British Prime Minister Tony Blair for having a
cabinet full of gays when these very same people are said to be in his
administration. He indicated that Mugabe had long been advised that everyone
who wined and dined with him was of the ‘right’ sexual orientation,"
said the sources.
Mugabe has, in the past few years, openly paraded his deeply entrenched
hatred for homosexuals attacking them relentlessly over a practice he
considers repugnant.
During the March presidential election, an embattled Mugabe, facing
criticism from Britain and other western nations, turned the heat on Blair
calling him a "gay gangster" and blasting him for having homosexuals
in his cabinet.
At many of his country-wide rallies Mugabe actually boasted that his own
cabinet was full of amadoda sibili (real men) who could distinguish between
"Adam and Eve and Adam and Steve." Little did the veteran politician—whom
critics say has lost his grip on his beleaguered administration to young
opportunists handpicked for his government in July 2000—realise that hardly
two months after the presidential poll one of his worst nightmares would
become a reality—one of his right hand men would be accused of involvement
in a homosexual relationship.
Testifying in the High Court last month, MDC legislator Job Sikhala said he
had heard of a rumoured homosexual relationship between Moyo and Alum Mpofu,
the disgraced former chief executive of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC), while the two were still in South Africa.
At that time of the alleged affair, Moyo was a lecturer at the
Witwatersrand University while Mpofu was a researcher at the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
Moyo, however, dismissed the allegations as mischievous saying he had only
come to know Mpofu when he attended an interview at the ZBC last year.
"Mugabe’s order leaves no sacred cows. Everyone in government from
junior ministers like Jonathan Moyo to vice president Simon Muzenda is under
the microscope. It is clear that anyone who is caught on the wrong side will
go. Mugabe is uncompromising on that matter," he said.
Dr Nathan Shamuyarira, the Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity
told The Standard that the position of the party on the matter of homosexuals
was clear.
"Our position is very clear. It has been spelt out by the president
and the central committee on several occasions," said Shamuyarira who
however said he was not aware of a witch hunt in government.
Last month, MPs from both Zanu PF and MDC called for a probe into
allegations of homosexual tendencies said to be prevalent at the state-run
broadcaster.
The allegations surfaced when Mpofu, whose appointment to the ZBC had been
sanctioned by Mugabe, following a recommendation by Moyo, was caught in a lewd
act with another man at Tipperary’s night club in Harare. Mpofu resigned in
disgrace a few days later following the publication of the scandal in The
Standard.
A month later, a disc jockey with 3FM, Kevin Ncube, was fired from ZBC
after a man claimed he had tried to sodomise him. Ncube is still to face
trial.
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