Zimbabwe's government is hoping for better relations with the government of President-Elect Donald Trump, who defeated Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party, in Tuesday's general elections.
The message, conveyed through a statement issued by Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Chris Mushohwe, Tuesday, stated that the "it was Government’s hope that the new Trump regime would restore the sound relations that existed between Harare and Washington."
The statement further quoted Mushohwe saying that “Zimbabwe respects the wishes of the people of America. The American people have spoken and that is their wish and as Zimbabwe, we respect their wish. We can only hope that the new regime will foster a relationship that we always had with the USA.
“Zimbabwe has never had any quarrel with America and does not need to have any quarrel with America. The new government will restore our long time relationship that we have enjoyed with the American people. We can only be happy for the people of America who have made a choice and their choice is their democratic and constitutional choice, which we must respect.
“As a Government, we are quite happy listening Mr Trump’s acceptance speech. It was quite encouraging that he was talking about the need for America to cooperate and work with every nation that wants to work and relate with the American government,
“Indeed, Zimbabwe has never been an enemy of America. You know, of course, some people might say, oh, you know when you are campaigning (people), they say this and that but you must understand that when you campaign, it is part of politics. When you come into power, it becomes policy and what guides countries are policies and not politics.
“We are quite encouraged that the new regime is prepared to work and cooperate with any nation that needs to work with America. We can only wish them well. During campaign, you could see that he was even saying that he was going to take his rival (Hillary) Clinton to prison but this morning he was praising Clinton and Clinton in return was one of the first people to congratulate Mr Trump. That is what is good politics is all about and that is a demonstration of democracy at play.
“As Zimbabwe, we cannot pre-judge the new Government. It could actually be a better government than the previous government.”