The Morgan Tsvangirai-led opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Friday strongly condemned President Robert Mugabe’s move to donate 300 cattle to the African Union (AU) Foundation.
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said the president was well aware that Zimbabwe was gripped by a severe drought which has already claimed thousands of cattle while millions of people need food assistance.
At the end of his tenure as AU chairman, President Mugabe promised to donate the cattle as a way of dissuading the African continent from over-reliance on western donations, which he claimed came with strings attached.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Friday that AU deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha arrived in the country Thursday to receive the beasts, which were sourced from well-wishers.
Gutu told Studio 7 they were dismayed by the president’s choice that he likened to that of a father rushing to extinguish a fire about to destroy a neighbor’s home while his granary is already in flames.
“It’s difficult to challenge (this move), you can’t even go to court to say why did President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party decide to give cattle to the AU, but it’s like a father or a mother who, instead of feeding their own starving children go next door to provide food to the children of the next household,” said Gutu.
