Calls For Resignation As Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Delivers Same Speech Twice
In what some media in the country describe as a “howler,” Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe read the wrong speech in an opening session of parliament yesterday.
Ninety-one-year-old Robert Mugabe repeated the exact same 25-minute speech he gave during his State of the Nation address last month right through to the end, apparently totally unaware of the repeat.
Blaming the error on Mugabe’s secretarial office, presidential spokesman, George Charama said, “There has been a mix-up of speeches resulting in a situation where… the president delivered the wrong speech.”
“The mix-up happened in his secretarial office.”
“The error is sincerely regretted and corrective measures are being considered.”
According to The Guardian, the opening of parliament was also tarnished by the fact that opposition legislators claimed they had received anonymous death threats warning them against booing President Robert Mugabe during his latest speech.
Robert Mugabe read the wrong speech in Parliament from start to finish http://t.co/2TKZkyNlyk
— Indy People (@TheIndyPeople) September 16, 2015
Reportedly, in the last session, the opposition booed and heckled Mugabe during his address, which coincidentally is the same speech he has since repeated.
According to Innocent Gonese, chief whip of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), seven of the politicians had received SMS text messages warning them not to disrupt Mugabe’s speech. Gonese added that the messages came from an unlisted number and were titled “death.”
“It warns the members concerned to know that immunity ends at parliament and once they step out of parliament, that parliamentary immunity does not operate.”
According to Gonese the party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, is concerned about the threats made to its politicians and, after the error yesterday, has now called on Robert Mugabe to resign. They say yesterday’s error in the parliamentary session shows “he is too old” to lead the country any longer.
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe delivers wrong speech in Parliament http://t.co/MWw8VUERTB pic.twitter.com/Zs2qFgo2um
— NDTV (@ndtv) September 16, 2015
Obert Gutu, a party spokesman said, “This clearly goes to show that Robert Mugabe no longer has the requisite mental faculties that are needed for him to continue in office as the Head of State.”
“The MDC would like to call upon Robert Mugabe to immediately tender his resignation as the President of Zimbabwe.”
Bulawayo24 News reports Gutu added that the fact that he read the wrong speech in parliament yesterday is a “sure sign of senility and grossly failing mental and physical health.”
“Zimbabwe doesn’t deserve to be run by a nonagenarian President who, in fact, is long overdue for retirement.”
A parody Twitter account is having a field day with the latest news about Robert Mugabe.
Opposing MP’s have caused my speech to be yanked from State TV. People have lost their damn minds.
— Plaid Robert Mugabe (@Plaid_Mugabe) September 16, 2015
So I read the wrong speech in front of parliament, but my mind is still a steel trap.
— Plaid Robert Mugabe (@Plaid_Mugabe) September 16, 2015
As reported on the Inquisitr, Robert Mugabe was also the brunt of a worldwide joke earlier in the year when he fell down steps leading from a podium during a speech. Mugabe was unhurt in the incident, but insisted that journalists delete the photos they had taken of his fall.
However, video footage of Robert Mugabe’s fall, along with the various photos, went viral on the social media, with many funny memes being shared, and shortly afterwards, several guards working for the Zimbabwean president lost their jobs.
[Photo by Pool / Getty Images News]
