Mugabe at SADC conference

from IPS News:



Mugabe delivered the keynote address at SADC’s 30th birthday bash on Aug 17 in the Namibian capital. "When I was a young man teaching in Ghana, the growing of cocoa used to be big. The cocoa would go to Switzerland and chocolates - so very nicely wrapped - would come back," reminisced the Zimbabwean president.

At the heads of state summit that preceded the bash, Mugabe was not chastised for ignoring the 2008 finding of the regional SADC tribunal that land be returned to 78 white farmers. Rather, the summit resolved to review the "role, functions and terms of reference" of the regional court.

During his address, Mugabe wondered about the continent’s inability to add value to its exports: "How can we fail even to manufacture one chocolate ourselves today?"