MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai attacked President Robert Mugabe’s woeful economy record Wednesday but the opposition leader may have shoved a foot into his political mouth by suggesting he missed Rhodesia and, possibly, insulting Lesotho as well.
Should he replace Mugabe and have to visit Maseru as Zimbabwe’s head of state, Tsvangirai will likely wish he had showed more diplomatic panache and nous after dismissing Lesotho as a land of nothing but donkeys and water.
Addressing party youths in Harare Wednesday, the former premier said under Mugabe’s inept charge, Zimbabwe had been reduced from number two economy in the region behind South Africa to the bottom of the lot.
“We were second in terms of economic growth after South Africa but now we are like Lesotho which only has donkeys and exports water to South Africa,” he said.
And in remarks that could also be seized by rivals who accuse him of dodging the draft to go and fight for independence against the racist Ian Smith settler regime, Tsvangirai said life was much better in Rhodesia.
“When I started work I was given $450.00 which was equivalent to the same amount in pounds. A dollar could buy 5 beers. We recall those days with nostalgia,” Tsvangirai said to applause from the delegates.
“During Rhodesia the country’s labor force was 60 000 in the textile industry, 70 000 in mining and 450 000 in the agricultural sector. What has gone wrong to sacrifice all those jobs?”…
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