PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said Friday that whites who are still in the country should go back to England as he vowed that those removed from land redistributed to black Zimbabweans would never be allowed to return.
Mugabe was speaking during the installation of a chief at Murombedzi Growth Point in his rural Zvimba home area.
"The West prefers a weak leader who, they hope, would allow the whites to come back," he said, speaking in Shona.
"They think if they intimidate us we will be cowed and allow the whites to come back; that will never happen.
"Don't they (whites) know where their ancestors came from? The British who are here should all go back to England.
"What is the problem? We now have aeroplanes which can take them back quicker than the ships used by their ancestors."
Mugabe, commended globally for his reconciliation policy after independence in 1980, now regularly rails against whites and western leaders.
He believes damaging sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States were aimed at punishing him for daring to right a colonial wrong by giving land to black Zimbabweans.
In July this year he also torched a storm after he declared that whites were no longer allowed to own land in Zimbabwe, adding that those who were allowed to remain following the controversial land redistribution programme must now be removed.
"We say no to whites owning our land and they should go," he said then.
"They can own companies and apartments in our towns and cities but not the soil. It is ours and that message should ring loud and clear in Britain and the United States."
Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa later moved to calm investor concerns over the remarks by claiming that Mugabe was misunderstood.
Meanwhile, on Friday Mugabe also warned black Zimbabweans against going into farming partnerships with whites.
The Zanu PF leader has been incensed by reports that some of the beneficiaries of his land reforms, including top ruling party officials, have been leasing the farms back to previous white owners.
"You have to stop bringing these whites back ... it's a dangerous, dangerous arrangement which we do not want," he said.
"If it's contract farming with companies that we know to be genuine we can accept that, but never with individual whites."
allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Go Back to England, Mugabe Tells Whites
Mugabe was speaking during the installation of a chief at Murombedzi Growth Point in his rural Zvimba home area.
"The West prefers a weak leader who, they hope, would allow the whites to come back," he said, speaking in Shona.
"They think if they intimidate us we will be cowed and allow the whites to come back; that will never happen.
"Don't they (whites) know where their ancestors came from? The British who are here should all go back to England.
"What is the problem? We now have aeroplanes which can take them back quicker than the ships used by their ancestors."
Mugabe, commended globally for his reconciliation policy after independence in 1980, now regularly rails against whites and western leaders.
He believes damaging sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States were aimed at punishing him for daring to right a colonial wrong by giving land to black Zimbabweans.
In July this year he also torched a storm after he declared that whites were no longer allowed to own land in Zimbabwe, adding that those who were allowed to remain following the controversial land redistribution programme must now be removed.
"We say no to whites owning our land and they should go," he said then.
"They can own companies and apartments in our towns and cities but not the soil. It is ours and that message should ring loud and clear in Britain and the United States."
Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa later moved to calm investor concerns over the remarks by claiming that Mugabe was misunderstood.
Meanwhile, on Friday Mugabe also warned black Zimbabweans against going into farming partnerships with whites.
The Zanu PF leader has been incensed by reports that some of the beneficiaries of his land reforms, including top ruling party officials, have been leasing the farms back to previous white owners.
"You have to stop bringing these whites back ... it's a dangerous, dangerous arrangement which we do not want," he said.
"If it's contract farming with companies that we know to be genuine we can accept that, but never with individual whites."
allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Go Back to England, Mugabe Tells Whites
