…The money Germans and Queen’s sons stole coming back
Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – barely two weeks after saying whites know better than blacks, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sensationally ordered his lieutenants to treat well the whites saying the country needs more from them.
Mnangagwa was speaking during the launch of the French Development Agency partnership with the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe at the Great Zimbabwe monuments World Heritage Site which has seen the former releasing three million Euros towards the development of the site.
“We want to develop here with the money we are going to continuously get. I was telling Kazembe Kazembe (Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage) that they should treat these whites well so that more money will come and we can build more infrastructure here like hotels among other things,” said Mnangagwa.
He further corroborated what had been said by his deputy Constantino Chiwenga who had said the whites stole gold and other treasures from the heritage site but are now returning the money through funding programmes.
“They have brought three million Euros. Chiwenga said the Germans and the Queen’s sons came here and stole from us, now the money is coming back and the three million is part of it,” he said.
Mnangagwa also said the partnership was a result of an engagement between him and a French delegation.
“When then the Second Republic got into office, the French president sent his delegation three years ago. We gave them a number of things they could do but they said the history of Zimbabwe was not being upheld and we want to start there, that’s why we are here,” said Mnangagwa.
The president said the partnership between the French Development Agency and NNMZ will go a long way in enhancing the realization of our country’s tourism recovery and growth targets.
The partnership will see FDA helping NMMZ in developing infrastructure at the heritage site, documentation of history, promoting local and foreign tourism as well as local people’s involvement.
A few years ago the American Embassy pledged funds targeted at providing digital monitoring equipment at the monuments as well as the clearance of the invasive Lantana Camara at the site and surrounding area.
The signing ceremony was attended by the French ambassador to Zimbabwe Laurrent Chevallier who said it was a great honour for him to be there saying the event represented a new and positive step for a partnership between Zimbabwe and France.
