Zimbabwe's president: I'm no British clone

November 19, 2013 01:55

Zimbabwe's longtime President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't want anyone to be fooled by his impeccable Western style of dress and his precise, teacherly use of English: He is African through and through.

"I am not British, I am not a colonial product because I am a complete Zimbabwean," he told graduates at Great Zimbabwe University near the remains of the 13th Century walled city, for which Zimbabwe, the former colony of Rhodesia, is named. Addressing the students earlier this month, Mugabe had typically harsh words for Africa's former white rulers.

"They think their right is to rob others of their resources," he said. But black Africans have the right to their own natural wealth and must "remain true" to local values after centuries of colonial rule that brought foreign cultures to the continent, he added.

The ascetic, austere Mugabe is a tough critic of the West, but he has been described as an anglophile and is known as a stickler for ceremony and detail. At the graduation, he wore a sash, robe and mortarboard, academic regalia used in some of Britain's most conservative universities.

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