Yesterday, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe read the wrong speech during the opening of parliament. The 25-minute long speech was previously read during a State of the Nation event in August.
George Charamba, the president’s spokesman, while responding to the social media backlash yesterday, said measures were being taken to correct the situation. Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa submitted the correct speech two hours later, due to demands from opposition MPs for an apology for the mix-up.
#MugabeWrongSpeech trended on Twitter yesterday…
The Twittersphere has turned #Mugabewrongspeech into a reason why #RobertMugabe should step down. @SITHOLEEXPRESS http://t.co/QuOX6irK0K
— mailandguardian (@mailandguardian) September 16, 2015
#MugabeWrongSpeech. that awkward moment when the world’s most educated president reads the wrong speech for 25min — morris jambaya (@morrisAmaru) September 15, 2015
#Mugabe did not give the wrong speech. It was just so good he had to give it twice. #Mugabewrongspeech
— Delme Cupido (@delme_cupido) September 16, 2015
A hunt has reportedly begun for the culprit(s) involved in the mix-up that led to yesterday’s embarrassing situation for Africa’s longest serving leader.
In a reaction to the blunder, a member of parliament, Nelson Chamisa, opined that the issue was a serious dent on the public image of the president as well as the country. “This is a fatal issue of sovereignty and we cannot tolerate this kind of mistake, where a wrong speech is given to our President,” he said to NewsDay.
“As MPs, we have to make sure we get to the bottom of this matter. To ask the VP to come back to Parliament to debate issues that were supposed to be done is criminal and those people responsible should account for this legislative foul. Heads are supposed to roll.”
“If we do not punish these people, the President will be coming with wrong speeches from the Heroes Acre to Parliament. The President cannot be abused to that extent. This is an international story. It is going to kill tourism because we are talking of no ordinary person, but about the African Union chairperson”.
