In 2004, Mugabe lashed out at the country’s former colonial power Britain in an annual address to his ruling African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) saying:
“Regime change, Mr Blair? Who are you? Who are you to talk of regime change in Zimbabwe? One of us, by what connection sir, do you hear me? Ancestral connection? And who were these ancestors, can we know? No, Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. And only Zimbabweans can determine who shall rule them and who shall not.
“Whether there is a situation here of political order, of lawlessness, violation of the rule of law, violation of human rights, lack of democracy, our neighbours would know that better than the British government. They steal (indistinct word) the American administration. It is our land, ancestral land, our sacred land, never an extension of Britain.”
