Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is once again speaking about his hatred of homosexuality as he campaigns ahead of the July 31 election. At a rally last week, Mugabe told thousands of supporters that Zimbabwe would never accept homosexuals, whom he descried as “worse than pigs, goats and birds,” reports Zimbabwe’s Newsday. “If you take men and lock them in a house for five years and tell them to come up with two children and they fail to do that, then we will chop off their heads.”
Mugabe went on to say that some African countries had been pressured by Western nations to accept homosexuality in exchange for aid. Homosexuality “seeks to destroy our lineage by saying John and John should wed, Maria and Maria should wed,” Mugabe said. “Imagine this son born out of an African father, [President Barack] Obama says if you want aid, you should accept the homosexuality practice. Aah, we will never do that.”
This is hardly the first time Mugabe has attacked gays in political speeches. The Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe recently sent a letter to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission complaining of Mugabe’s “continued use of hate speech,” noting he had attacked gay people at seven political rallies in July, reports SW Radio Africa.
