PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday mocked Botswana leader Ian Khama for his unenthusiastic attitude towards campaigning for Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, who wanted to succeed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as African Union chairperson.

Venson-Moitoi failed to reach the required two-thirds majority of votes to be elected chairperson before another round of election was called, where she failed to land the position.

Mugabe, while introducing Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi in Pretoria at the Bi-National Commission yesterday, said Venson-Moitoi lost because Khama didn’t do much to support her.

He said everyone else had put up a spirited fight to support Venson-Moitoi only to be let down by Khama.

“They tried again yesterday and it was another lady from Botswana, but you know with Dlamini-Zuma, Africa had no problem,” Mugabe said while commending Mumbengegwi for supporting Venson-Moitoi.

He said Dlamini-Zuma enjoyed the support of many as compared to Venson-Moitoi.

“We worked hard. They worked hard, sweated, they sweated, you sweated, we sweated, (but) one man didn’t sweat. He stayed at home and expected that wonders would happen and they didn’t happen. We were very sorry, everybody just said: ‘Aah, you. We have not seen your President here. He doesn’t attend our meetings and what would happen if we placed our organisation in your hands, in his hand? So sorry, lady’.

“She worked hard. She was very sorry to lose, we were sorry also, but we knew in advance that we were trying a very impossible one,” he said before bursting into laughter.

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Mugabe is in the habit of throwing jibes at other Presidents whom he doesn’t agree with in terms of policy.

His relationship with Khama has been frosty since the days he accused him of supporting the country’s main opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Recently, he has been attacking South Africa over its alleged pursuance of white capital monopoly against the black majority.