Published time: 9 Feb, 2017 12:10
© Markus Lange / www.globallookpress.com
A Zimbabwe official had some stern and rather unusual words for the US embassy after it criticized the African country’s human rights record, telling the State Department officials they can “go and hang on a banana tree.”
Presidential spokesman George Charamba delivered the message on Tuesday, according to Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper.
He went on to denounce US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr.
“He thinks he can boss over us,”said Charamba, adding “they go and hang on a banana tree,” according to The Herald.
Charamba also branded the US ambassador “a leftover from a terrible era,” apparently referring to past US administrations that have had tumultuous relations with Zimbabwe’s long-time leader, Robert Mugabe.
This unique way of telling Thomas, or any other American critics, to buzz off, came after the US embassy in Harare had expressed concern about what it called the “continuing deterioration” of human rights in Zimbabwe.
“The US Government unequivocally believes in the basic right to freedom of speech and calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to respect the human rights of all Zimbabwean citizens which are enshrined in the constitution,” the embassy wrote in a statement on Monday.
